Rouages: “In the Service of Art and Culture”
Éléonore Szturemski and Louise Robert are the two driving forces behind the implementation of the University of Montpellier’s cultural policy. Organizing events, artistic workshops, artist residencies, and hosting artists are all part of the mission they carry out within the Art and Culture Department.
A mission that has been affected by the health crisis but hasn’t been brought down by it—one they’re sharing with us this month as part of the“Rouages”video series produced by UM.
Some eagerly follow every bit of news about it, others confuse it with the scientific culture department, while still others are completely unaware of its existence.“It’s true that an art and culture department within a university without an arts program may seem surprising at first glance, but in reality it is absolutely essential that the promotion of culture and the arts be at the heart of educational and research institutions,” explains Éléonore Szturemski, head of the art and culture department.
Under the leadership of the Campus Life Department, the Art and Culture Office was established in 2009 with the goal of encouraging and fostering staff and students’ engagement with contemporary art and culture.“Reducing cultural disparities, helping to build a shared identity at UM through the creation of social bonds, fostering personal growth, and of course the acquisition of skills—these are our goals,” explains the director. These ambitions are fully in line with Éléonore’s career path. Before joining UM in 2010, she had already gained experience in the Parisian audiovisual industry before moving to Montpellier to join the association Bande-Annonce (Occitanie Films), and later to coordinate the Kawenga multimedia cultural space.
A program in four acts
There are currently three staff members carrying out this mission within the department, with the help of two civic service volunteers and two student workers for part of the year.“Our programming is financially supported by the Student and Campus Life Contribution (CVEC) and is organized around four main areas,” explains Louise Robert, a cultural project manager who trained at the Grenoble Institute of Political Studies. The first area is multidisciplinary arts workshops. Available year-round by registration, the workshops cover a wide range of activities, from computer-assisted music (CAM) to poster design, botanical drawing, jewelry making, stained-glass workshops, and even movement expression.
“Our second area of focus is hosting and providing residencies for artists on campus, so that, through interaction with students and staff, they can carry out artistic projects,” explains Louise Robert. “We are currently hosting the comic book author and illustrator Émilie Plateau, as well as visual artist Ganaëlle Maury .” Before them, illustrator Aya Kakeda and artist Caroline Muheim, to name just a few, were also hosted at UM.
The various events organized on campus also punctuate the arts and culture department’s season. “Anti-HomophobiaWeek , Women’s History Month with ‘Donner des Elles’ at UM, Heritage Days, and the Nights of Reading are all opportunities to foster open-mindedness and artistic curiosity,” notes the project manager. Initiatives such as Culturesponsable and the Pass’Yoot round out this offering by enabling staff and students to meet artists at various theaters across the region.“We carry out all these initiatives in close collaboration with our many partners, including various departments and services within UM, as well as the CROUScultural department andwith the support of the DRAC Occitanie,” continues Éléonore Szturemski.
Culture and Resilience
At the university, as elsewhere, cultural life has naturally suffered due to the challenging health situation we’ve been living with for nearly a year. Nevertheless, the director and her team have not simply sat back and waited; instead, they’ve come up with new initiatives that take these constraints into account.“Like our artists, we’re experimenting and testing things out. The goal is to maintain a connection with staff and students, even—and especially—from a distance.” The “Inner Jungle of Our Plants” drawing contest, launched on Instagram, thus follows the “Interior Views ” photo contest, which was very successful during the first lockdown.
“We’re expanding our online presence through our website and social media,” says Louise Robert. “We’re producing webinars, booklets, videos—any creative and digital formats that allow us to continue our cultural work. We’re organizing events centered on musical creations, such as the ‘Lockdown Dwichs,’ and offering online readings, like those by the Muerto Coco collective on the theme of poetry and intersecting revolutions.” This adaptation requires inventiveness, perseverance, and resilience from the team in a context where culture seems more than ever to be a window to the outside world. “We mustn’t forget that what we offer is, above all, exploration, unique encounters, emotions, and above all, shared enjoyment,” concludes Éléonore Szturemski.