The project

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The « MBASe challenge » is an adventure designed to offer a meaningful experience with art beyond the museum walls for vulnerable children from the ProInfancy Caixa programme. Exploring artworks from different collections and eras, participants are challenged to develop a series of creative tasks rooted in their own observations and responses.

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The organisation

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The Museum of Fine Arts of Seville, popularly considered as “the second art gallery in Spain”, is approaching two centuries of history. Its origin as an institution lies in the nineteenth century Spanish Disentailment Laws, which determined its installation in a remarkable building that had previously been a monastery, and the character of its collections, of which the major part comes from institutions that disappeared at the time. It displays important Baroque works by artists from the Sevillian school such as Murillo, Zurbarán or Valdés Leal. Through the years, the museum has strengthened as an essential element in the cultural identity of Seville.

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The project
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Young Europe IV is ETC’s large-scale artistic project, promoting and mentoring 9 emerging theatre authors to write new plays: Diverse stories that haven’t been told or heard enough on stage. The plays will be produced by 9 European theatres and performed in school classes across cities from the UK to Cyprus, and in a festival in Nova Gorica (Slovenia) in Spring 2024.

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The organisation

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As the largest network of public theatres in Europe, the Theatre Convention has 59 European Members from over 30 countries, reflecting the diversity of Europe’s vibrant cultural sector. Founded in 1988, the ETC promotes European theatre as a vital platform for dialogue that responds to and engages with today’s changing societies. With the aim of creating a common cultural heritage in Europe, ETC offers to its member theatres artistic collaborations and professional development opportunities and plays a prominent role in advocacy for theatre towards EU policy makers. These activities are currently consolidated under the groundbreaking three-year programme «TRANSFORMATIONS - Recharging European Theatres and Audiences in a Post-Covid World, co-funded by the European Union.

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The project

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This project was created by David Llari, a CCS associate artist, and initiated this past season with the Strasbourg, Marseille and Williamstown Museums and the FRAME network - all key partners in making this project successful. This collaborative effort – the willingness to provide the project with human and financial resources as well as space and time for educational outreach programmes – allowed this project to have an impact well beyond France.
It should enable young people to conceive the world beyond the boundaries of their neighbourhoods: allowing them to open up to themselves, to others and to the world, through body language, by appropriating cultural venues of excellence in a unique and personal way. Due to their past and their essence, museums and their collections are the ideal partner for bringing this project to fruition.

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The organisation
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The Centre Chorégraphique de Strasbourg (CCS), which has also been a municipal conservatory since 2008, stands out in the cultural landscape as an actor in synergy with others, a partner, an intermediary and a supporter of initiatives. In collaboration with other European organisations, the Centre is now aspiring to extend its initiatives focused on outreach and attracting alienated audiences.
Since this season and for the next three years, the CCS has been working with associate artist, David Llari, whose innovative method makes it possible to conduct this concrete experience of “building together”, by appropriating body language in cultural outreach in a unique and personal way. With this approach, the body becomes a means of moving from a common language to universal expression.

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The project

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The Carroza of the Teatro Real is a mobile stage which travels all over Spain offering different kinds of opera and classical music concerts. The float is 16 meters long, 5.80 meters high and weighs almost 6 tones. This impressive travelling stage was built on a converted sea container. Inside, it can be adapted to create different settings to suit the needs of a particular performance. This project is specially focused on the cultural territorial cohesion, and it pays particular attention to educational mediation for young audiences and families.

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The organisation
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The Teatro Real is considered the leading institution of the performing arts in Spain, the foremost national opera house and one of the most important Spanish cultural institutions. The theatre also enjoys significant international prestige.
The artistic project behind the Teatro Real has led to its current position as one of the main international opera centres and a benchmark for Spanish cultural institutions. Its artistic programme seeks excellence, with an interest in both traditional repertory and contemporary forms, including 20th-century music and the newest avant-garde, with a firm commitment to providing the public with a place where they can discover the best artists and creators of today. It also pays special attention to new audiences, and to popularising opera among children and young people.

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Real-world problem-solvers

"V&A Innovate", launched in2019, is a major creative design challenge aimed at state-educated 11-14 year olds in England.

"The ideas that these young people have created through 'V&A Innovate' are so on point – it's been a powerful and emotional experience hearing from them. "These were the words of the TV presenter and Paralympic medalist Ade Adepitan MBE, after being part of the "V&A Innovate" judging panel, the annual schools challenge that has been promoting design thinking, creativity and careers in design since 2019. This initiative allows all 11-14 year olds instate-funded schools in England to participate in an annual design challenge. The process is simple: after registering one or more teams of 4-6 young people, a teacher supports them through the design journey, using a series of free online resources made for the challenge (animations, classplans...). Each team has to come up with a creative response to one of that year's themes, chosen by the V&A to tie in with one of its collections or exhibitions. The aim is to enable young people to develop design skills by addressing specific challenges. After a pre-selection process, a pitching and awards day is organised in London to provide an opportunity for the shortlisted candidates to present their projects in front of the judging panel. Several prizes are awarded, and the winning team can then take part in a customised workshop linked to their idea, led by a designer, in either the V&A itself or their own school. The objective now is to reach more schoolchildren, beyond London and the south of England.

