Art Ensemble: a springboard into art schools for 16 to 25-year-olds!

About the program

The Art Ensemble project seeks to build momentum for encounters and discoveries to help break down barriers to the cultural and creative world for 16 to 25-year-olds in the city’s priority neighborhoods, such as the La Mosson area, and those with few opportunities, encouraging young people with artistic practices or apprenticeships in the professional environment for artistic creation (applied and visual arts, as well as openings in the field of live performance planned in the coming years).
 
The program runs from October to June, notably enabling participants to acquire the foundations for building their artistic knowledge. They benefit from an opportunity to test and/or improve their artistic practices and knowledge about the cultural and creative professional environment, while also increasing their general culture and networking through meetings with artists, art school students, and professionals in the field (including mediators, technicians, and more).

This project was designed with a “social emancipation” approach to promote and recognize young talents, with a focus on “local social development” to help transform and bring value to the La Mosson district and its residents.

Who is the project for?

Art Ensemble is for all people ages 16 to 25 who practice some form of art or who are curious about the arts, with a need to:

• Enter an art school or pursue professional training related to the cultural field.
• Grow their network or knowledge to better implement their projects.
• Receive assistance to organize their plans or projects, with support to make them successful.
• Live new experiences without having a particular project in mind, but still wanting to discover a new professional environment and/or participate in collective creative projects.

Process and registration

From October to June, a program is being offered combining group activities (such as workshops, cultural outings, professional encounters) as well as individual opportunities (helping define future projects, elaborating a presentation book, apprenticeships, access to art schools, and more).

In order to keep enrolment open to as many young people as possible, regardless of their situation, anyone can participate in the project whenever they want, at any time during the year. The program’s goal is to adapt each person’s journey within the project according to their needs and availabilities.
 
Almost all the activities offered by Art Ensemble are free and accessible for association members (12-20 € annual membership fee) so that financial considerations do not prevent people from participating.

About i.Peicc and MO.CO

The i.Peicc association is involved with education efforts in underprivileged areas, seeking to open access to knowledge and culture for as many people as possible. “Peuple et Culture” has been operating in Montpellier’s Paillade district (now La Mosson) since 1988. The association works on actions ranging from artistic expression to active citizenship, from encouraging associations to organizing international exchanges and getting young people involved. In these “open air” laboratories, leaders work with residents on new tools to support activities in order to favor individual and collective emancipation and social transformation.

The MO.CO Montpellier Contemporain is an artistic ecosystem that covers a variety of areas from training to collections to production, exhibition, and mediation, combining an art school and two contemporary art centers: MO.CO. Esba (Montpellier Higher School of Fine Arts), MO.CO. Panacée (contemporary creation laboratory), and MO.CO. “Hôtel des collections” (a space dedicated to world-class exhibitions).