Culture

The role of the Arts & Culture task force is to enable access for the whole university community (students & staff) to culture in all its facets, to encourage artistic creation on campuses and foster encounters with artists. It informs university users on culture and art, and contributes to forging an institutional identity by creating a sense of belonging and reciprocal acknowledgement, in addition to boosting the attractiveness of the establishment through the showcasing of creativity.

Among the actions implemented by the Arts & Culture task force:

January 2020: creation of an Educational Opening Unit (UEO). Cultural and artistic opening to discover cultural sites and partners: outings organised to the Comédie-Française, the Ferme du Buisson, guided tour of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France [National Library of France] at the François-Mitterrand site, etc.
February 2020: development of action at the Meaux IUT site. Programme of film evenings on site.
Spring 2020: resumption of partnership agreements with partner institutions for the extension of the new Université Gustave Eiffel with the Conservatoires de Paris-Vallée de la Marne network, the Ferme du Buisson National Theatre in Marne-la-Vallée, Les Passerelles and File 7 (contemporary music venue).
September 2020: setting-up of half-year artistic workshops (10 x 2 hours) for students and staff, with activities such as drawing, photography, graphic novel design, theatrical improvisation, public reading and public speaking.

Certain sessions are open under UEO status (artistic activity), eligible for ECTS credit validation and enter into the students’ average score for the term. These workshops continued online during the closure of university premises.

Culture at the University was impacted by the health crisis. Nevertheless, while numerous on-site events were cancelled, the constraints of remote activity gave rise to new ideas for online artistic cultivation and to maintain links with culture:

‘Culture chez nous’operation [Culture for us]: Launch of the Facebook & Instagram pages of the Arts & Culture task force in spring 2020, to promote cultural events in the framework of the ‘Culture chez nous’ operation. The aim of the ‘Culture chez nous’ operation was to provide staff and students with access to culture in spite of the lockdown, through ideas and free activities within everyone’s reach (opera at home, virtual museum tours or live concerts, etc.).
Writing workshops: Setting-up of remote creative writing workshops for the staff and students of Université Gustave Eiffel.
- June-July 2020: 2 series of 3 x 2-hour sessions on the theme of lockdown or its end and the controlling of our lives.
- September-October 2020: 1 series of 5 x 2-hour sessions on the themes of territory, travel, objects and expressions.

Events & happenings in 2020

Nuit de la Lecture [Reading Night] – January 2020: public readings held at the George Perec university library by:
- The Drama class from the Conservatoire du Val Maubuée, with whom we renewed our partnership agreement
- Lecturia (student book club)

Film evenings - February/March 2020: Film screenings organised on the Cité Descartes and Meaux IUT campuses.

Art & Culture Days (JACES) – April 2020: The Art & Culture Days, initially scheduled as physical events, were cancelled due to the health situation. They were replaced at Université Gustave Eiffel by online actions which led to the creation of the ‘Culture chez nous’ operation on the Facewook page of the Arts & Culture task force.