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Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE)
203 N. Wabash, Suite 1720, Chicago, Illinois 60601-2417
312/870-6140 fax 312/870-6147
STUDY TOUR OF FRANCE: A TRAVELOGUE FROM ARNOLD APRILL
May 10 19, 2004: A contingent of American arts educators traveled to Paris and Lille as part of a cultural exchange between the U.S. and France, supported by the French-American Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Communication of France, to study models of innovation in arts education. CAPE Executive Director Arnold Aprill, along with representatives of the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Education, had met with a French contingent in Washington, D.C. several months before.
The American contingent consisted of Susan Longhenry from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Sandra Jackson from the Studio Museum in Harlem, Derek Gordon from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Sherilyn Brown from the Rhode Island Council on the Arts, Arnold Aprill from the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, Melanie Davenport from the University of Florida, Jeanne Butler from the A+ Schools, and Lynn Russell from the National Gallery of Art.
Cross Cutting Curriculum, Artist Partners
In the initial meeting with the Ministry of Culture and Communication, Project Director Jean-François Chaintreau explained French national arts education policy, focusing specifically on the development of collaborations with visiting artist partners and cross cutting curriculum (cross-disciplinary, thematic instruction intended to develop the thinking skills needed for an information economy). Visiting teaching artists are seen as necessary for introducing learners to the hands-on lived experience of contemporary practicing artists. He explained French education to be organized as a national curriculum in which sustained arts education is an unquestioned given. The new strategies of thematic integration of the arts and the introduction of teaching artist partners are seen as necessary developments for preparing learners for a 21st century education. The American contingent asked if France was experiencing achievement gaps in reading and math, and if that ever resulted in cuts in arts education, as so often happens in the United States. Our French colleagues found these questions impenetrable, asking how difficulties in teaching math and reading could have anything to do with depriving students of their right to high quality arts education. We had no good answers for them.
Heritage and Cultural Identity
French arts education places a high priority on understanding Frances cultural heritage. This includes studying antiquities and historic monuments, as well as modern cultural expressions such as film. High quality educational materials are developed by the French government for understanding cultural heritage- from detailed maps of historic sites to childrens critical biographies of major French filmmakers. French cultural identity is assumed (arts education is seen as one important way for immigrants to become French), and several of the arts educators we met commented that they did not relate to American concepts of multiculturalism that support diverse racial and ethnic identities through the arts. At the same time, there is a recognition that art is developing in a hybrid global culture (Jean-François Chaintreau reported that his son is fascinated by Japanese animation.)
Mild Culture Clash
The Americans had some difficulty with the formal nature of presentations by representatives of various French bureaus, in which meetings expressed hierarchies vaguely intuited but poorly understood by the Americans. The French presenters seemed occasionally disconcerted by the tendency of some members of the American contingent (notably the Executive Director of CAPE) to interject questions during formal presentations. The American contingent was relieved to experience no overt anti-Americanism, despite the ubiquitous Freedom Fries Franco-phobia back in the States. The Abu Grave scandal dominated television news and print media, and Michael Moore joined striking French film industry workers in Cannes while winning awards for Fahrenheit 9/11. CAPE Executive Director Arnold Aprill and Studio Museum in Harlem Director of Education Sandra Jackson were privileged to hear the great Toni Morrison read from her novel Love at the Sorbonne, on the occasion of its release in French translation, joining ex pat African-Americans and French students in honoring this extraordinary American in Paris.
Practice Based Models of Dance Education
The visitors observed a dance workshop conducted by American dancer Susan Alexander for high school students from the Lycée Racine. This was part of a national pilot in dance education in which dancers who had performed with world class choreographers taught high school students, providing direct assess to the living legacy of modern masters. Anne-Laure Boselli, Director of Danse au Cœur National Center for Choreographic Cultures and Resources for children and adolescents, showed astonishing videotapes of pre-school children performing sophisticated and charming choreography.
