The High Council for Arts and Cultural Education (HCEAC) met Monday, February 1 at the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research in the presence of Najat Vallaud-Belkacem and Fleur Pellerin. The opportunity for the Minister of Culture and Communication to draw the positive assessment of the action carried out in 2015 by her ministry in the field of arts and cultural education (EAC). This assessment comes one year after the two Ministers jointly presented an interdepartmental roadmap for the ambitious and joint implementation of this priority of the Government.
Fleur Pellerin welcomed the fact that the knowledge, practice and encounter of the arts that she described as a “youth society project” has taken a central place in the action of her Ministry, as evidenced by the mobilization of its teams and the clear progression of the appropriations that are devoted to the EAC since its arrival at the head of the ministry. In 2016, this budget will reach 55 million euros, corresponding to an increase of 80% compared to 2012 and 35% compared to 2015.
The Minister recalled that the sustained and targeted action carried out last year in priority territories, urban neighborhoods or rural areas, will be amplified in 2016 by choosing to target 65% of the new means it obtained in 2016 for EAC and media and image education. This is a considerable effort in a context where culture and the arts are more than ever this positive and emancipatory bond that unites the French: “The events of 2015 oblige all political, cultural and educational leaders to give arts and cultural education a new dimension and a new power,” the Minister told Council members.
Fleur Pellerin also presented some of the most significant complementary measures that her ministry initiated in 2015 to encourage greater youth participation in culture: the creation of a day dedicated to school visits in three of the largest museums in France - the Louvre, the Palace of Versailles and the Musée d'Orsay ; the extension of the opening hours of libraries and media libraries, in accordance with the directions she set following the presentation of Senator Sylvie Robert’s report on November 2 (http://bit.ly/1M79z5F); the re-engagement of the State in the funding of conservatories, which should make it possible to reaffirm their missions of artistic and cultural education, as closely as possible to the expectations, needs and cultural practices of young people; or the unprecedented plan “Belle Saison Generation”, which it launched on December 8 and which aims to support the creation, dissemination and organization of shows and artistic projects for children and youth (http://bit.ly/1TXvj9f).
Finally, Fleur Pellerin has expressed his desire that a new Summer University of Arts and Cultural Education be organized by the High Council for Arts and Cultural Education before the end of 2016 «to bring out new proposals».
About the HCEAC: established in 2013, the council is a place for reflection, proposals and evaluation. It is responsible for bringing arts and cultural education to life with all the partners of the State - local authorities, actors of education and culture, qualified personalities - to make it a shared and collective responsibility.