/ The CCR model: specific features and prospects

The ‘Centre culturel de rencontre’ (Cultural Encounter Centre) label introduces new, happy links between culture, creativity and local residents, who are seen as stakeholders in the structure's project. With its cross-disciplinary model, it enables synergies with a multitude of partners: the State, the region, the département, local authorities, the private sector, etc. The CCR thus becomes the place to bring together players who wish to invest in a territory.

The CCR is not just another cultural facility; it is intrinsically linked to a global vision on a wide range of subjects: entrepreneurship, architecture and heritage enhancement, hotels, shops, the arts, with artists' residencies in particular, and so on. It is this artistic, cultural and economic abundance that makes it possible to qualify the heritage and turn it into an inhabited place, generally diverted from its primary function.

This commercial diversion has been part of the concept of the Centre Culturel de Rencontre since the early days, as evoked by Jacques Rigaud in the 1970s. Although each CCR has its own economic model, they all share the same notion of hybridising resources between heritage, tourism and the arts. This requires dialogue with a wide range of local players. The CCR label is, by its very nature, a partnership-based model, a characteristic reinforced by the fact that there is no systematic, fixed funding allocated to the label. As an evolving model, thanks in particular to this hybridisation of resources and the many partnerships forged, the CCRs have the capacity to make the most of public resources through a multiplier effect.

Awarded the label in 2003, the Abbaye d'Ambronay was able to cross a certain threshold by moving from a festival to a year-round activity, leading to the creation of new jobs and an increase in the number of partners.

La Plus Petit Cirque du Monde (PPCM) is looking at the very structure and layout of its venue as a tool for improving the way we live together. The PPCM also pays close attention to the artists in residence and, more specifically, to their ability to work with local residents to nurture this ongoing dialogue.

The Bastide de l'oralité, the first site to be awarded the label since the procedure was decentralised to the region, promotes Basque culture and, more generally, oral traditions in the Bastide-Clairence area. In this way, the public space has become a place for experimentation, accentuating the close working relationship with the players who make up the region. A virtuous dialogue is being established.

A circular is currently being drawn up by the Ministry of Culture on the CCR label, so that it can be shared across the regions with a view to creating a common basis for our work, without losing the plurality that is the richness of the network. One of the suggestions made at the conference was to set up a joint committee, given that the label is transdisciplinary.

While each CCR is unique in terms of the site, the project and the area in which it is set up, the network is characterised by the same spirit and shared values that give it its strength. The CCRs are places of freedom, creativity, inspiration and experimentation, to be defended with passion.

/ Protecting and promoting our heritage

When it comes to heritage protection, control measures can be restrictive. The speakers tried to explain the opportunities for creation, cooperation and links with the local population that heritage policies nevertheless offer. The acceptability and potential of heritage were discussed.

The Ville Pays d'Art et d'Histoire (VPAH) label is an integrated policy of knowledge, protection, restoration and transmission. Run by local authorities, the VPAH label is in the business of cultural promotion. In comparison, the CCRs are more concerned with artistic and cultural experimentation and supporting the emergence of artists.

The Bibracte archaeological site, classified as a ‘Grand Site de France’ by the French Ministry of the Environment, is working on the visitor experience both in terms of archaeology (excavation site and museum) and the landscape environment. In order to link these two gateways, the site is working to create an impression of the spirit of the place, and to find out what makes the area so proud so that it can be shared. In this way, it plays a social role in promoting the area and tourism.

One of the projects carried out with the active participation of local residents is an inventory of the paths leading to and around the Bibracte site. These paths are a heritage in their own right and should be highlighted for their symbolic value as a link. Even if some of them are no longer practicable, they are still a source of nostalgia for some local people. Residents were invited to link the remarkable points of these paths together, a collection work accompanied and illustrated by landscape architects/artists. By revealing the soul of this natural heritage, the site creates opportunities for people to return.

Certain classifications allow us to commit to a system of values whose respect will be assessed by outsiders, and this goes beyond the heritage issue, which is no longer an end in itself. For example, consider the methods and issues involved in preserving heritage: does this process help to reduce inequalities of any kind, is it done with respect for human rights, are local people invited to take an active part in the process, etc.?

/ Bourges 2028, what are the repercussions for the region?

Designated the European Capital of Culture 2028 on 13 December 2023, the city of Bourges is developing a project that is designed to listen to the local area and draw on existing resources to achieve a limited impact.

For example, the project aims to build on existing facilities in the area, including those that do not have a cultural vocation. For example, vacant businesses will be reinvested for exhibitions, railway stations leading to Bourges will be used as exhibition spaces for artists such as Eva Jospin and Gilles Clément, and the town's psychiatric hospital will be used as a testing ground for a mental health project, and so on.

One of the main thrusts of the bid is the living heritage dimension. The aim is to develop a programme based on the right to living things, with the aim of giving living things a new lease of life and ensuring that the rights of nature are legally established and take precedence. To achieve this, projects will be developed around the Loire and its tributaries, as well as marshland areas.

In view of the rapid turnover of performing arts works, it has been decided to limit the number of creative projects in order to draw on artists' repertoires of works that are no longer performed. A place will also be given to amateur artists, notably at the opening ceremony. The artistic programme should be stabilised by June 2025, from which point the narrative of the project can be woven.

The central region is faced with mobility problems that limit the number of people who can meet and take part in cultural and artistic events. To compensate for this lack of connections, a specific transport network will be set up. Thought will also have to be given to the last few kilometres, with shuttles dedicated to short journeys. One of the ambitions is to ensure that these new modes of transport continue after Bourges 2028.