Cité de la Musique Musée de la Musique
The American contingent was given a tour of Cité de la Musique- a complex of buildings devoted to presenting and learning about music, including Musée de la Musique, a rather amazing museum of antique instruments, in which one could observe the history and evolution of such instruments as the piano, the guitar, and the violin, and the largest bass fiddle any of us had ever seen or even imagined. Young musicians were available to answer questions about these beautiful precursors to modern instruments, and performed live music throughout the museum on replicas of these antiques.
Follies Innovative Public Spaces Dedicated to the Arts
One of the arts education innovations we encountered on our tour was the concept of government supported follies- buildings either built from scratch or created by renovating unused buildings to house arts education programs, exhibits, and artist studios. We visited follies in the city of Lille and in the beautiful Parc de la Villette in Paris. The park also houses the impressive Cité des Sciences et de lIndustrie- a science and industry museum for children. The museum is fronted by one of Anish Kapoors giant reflective beans, reminding Chicagoans of his Cloudgate sculpture in Millennium Park. The museum develops arts integrated science lessons with area schools.
Art Education and Special Needs
Our hosts shared strategies for providing arts education to students with special needs. The Musée du Louvre took the American contingent through their touch gallery for visually impaired visitors. We also traveled to the historic Centre National dEtudes et de Formation pour lEnfance Inadaptée in the Parisian suburb of Suresnes. This elegant site was originally designed to provide light and bright classrooms for children with tuberculosis. The walls of the classroom buildings were built, floor to ceiling, of glass panels that folded open to give students direct access to fresh air and sunlight. The site is now a laboratory school and action research center for the study of effective education (including arts education) for children with special needs. The staff showed us paintings they had translated into embossed cut outs for investigation by visually impaired learners. They also demonstrated an interactive sculpture for exploring sound, designed by a musician and a visual artist in collaboration with both hearing and hearing-impaired children.
To view a video of the sound sculpture in action, click on the link below. A separate browser window will open. Just close that window when done watching the clip to return to this window. MOV of sound sculpture 25 sec., 1.7 MB download
Lille: Cultural Capital of Europe, Imaginary Geographies of the Universe
The cities of Lille in France and Genoa in Italy were identified as cultural capitals of Europe for 2004, with both cities investing in innovative new venues for public access to the arts. The American study tour of France traveled to Lille to spend a day exploring follies, museums, and public installations. Light sculptures, a faux Jamaican market, and an upside-down forest transformed the streets. Whole buildings became site-specific artworks, including a storefront re-designed as a massive meditation on the world of video gaming. The group visited La Piscine museum in nearby Roubaix (a lovely museum built on the grounds of an abandoned public swimming pool), the Musée dArt Moderne (with its exceptional outsider art collection), and the Maison Folie de Tourcoing (formerly lHospice dHavré). This folly displayed an exquisite exhibition, created in collaboration with visiting teaching artists, of student artwork inspired by the cross cutting curricular theme of imaginary geographies.
To view "Imaginary Geographies" video, click on the link below. A separate browser window will open. Just close that window when done watching the clip to return to this window. MOV of "Imaginary Geographies" 1 min. 41 sec., 3.5 MB download
Musée du Louvre
As we approached the end of our tour, and were almost overwhelmed by a week of nonstop aesthetic stimulation, we wondered if we could take in any more, and whether the grande dame of museums would be interested in a bedraggled gaggle of American arts educators. But we were delighted to find the august Musée du Louvre to be staffed by creative, collaborative thinkers who engaged us in lively discussion about innovative approaches to museum education, who were curious about our experience in the field, and who hosted a meeting for us with arts educators from a variety of French institutions.
City of Light, City of Love
We had been moved the by the light and space of Paris, the warmth and generosity of our guides and translators, and the artfulness we saw (and heard and felt and tasted) everywhere. And on the morning of our departure, as we consumed our last café au lait and croissants, Sandras beloved Carl appeared unexpected at our table after a long secret flight from New York City, got down on one knee, proclaimed his love, and proposed. This is what is supposed to happen in Paris, and indeed it did. Arnold Aprill, Chicago
