Interested in seeing how a coral reef might look in textile ? Young children involved in the Child Ambassador project have been working with textile artists to create corals from lace and other fabrics. By discovering corals and building their own, children have been connecting with nature through their own imaginations, and learned the consequences of human actions in the ocean. By combining creativity and collective work it encourages them to feel they can play a role in environment state.
Cross-border/international
France
Belgium
Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries: Romania
Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries: Lithuania
Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries: Other
Senegal, Dakar
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
We beneficiated of some funding for the New European Bauhaus festival to implement our project in Brussels during the week of the festival, in 2022
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): HS_Projets Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Christine Last name of representative: Athenor Gender: Female Nationality: France Function: Director Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: 45 rue Ballainvilliers Town: Clermont-Ferrand Postal code: 63000 Country: France Direct Tel:+33 9 53 89 17 98 E-mail:ca@hs-projets.com Website:http://hs-projets.com/fr/
URL:http://www.instagram.com/fitefestival/?hl=fr Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): Instagram of the International Festival of Extra ordinaries Textiles (FITE) produces by HS_Projets
Alongside the company Corail Artefact, the association HS_Projets has been developing since 2019 an educational action called "Child Ambassadors" of the Corail Artefact project, combining awareness of climate issues and textile practices. Each year the artist Jérémy Gobé presents his Coral Artefact project to primary school children. The children create textile corals that form a barrier, like a chain of awareness and actions to be taken, to save corals and marine biodiversity. This work is exhibited at the International Festival of Extra Ordinary Textiles, FITE, initiated by the association HS_Projets, in Clermont-Ferrand, France, in even-numbered years, and in another country in odd-numbered years.
The "Child Ambassadors" scheme raises awareness of global environmental issues among primary school pupils in priority urban areas and primary school pupils in rural areas. It shows the impact of global warming on corals, which play a key role in global biodiversity. The project highlights the role of water and its journey from where we live to the sea and ocean, and our responsibility for this ecosystem, which is necessary for corals and marine biodiversity. The project promotes the imagination and the crossing of disciplines that are conducive to innovation. It offers students the opportunity to discover and apply new textile practices (crochet, lace, reuse, etc.) to create imaginary textile corals. The pupils become "ambassadors" of the necessary biodiversity for the survival of the planet, of the importance of the water circuit to the seas and oceans, of the possible renewal of textile practices, and of the role of the artist and artistic intuition.
environment
pedagogy
art
collective
innovation
- Raising awareness of environmental issues among children. To show the impact of global warming on corals. To show the important role of corals in the world's biodiversity.
. Through thematic visits during the year. Visits linked to the protection of natural species at the Paris (Île de France) and Lyon (Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region) aquariums with the people in charge of the basins and oceanologist researchers.
. By the artist Jérémy Gobé presentation at the beginning of each project with a new class explaining the project: the state of corals in the world and the importance of safeguarding them for their role in marine biodiversity.
Raising awareness of the role of water with children and its journey from our living spaces to the sea and ocean, and our responsibility towards this ecosystem necessary for corals and marine biodiversity.
. Through visits to the Water Factory in Cournon d'Auvergne to observe the water circuit from the Allier River to the water towers that distribute drinking water.
. By a future visit of the course of the Tiretaine river in Auvergne, from its source to the Allier river.
. By a future visit to the gorges of the Loire in Haute-Loire (43) in Auvergne, following the course of the river.
Awareness of the renewal of textile practices and discovery of new applications of crochet, lace and upcycling.
. Through a visit to the lace factory museum in Retournac (Haute-Loire, Auvergne), a lace factory transformed into a museum of Auvergne and world lace, and a visit to the contemporary module presenting Jérémy Gobé's Corail Artefact (creation of lace, video, and the artist's hand drawings).
. Through the creation of imaginary textile corals in crochet, recycled plastics (in Dakar, Senegal), lace (in Retournac, Haute-Loire, Auvergne), accompanied by a stylist, fashion designer.
