The Association des Centres culturels de rencontre is an ambassador for “Pop the Vote! Culture on the ballot", an operation launched by Culture Action Europe to encourage the active involvement of European citizens in the 2024 European parliamentary elections through culture.
Co-funded by the European Parliament, Pop the Vote! is working with young artists and art school students in 14 EU countries (changemakers) to act as agents of change in their own communities and mobilise them to take part in the 2024 European parliamentary elections by co-creating a multi-action campaign.
Where will Pop the Vote take place?
14 EU countries have been selected for this project: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
What will the changemakers do?
Pop the Vote! has selected 52 changemakers. They will be organising two voter engagement events in the month preceding the elections in their respective countries.
For France, Rachel Rouzaud has been selected to lead the project. Rachel is an architect and lecturer at the Versailles and Bordeaux Schools of Architecture. She also works as an artist with Emmaus, Greater Paris and the Aquitaine region in particular.
As an ambassador for Pop the Vote, the ACCR is committed to raising awareness of the work of changemakers, and in particular that of Rachel, who has been asked to offer workshops in the network's centres and its partners.
From 6 to 13 May, Rachel was in residence at the Cité des électriciens, where she was able to appreciate the work of renovation, remembrance and development of the gardens on the site, as well as the facilities provided, which make it an extremely pleasant working environment run by a dynamic and enthusiastic team.
The artist was able to carry out two separate workshops:
- the continuity of the European flag with threads donated by the people met: the idea was to weave a flag from fibres donated by the people met in order to give concrete expression to the links that unite us and give Europe a face.
- A proposal to reinterpret the European flag through a participatory workshop in which members of the public are invited to sew shapes cut out of fabric onto a large blue canvas, thus questioning the symbols of the EU.
The aim of these workshops is to create an exchange about what the flag represents today, to spark discussions about the forthcoming elections and what the EU represents for the participants, both children and adults.