Cultural meeting
Villeurbanne, French Capital of Culture, focuses on youth
Audio 02:28
Villeurbanne, an urban utopia that has become reality: a city center of art-deco social housing where the town hall and the TNP, the National People's Theater, face each other.
© Gilles Michallet
By: Sébastien Jédor Follow
3 mins
This is a first: in 2022, a city will be labeled "French Capital of Culture".
And it is Villeurbanne, 153,000 inhabitants, near Lyon, in the south-east, which was chosen.
No less than 300 shows, 30 festivals and three major exhibitions are scheduled throughout the year in this working-class town, land of immigration, laboratory of cultural decentralization, half of whose population is under 30 years old.
It is therefore not surprising that young people are among the priority audiences for this pioneering initiative, some of whose achievements will last beyond this year.
Advertising
Make the eyes of the youngest shine and open up new horizons for them... This is the objective of the "minimixes", a pioneering project of cultural centers, established in 19 schools in Villeurbanne during the year 2022.
In the courtyard of the Jules-Ferry elementary school, the Turak company, which specializes in object theatre, has parked its glass trailer, both an open stage and a living space for the actor-puppeteers.
Sama is in first grade, she does not hide her enthusiasm (
"
There's nothing at all that I didn't like
!
")
and reminds the passing spectator that Turakie is an "
imaginary country
"... which therefore peacefully annexes the court from his school for several weeks.
For Christilla Bobichon, director of the establishment, welcoming a company over a long period of time changes everything.
“
We are under the spell!
There is a real dialogue between the children and the company.
They are very enthusiastic.
In terms of their imagination, things have been unblocked, the students are better able to verbalize their feelings
,” she says.
Create links
This desire to bet on youth and on the future emerged from the start of Villeurbanne's candidacy for the label of French Capital of Culture.
For Mayor Cédric van Styvendael, it is a question of creating links, especially since the city center is set to expand considerably thanks to a vast real estate operation.
“
Almost 100 years ago, a left-wing politician, medical officer of health, Lazare Goujon, thought of the center of Villeurbanne as a realized urban utopia,
recalls the elected official of the Socialist Party.
However, today, cities have lost their positive imagery.
Staying in town is sometimes perceived as an obligation, a house arrest for financial matters.
It is sometimes difficult to tell each other what we are doing together
”.
“Building together
”
However, Cédric Van Styvendael is convinced of this: “
Culture can help us do this
: to tell us what we want to build together.
And it is also around this that we have built this French Capital of Culture
”.
The "minimixes", the cultural centers in the schools of Villeurbanne, will be made permanent beyond 2022. For older children, at the same time, the TNP, the National Popular Theater, emblematic of the city, welcomes 34 young people in a short-lived group.
Others are in the process of setting up the Youth Festival, entirely designed by 12-25 year olds, which will open on June 3.
►
The official website of Villeurbanne, French Capital of Culture 2022
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
Culture
France