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Contact : Chloe Johnson, Head of Grants - cam.johnson@vam.ac.uk

Budget : 114960€

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About the museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is the world’s leading museum of art, design and performance. Today, we house 2.3 million objects spanning 5,000 years of human ingenuity. We bring this collection to life through stunning displays in our permanent galleries, ground-breaking exhibitions, world-class research and inclusive learning activities. 

The museum was founded to inspire and educate the designers and makers of the future. Our founding director, Henry Cole, called the museum ‘a schoolroom for everyone’ and this remains an aspiration of the museum to this day. 

We are thrilled and delighted to win Art Explora’s Académie des beaux-arts European Award for V&A Innovate, the V&A Museum's national, digital-first design challenge for young people, inspired by our collection spanning 5000 years and showcasing multiple creative disciplines.  The Award comes at a time when creative education has never been more vital for young people, building life skills in problem solving, collaboration and critical thinking. This award is a wonderful endorsement of and testimony to the tireless work of educators and young people in the challenging context of a global pandemic, in which the role of museums as places of empowerment and inspiration for the next generation of creative thinkers cannot be underestimated. The Award will enable us to continue to expand V&A Innovate and help support young people to look to their futures with optimism and agency through the lens of design. We are extremely grateful to Art Explora for recognising the value of this programme.

Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum

A sensory kit to stimulate memory

"The Senses of Memory" provides older people living with Alzheimer's disease and neurodegenerative illnesses with a sensory kit designed to stimulate both their short- and long-term memory.

The isolation of dependent older people, particularly those suffering from neurodegenerative disorders, is a problem that requires urgent attention. More than one million people in France are currently affected and in 20 years' time this figure will be doubled. Research has shown that contact with works of art has a real impact on this population's physical and mental health. The Monnaie de Paris (Paris Mint) has launched several initiatives in this field, and, in 2020, its efforts were acknowledged by the official bestowal of"Tourism and Disability"status. Convinced that money is a powerful vector of individual and collective memory, it has already created specific itineraries inside the museum and now seeks to move beyond its walls to find isolated people with neurodegenerative disorders and offer them a "multi-sensory digital" kit. More specifically, this mobile kit for patients and their carers will consists of objects designed to be handled, felt and listened to, a memory game, digital tablets with pre-installed applications, colouring books and comic strips telling the story of a mint and an artist's studio. The idea is to stimulate the memory and the senses, as well as fine motor skills and reflections, in order to both reinforce(or create) social interactions and recoverself-esteem and dignity. The museum hopes to develop these kits and adapt them to other collectives, particularly hospitalised children, young people on the autism spectrum, classes in School Inclusion Units – and, later on, a broader cross-section of the vulnerable population. An ambitious target has been set: to reach 30,000 people per year (each kit can benefit around 700 people).

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Contact : Stéphanie Molinard, Head of Programmes and Cultural Action - stephanie.molinard@monnaiedeparis.fr

Budget : 122 500€

Partnership : Association France Alzheimer/Groupe SOS/The Fondation des Artistes retreat house

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About the museum

The Musée de la Monnaie de Paris (Paris Mint) and its adjoining production facility are devoted to the metalworking arts. A unique setting for multi-sensory experiences, the institution highlights the unique craftsmanship involved in minting, by putting the people hard at work in its ateliers at the heart of the museum’s exhibition route. Developed using a universal design approach in order to make it accessible to all, the experience gives visitors the freedom to explore behind the scenes of this temple of craftsmanship and coinage, pulling them into a fantastical world overflowing with expression, mythology and treasures - the fascinating world of coin minting.

Receiving the Art Explora - Académie des beaux-arts European Award is the result of Monnaie de Paris’ continuous efforts to
promote accessibility, particularly to those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and related conditions. This is a great honour
for us as it reinforces our commitment to open up to a broader audience.
With Les sens de la mémoire, the Monnaie de Paris aims to develop a multi-sensory and digital traveling kit that would meet
the needs of the elderly. The project will offer a full range of activities using coins – objects indistinguishably linked to economic exchanges and social interactions - to stimulate memory through cognitive, artistic and sensory mediation.

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Marc Schwartz,
Monnaie de Paris’ Chief Executive Officer

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD

An exhibition madeby the public for the public

With the exhibition "Intime et Moi", the Louvre-Lens proposed to young people in voluntary community service from the Association L’Envol, young job-seekers and students from the University of Lille and Arras to organise an exhibition and its cultural programming.