The initiative is exemplary in the field because it is developed with school children who are on average 8 years old, and are and will be the benefic
Emphasise the role of artistic intuition and of the artist.
. Through the artist's visit to the school and discussion between the artist and the pupils. The artist presents the Coral Artefact project with two short videos but also by talking to the pupils and asking them questions. He tells how, while listening to scientists explain the disappearance of corals and their difficulty in attaching themselves to hard supports, he envisaged lace as a support for young corals.
. By welcoming the pupils to the Museum of Lace Manufactures in Retournac, making the museum accessible and allowing a wider visit of the collections on display, the work of lace in the 19th century. This visit allows the pupils of Retournac to value the know-how of their grandparents.
To underline the aesthetic value of nature.
. Through the story of the artist, who, by observing the similarity he noticed between a coral motif and a lace motif ("Point d'esprit"), imagined a project.
. Through visits to aquariums (in Paris and Lyon) to discover corals and the marine and oceanic world, in warm and cold water, and the fauna and flora in non-saline water.
. By visiting the rivers of the Tiretaine and Allier towards Clermont-Ferrand and the Loire in the Haute-Loire.
The key objectives of our initiative in terms of the quality of the experience :
To test one's imagination and discover textile techniques.
. By experimenting and learning manual textile practice, experiencing the pleasure of making imaginary textile corals. This experience is accompanied by a stylist and fashion designer, complemented by the lace-making skills of the bobbin lace makers.
To create a collective work of art that makes sense.
. By creating a collective coral reef, made up of the corals of the students in the class. By experiencing the pride of contributing to a work that will be shown in a museum and at events such as FITE, which is a major event in the world of education.
The main objectives of our initiative in terms of inclusion are:
Accessibility to environmental issues for audiences far from culture and the development of a sense of cohesion.
. By targeting the project to families in rural areas and priority neighbourhoods in urban areas, through school children.
. By the choice of the project's textile axis, affordable for all and allowing the participation of families through the help of parents, even grandparents.
. By linking the children with local departmental infrastructures (water factories and textile museums), and then returning them to the museums in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy de Dôme), which creates a feeling of cohesion between the population (children, parents, teachers, host structures employees) and the territory they share. In addition, the project gives a glimpse inside structures that are essential to the territory health and culture.
Inclusive governance.
. Through a collective management of the project where each participant has its autonomy: the artist, the teachers, the fashion designer, the lace makers. All are autonomous and do not receive any formal constraint from the HS_Projets association. They freely share their knowledge and intervene in their field of competence. They all work together to create a project and a collective work. The association ensures that all actors have the same needs and share the same objectives.
How can the initiative be exemplary in this context?
The project is carried out in France and in other countries, such as Senegal and soon Lithuania. It is aimed at children from priority neighbourhoods and rural areas. Pupils discover that the subject of corals can be dealt with by pupils who do not live near the seas and oceans. These young people feel that they share the same objective: to preserve marine biodiversity by showing their collective coral reef. Despite their non-urban location on the outskirts of a city, they understand that they can play a role in it.
How citizens and civil society will be involved in the initiative :
. The pupils' families are involved in the initiative. They accompany their children and think together about environmental issues.
. The schools of Clermont-Ferrand exhibited their coral reef at the Roger-Quilliot Art Museum in Clermont-Ferrand, during the FITE 2022 (September to December 2022) and at the school, so that the families could discover their children's achievements in the school and in the museum
. The Retournac Laces Factories Museum has decided to develop the project and to create a barrier of lace corals ("The class, the work"). This barrier will be unveiled to the public during the European Museum Night on 13 May 2023 and will open up participatory workshops to the widest possible audience.
. Civil society participates in the "Child Ambassadors" workshops developed during the FITE editions in Clermont-Ferrand. It participates in the textile coral making workshops during the New European Bauhaus festival in Brussels in June 2022, where the "Child Ambassadors" project was invited and presented during the "Forum" to the public.
What was/will be the impact of this involvement on the initiative?
