O'BABELTUT — giving access to culture in remote areas!
O'Babeltut is a non-profit association located in a medieval village in the southwest of France, far from the cities, with inhabitants of very diverse origins. Their ambition is to reduce social and age inequalities, to develop open-mindedness, emancipation and conviviality through the meeting of works, artists and artistic practice. They are convinced that this can play an important role in rural development, in combination with mobility. Their main action is the "Transports Culturels" that proposes every year 15 trips to go to see performing art events in Toulouse (100 km) or Albi (60 km). It is organized by bus or carpooling, at very low prices. The program offers high quality contemporary shows in the fields of theatre, dance, circus, music or mixed arts; sometimes in foreign languages (with subtitles). Furthermore, the association welcomes artists locally where they perform directly in kindergartens, schools, retirement homes, or libraries. O'Babeltut also builds a mediation to help teachers and educators to include art in their own project, and to mix different types of audiences. In addition, they organize artistic workshops for children and adults, and coordinates local events in partnership with different types of local or regional organisations (as well as with European artists). Last but not least, they regularly send a newsletter presenting most of the artistic proposals on the territory.
Since: 2004
Staff members: 5-10 (only volunteers)
Expertise: Cultural mediation >>> breaking down the real and symbolic barriers to access performing arts
Target groups: They reach the community in its diversity.
Areas of work: Sociocultural activities & cultural mediation — Artistic activities — Local / regional / national projects — Artistic creation / production — Dissemination of information / awareness raising activities — Cultural distribution and promotion — Networking / cooperation
Fields of work: Theatre — Music — Circus art / Clowning — Dance
Topics of work: Intergenerational relations & ageing — Children (0-12 years old) — Young people (13-30 years old) — Impact of cultural activities — Cultural policy — Cultural rights — Territorial development on local level and in non-urban areas — Mobility
Priorities for the network: Sharing best practices in rural areas and learn from each other — Meeting partners and setting up exchanges and projects that strengthen European awareness — Cooperating especially on the topic of music and artistic workshops —Taking part in any ENCC research and data collection related to cultural centres, their audiences and their impact, in order to influence new models of practice — Participating in European capacity-building activities for the professionalisation of our cultural organisation
