OUR INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
Since 2008, we have been involved in participatory artistic actions in Europe and the Mediterranean area. International involvement has become a key strategy for the development of several aspects of our organisation: the expansion of our network , the showcasing of our actions and skills and the reinforcement of our competences. All of these allow us to help our members and bring our projects to fruition…
Our international partners claim, as we do, the importance of arts as a means to spur openness and respect towards culture and identity.
Working with these partners, we favour collaborative work on collective responses to international calls for proposals.
DEVELOPING ACTIONS REGARDING EURO-MEDITERRANEAN STAKES
Because of Marseille’s location and history, our actions have a natural tendency to be oriented towards European and Mediterranean themes. A gateway to both Africa and Europe, the port of Marseille has welcomed immigrants for centuries. Many people come from foreign lands and pass on their cultural wealth to new generations. Political decisions, taken on either sides of the Mediterranean sea, have an impact on all the peoples of the area. Therefore, our actions are mainly oriented towards young people and youth dialogue around the Mediterranean basin.
OUR VIEW
We have noticed a disturbing tendency, in many countries, to engage in a narrow-minded identity development and to deny adequate expression to today’s heterogeneous and multicultural societies. Yet, art knows no boundaries and benefits from different and even diverging customs and points of view.
We know that participatory arts can enable people to overcome their fears and prejudices, while allowing them to discover a positive experience of openness and sharing; such experiences prove that living together is possible, despite the complexity of our current societies and of the people forming them.
Our involvement in international collaboration aims to disseminate this point of view and to create alliances with organisations sharing the same ideas.
OUR INTERNATIONAL WORK
Drawing on twenty years of experience, we use the skills we have acquired to spread our actions over new areas and to strengthen our voice among European and international decision-making organisations. Within the organisation, we develop the transfer of knowledge to our members, collaborators and partners. In the years to come, these transfers of knowledge will also take the shape of professional training projects, destined for our local, regional, national and international peers.
DISSEMINATING OUR ACTIONS TO THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN AREA
Some of our sustainable actions such as Place à l’Art and Boulègue embody perfectly our approach and expertise.
Benefiting strongly from field experience, we have managed, over the years, to adapt them to the specificities and constraints of their environment. Our skills and knowledge go beyond the frame of local areas. They have the power to help other organisations which aim to develop participatory processes but face partnership, mediation, involvement, regulation or resources issues.
Through experience, our teams have become familiar with these problems and can provide good advice. Similarly, we want to improve and share our experience with other European and Mediterranean players. From an informal conversations to long-term coaching services, along with transfers of knowledge, all forms of collaboration are worth considering and will stimulate our partners’ as well as our work.