. The involvement of families, teachers, pupils and participants shows a real enthusiasm for the project. The new proposals each year make the initiative more dynamic. This involvement underlines the interest of the actors for the protection of corals and more widely for the marine and oceanic biodiversity, but also for the practice of manual textile and the rediscovery of its territory through the water courses. It therefore strengthens the initiative in its desire to continue the project.
. The involvement of the Retournac actors has resulted in the submission of a project "A class, a work" for the European Museum Night (13 May 2023). For this, pupils from 3 elementary schools will create a corals barrier using the lace technique. The technique is being considered for adaptation t
Project development :
. The project is being built with public partners: City of Clermont-Ferrand, Clermont Auvergne Métropole, Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles Auvergne Rhône Alpes, Région Auvergne Rhône Alpes, Département Puy-de-Dôme.
. The project is built with national measures, "Politique de la Ville", in consultation with social centres and neighbourhood centres, to work in priority neighbourhoods in urban areas.
Educational visits
. The visits are built with the public/private reception structures that receive and mediate around their missions: Water plant: reserves and treatment of drinking water, aquariums: defence of aquatic fauna and flora (Paris/Lyon) with the intervention of oceanographers and aquarium mediators.
Restitution of the project to the public :
. The project is shown/explained in partner schools, media libraries and museums in Clermont-Ferrand.
. The project is developed and proposed to the public with textile coral making workshops, during the FITE in Clermont-Ferrand and in other countries.
. The company Corail Artefact, founded by the artist Jérémy Gobé, also contributes financially to the project and is involved in the artist's visit to the classes at the beginning of the school year to explain the genesis and current status of the project.
. HS_Projets was invited by the European Union to present "Child Ambassadors" during the New European Bahaus Festival in Brussels: during the "Forum". HS_Projets proposed workshops on the making of textile corals with Audrey Millieras, fashion designer. This allowed the expansion and recognition of the project as a vector of citizen initiatives in the face of environmental issues.
. The HS_Projets association, a non-profit organisation recognised as being of general interest, organises the project, draws up grant applications so that the "Child Ambassadors" can develop and be visible to the widest possible audience.
This project links the following disciplines; art, science, industry and society:
. The artist Jérémy Gobé discovered a similarity between the structure of coral and the lace stitch of Puy en Velay, invited in residence by HS_Projets in a mechanical lace company, the Scop Fontanille. He had an interest in bleached corals and in textile companies in difficulty.
. In connection with the museum (Paris) and the aquarium in Vincennes, he will dialogue with Isabelle Domart-Coulon, a researcher in marine biology. By exchanging with her, he will take into account the difficulty of life of the corals, due to the warming of the waters. Together they will test the lace as a new support for the development of corals in aquariums. The result is encouraging.
. The project will have an artistic component and will be shown at the Bargoin Museum in Clermont Auvergne Métropole, for 6 months from 2018 to 2019, at the heart of the Renaissance exhibition of FITE 2018, then taken to Romania in 2019. During the FITE in Romania (from the Apuseni Mountains via Bucharest to the Black Sea), it will involve the Bargoin Museum's museologists and the exhibition's scenographers.
. The educational project "Child Ambassadors" will be set up in 2019. Pupils receive the expertise of professionals in the field of aquatic fauna and flora protection, as well as that of people managing the drinking water system and circuit in their region.
. The "Child Ambassadors" educational project is designed with the teachers who explain during the year the implication of climate on corals and biodiversity in general.
. The "Child Ambassadors" educational project is designed with textile designers in France, and in Senegal (Abi Diallo).
. Since 2019, HS_Projets, within the project "Child Ambassadors", consults all the actors and makes them participate according to their competences and the needs of the project. These actors all meet and know each other now.
. The initiative is innovative in its field, as it links two seemingly unrelated worlds: textiles and corals. It is extremely multidisciplinary and involves a large number of actors. It opens up the field of possibilities in a very concrete way, through site visits and discussions in schools. The teachers are very open and welcome the approach and then adopt it completely.
