Since its opening, the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac has implemented a dynamic policy to reach out to a wider public, wherever they may be and whatever their situation.
Cultural democratization and regional action
Content
A mediation policy towards all audiences
Democratizing access to culture involves making the rich collections held by the museum accessible to all. With this aim, the museum undertakes daily to facilitate access for all audiences and to extend dedicated actions towards targets of specific audiences: the audience called “distant” who never go on their own to the museum, the audience called “unable” (people in hospital, handicapped, in custody or part of the social sector), etc., a requirement that aims at lifting, one by one, the obstacles to visiting the museum, whether they are related to cost, geography or socio-cultural factors.
Regional activities
Reaching out to new audiences across the entire country is of the highest priority for the museum. Since 2013, the Nomad Workshops, a unique extramural initiative, have helped to develop new links with local communities by setting up activities in places familiar to residents (schools, associations, community centres, cultural venues, health facilities, etc.). Following on from Cergy-Pontoise, Clichy-sous-Bois, Montfermeil and the Grand Paris Sud-Seine-Essonne-Sénart urban community (Bondoufle, Courcouronnes, évry, Lisses, Ris-Orangis and Villabé), the fourth edition with Argenteuil came to an end in 2021 after having reached 20,000 people on site and having welcomed 11,500 residents of Argenteuil to the museum.
New partnerships with the towns of Villiers-le-Bel and Longjumeau were initiated in 2021 in order to expand the territories that benefit from the museum's off-site activities.
In addition, work has been under way since 2020 to develop actions as part of the Micro-Folie programme. Some fifteen Micro-Folie events in Île-de-France, in the regions and even abroad have been identified to receive a Travel Box. The Travel Box is an extramural mediation tool for schools, extracurricular and inclusive education groups that offers teachers a set of educational resources focusing on twenty-four of the museum's iconic works, with two activities for each. After training, mediators can draw on the rich content to lead sessions for the audiences hosted.
With the support of Caisse de Crédit Mutuel du Parisis, the Groupe ADP Foundation, the Orange Foundation, the RATP Group Foundation, the SNCF Foundation, the Fondation Suez and the Fondation Transdev
Activities for people in custody
Since 2010, the museum has implemented a policy of off-site actions targeting individuals in custody. The cultural programme proposed encompasses two aspects: activities within prisons themselves and those outside of prisons, which include in particular visits to the museum for detainees as part of rehabilitation programmes prior to release in the near future.
Long-term partnerships have been established with La Santé prison, the Paris Probation and Rehabilitation Section (SPIP Paris), Fresnes Prison, the Île-de-France Youth Judicial Protection Service, and Versailles Women's Prison.
With the support of the Linklaters Foundation
Activities for hospitalised patients and people in retirement homes
Given that some people are unable to travel, the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac has decided to reach out to them. As such, the museum has partnered with the Paris public hospitals authority (AP-HP) since 2017 in order to run hospital sessions led by the museum's tour guides and storytellers as well as readings with musical accompaniment.
A partnership has also been initiated with La Joliette retirement residence in Marseille to put in place videoconference sessions for residents, in particular to maintain a connection with these audiences during the health crisis.
With the support of the Fonds Handicap & Société par Intégrance