The Musée du Louvre-Lens is, in the words of its director, Marie Lavandier, "a museum open to all, innovative and participative. It is important for everybody's needs, desires and dreams to be heard". Accordingly, to mark its tenth birthday, the museum is launching a unique participative exhibition that will be put on between December 2022 and March 2023, spread over some 1,000 sq. m. The exhibition revolves around the subject of intimacy (chosen by the mediation team) and it was dreamed up and conceived by 10 young people on a voluntary community service contract with the Association L’Envol. They are accompanied throughout the project by the team from the Musée du Louvre-Lens, as well as by professionals and artists. Around 20 artworks are lent by the Louvre, the FRAC Grand Large (Dunkerque), the MUDO (Beauvais), the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Arras and the Musée de la Piscine-Musée d’Art et d’Industrie André Diligent (Roubaix). Apart from conceiving the exhibition and designing its layout, the young curators are also responsible for the composition of the texts for the catalogue and signage. The cultural programming associated with the exhibition is entrusted to other young people from another youth support organisation. "The museum will learn as much from these young people as they will from us", enthused Marie Lavandier. The experiment, which is now underway,has already been fruitful; Julie, forexample, declared: "I liked it because I've learnt other writing styles. I can see that the project is really beginning to take shape. I've seen works of art that I definitely wouldn't have seen otherwise because I lack the means to do so."

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Contact : Gautier Verbeke, Head of the Mediation Service - gautier.verbeke@louvrelens.fr

Budget : 151000€

Partnership : Fondation TotalEnergies

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About the museum

Inaugurated in December 2012, the Louvre-Lens is based in the former mining basin of Nord-Pas de Calais, now registered as a UNESCO world heritage site. The Galerie du temps forms the heart of the museum, with over 200 masterpieces sourced from the collections of the Louvre and around 18 pieces from the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, which combine to offer an exceptional journey through 5000 years of art history. A cultural bastion, the Louvre-Lens museum is actively engaged in its local community, working to combat exclusion and inequality by promoting cultural access, arts education and employment. With 530,000 visitors per year, the Louvre-Lens is France’s second-busiest regional museum (after the Musée des Confluences in Lyon).

The challenge of home delivery

"Museum at Home" involves loaning works in the area of the museum, in neighbourhoods marked by great social diversity.

"As far as I'm concerned, the museum absolutely mustn't be a fortress!", declared Claire Leblanc, director of the Musée d’Ixelles. Accordingly, it took advantage of its closure for refurbishment until 2024 by offering various local residents the chance to receive an artwork into their home for a weekend – on condition that they show it to visitors, friends, relatives and neighbours, as well as curious passersby and museum regulars. The socio-economic characteristics of the museum's local area opened up the possibility of connecting with a population with little contact with cultural institutions. An operation of this kind required a good deal of preparatory work, from informative campaigns to meetings with associations and participation in events. This process was followed by the establishment of partnerships between hosts and mediators, which demanded detailed planning of the reception of the artwork, complete with guarantees for its security. "The important thing is simply to allow people to talk about the work in their own words, with their own story" explained one mediator. The first series was marked by good spirits and proved a resounding success. This initiative, which is already being repeated, will ultimately lead to the creation of a large community of ambassadors that can contribute to reflections about the reopening of the museum.

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Contact : Stéphanie Masuy, Head of Services for the Public - stephanie.masuy@ixelles.brussels

Budget : 123 080€

Partnership : Patrimoine à roulettes

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About the museum

Founded in 1892, the Musée d’Ixelles is a prominent venue in the Belgian cultural scene. Its permanent collections boast over 12,000 artworks, offering a broad perspective on Belgian art from the 19th century up to the present day, and including a number of ‘happy accidents’ such as works by Miró, Picasso and the full collection of Toulouse-Lautrec’s original poster art. Currently undergoing a massive renovation and expansion project, the Musée d’Ixelles is deploying a transition project of ‘dynamic closure’ both inside and outside its walls, operating under the label ‘Museum in Progress’ until its expected reopening in 2024.

‘Museum at home ‘ is a project that gets people involved and builds new relationships. It’s also a great lesson in humility for the museum staff, as the artwork’s status and appropriation are completely revisited. With the program now in its sixth edition, winning the Art Explora award is a fantastic opportunity to further develop what has been an extraordinary adventure, by bringing it to another local neighbourhood whose residents are notably less familiar with the museum.” 

Claire Leblanc, Curator of the Musée d’Ixelles

MUCEM

"Destination MUCEM" : A free bus service to improve the museum’s access for people living in remote areas.

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The project

Destination Mucem is a new mobility project for remote areas: every Sunday, a free bus service is offered to drive people far from the city center to the museum. This service enables new audiences to create a special link with the museum. During the trip, a personalised and fun mediation is offered in order to prepare the visit in a friendly atmosphere. On arrival at the museum, the public is given a free ticket. The bus will serve 4 different routes, and its different stops will be prepared by a large communication campaign with local actors.

MUCEM

The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (MUCEM) is conceived as a cultural city in the heart of Marseille (France). It represents the cultural, social, scientific and political proliferation of the Mediterranean world, offers major artistic, historical and thematic exhibitions and numerous events for the widest possible audience.

Contact : Béatrice Goudard - Responsible for events - beatrice.goudard@mucem.org