. The initiative reuses textile practices, which have not been taught in France since the 1970s. These teachings, which are still perceived as extremely gendered activities, have been enthusiastically received by the "Child Ambassadors" and the boys are not left out. The creation of corals and a coral reef allows for the playful practice of manual textile activities, which if they had a purely educational purpose would be less well received.
. The initiative not only aims to inform pupils about the situation of corals and the effects of climate change, but also to involve young people in the joint and collective creation of a work of art about corals and their endangered lives.
. Pupils become "ambassadors" for corals and for nature to be preserved, especially river water.
. The results of the initiative are made available to a wider public in partner museums. The textile barriers can be moved and travel with FITE, from France to other FITE production countries.
. The bilingual (French/English) FITE catalogue, published every two years, relates the projects of the "Child Ambassadors", mentioning all the names of the participants. Published in 1500 copies, it is given to each child ambassador and sold in bookshops in France.
. The partners (teachers, museums, pupils) from France and other countries ask to re-launch the project every year.
. The project can be repeated every year and over several territories, since it does not require geographical proximity to the sea or ocean. And it can be said that the further away the corals are, the more interested the students are in the subject. All the elements can be reused and adapted according to the place, beneficiaries and context.
. The project could be developed with young people with disabilities. For this, the audio-visual presentation of the artist should be adapted.
. The project could be developed in other countries, and the audio-visuals are currently being translated into English, for example. But they are aimed at young pupils, so the question of language must be studied case-by-case.
. The project could develop its coral barriers, by adapting to the textile practices of the place where the project is hosted, which is more interesting. For example, in Dakar, the designer Abi Diallo suggested that pupils collect plastic waste on their way to school and rework it into yarn, then weave it into a collective coral barrier. (This barrier was also shown at FITE 2022 at the Roger-Quilliot Art Museum in Clermont-Ferrand).
. The corals that the project deals with are warm water corals, but when the project will be developed in Lithuania in 2023, it will also deal with cold water and deep water corals.
. Showing and travelling the coral barriers is possible, this was done in 2022 and the Clermont-Ferrand and Dakar barriers were exhibited together in the museum in Clermont-Ferrand, during the FITE.
The methodology consists of 5 steps :
. Presentation of the Corail Artefact project by the artist, genesis of the project.
. During the year, the teachers explain the problem of corals and the climate.
. Workshops on the creation of textile corals are organised with a designer, to create a coral reef.
. A visit is scheduled to highlight the corals and the water.
. Restitution and installation during the FITE of the coral barriers and proposal of workshops to make textile corals.
. We work with children, for their capacity of imagination, it is in this space that innovation can develop.
. Children are the actors and decision-makers of tomorrow. The project raises their awareness of environmental issues, respect for marine life and the water cycle. The project develops their ecological awareness which they share with their friends and family, becoming citizens of tomorrow.
. The participating children come from priority geographical areas, both urban and rural. The project provides them with activities in and out of school.
. The project's interdisciplinary nature opens up horizons and emphasises the importance of the collective. Pupils visit key places in the territory, dedicated to the collective (water plant supplying the whole population and their place of residence).
. The project introduces the pupils to art, showing them that the artist can be a social actor, and no longer an individualist who works alone.
. The project introduces the students to textile techniques, and more specifically to textile art
. The initiative addresses global environmental issues and the disappearance of corals, involving students in Auvergne Rhône Alpes in France, Romania, Dakar in Senegal, and soon in Lithuania. The project shows the need for "clean" water for corals in the seas and oceans. Pupils are made aware of the need for clean water, from where they live to the seas and oceans. Through their visit to the rivers and the water factory, they become aware of this need.
. The pupils act as local ambassadors for a widely shared issue. Children in Dakar, Senegal, reused plastics found in the city and turned them into a coral reef, highlighting the presence of plastic waste that is harmful to the water and nature in general.
. By discovering manual textile practices and making works of art, the pupils rediscover the possibility of making and experimenting with reuse by reusing wool and plastic... They thus tackle the issue of reuse and plastic waste.
. By choosing the textile medium, the project highlights skills that are forgotten, such as lace-making. This year, the pupils will make a lace coral barrier for the first time. This work by the children raises the question of the loss of textile know-how in France and Europe and its transfer to Asia.
. The project proposes to teach environmental challenges and textile know-how in a playful way, both in and out of school. It replaces places of learning, such as museums, as places of life, practice and play.
. The project brings children closer to nature and the seas and oceans. Children from urban and rural areas question life at sea and in the ocean while living in the city and in the country.
Progress: regular and increasing demand for school participation:
2019: 26 pupils, 2 classes of Clermont-Ferrand
-2020: 54 pupils, 4 classes of Clermont-Ferrand
-2021: 93 pupils, 5 classes of Clermont-Ferrand and Dakar
-2022: 28 pupils, 2 classes ofClermont-Ferrand + New European Bauhaus Festival (Brussels)
-2023: 113 pupils, 6 classes of Clermont-Ferrand and Retournac.
Planned for June 2023 : Lithuania with Nida Art Colony and Vilnius Academy of Arts
Progress: Request for new visits/discoveries
2019: Lyon aquarium
2020 : Vincennes aquarium
2021: Retournac Laces Factories and Bargoin Museums
2022 : Water factories and Art Roger-Quilliot Museum
Planned development 2023/24: rivers trip (Tiretaine and Loire) and Carmignac Foundation for Contemporary Art/Ecology visit.
Progress: Growing participation in FITE in Clermont-Ferrand.
2019: Visit of the artist Jérémy Gobé in Romania, installation of the art project Corail Artefact in Bucharest
2020: exhibition in FITE/Clermont-Ferrand
2021: Dakar coral textile workshops
2022: Exhibition of coral barriers (Clermont-Ferrand and Dakar) at the Art Roger-Quilliot Museum, Clermont-Ferrand.
Planned development 2023: "Child ambassadors" in Clermont-Ferrand, Retournac and Lithuania (Nida Art Colony).
2024/Child ambassadors project in Clermont-Ferrand, Retournac and Brazil (FITE/Brazil 2025).
Progress: More important restitution:
2019: Lyon Showroom Galerie 7, Contemporary art biennale of Lyon
2020: Jacques Prévert library, Clermont-Ferrand, focus: pedagogical aspect of the project
2022: Art Roger-Quilliot Museum with stronger aesthetic consideration and during the New European Bauhaus festival in June (focusing aesthetic/environmental relevance of the project and its need for expansion and diffusion)
New project development with partners in 2023:
Retournac Laces Factories Museum submits a project "The class, the work": Creation of a barrier of lace corals shown for the Euro
"Child Ambassadors" develops the skills and attitudes necessary for a greener and more sustainable society. The project develops an ethical and civic reflection on the environmental impact of human activities in marine areas. In addition to seeking concrete and applicable answers to safeguard the ecosystem resulting from the presence of corals, the project aims to educate and raise the awareness of tomorrow's European and international actors. By changing the relationship with water pollution from childhood, we hope to bring about new reflexes and awareness. In addition, the project aims to develop an interest in local textile art, which has a long history. Through its link with the textile company, the project proposes a reflection within the company on the question of the use of water and environmental practices in general, linked to the life of the company as well as to its textile production. HS_Projects is part of the non-formal education field. It works with teachers and places of knowledge (museums) to disseminate and develop knowledge and skills in teaching about the climate crisis and sustainability. It prevents students from eco-anxiety by involving them in an active approach to environmental protection. The project promotes nature, through exploration of rivers and water circuits, through discovery visits for pupils. It combines collective action and individual initiative by making individual corals that will form a common coral reef. By its multidisciplinary nature, the project brings together a community of practice associating schools, oceanography researchers and civil society. It proposes positive action on sustainability, through creations and concrete attitudes to environmental issues.
The project is based on the "GreenComp", a new European framework of competences which makes education for sustainability a priority area. Through its international component, which it wishes to develop further. It wishes to develop propositions for the future.
