A program that kept all its promises

Wajdi Mouawad:
My name is Wajdi Mouawad, I am the director of this theater.

2018-2019
6th edition
a program of social cohesion through theater

Wajdi Mouawad: I just wanted to tell you one thing: think about one thing, it’s really important for me. It’s simply to tell you that, no matter who you are, no matter who we are, from the moment you get on a theater stage, from the moment you go up there, on this stage, you become a poem. No matter who you are, you become a poem.

Anne-Claire Lienhardt:
I am unable to distinguish those who come from vocational schools from those who come from regular high schools. I think there is a lot of energy, a lot of investment, from the artists. I regularly go to see plays. So, the goal is not to make professional actors out of them, even if there may be vocations that will emerge. But I find that this way of learning to find the appropriate tone, and to think about topics for the stage, to learn to work together, to listen to each other, to agree when it comes to defining a script. I think it’s extremely valuable, and whatever happens to them in life it can only bring them positive things.

Lorraine Vincenot:
We decided to support « Éducation et Proximité » because is it a project that organizes theatrical initiation courses, bringing twosome from vocational high schools and general high schools classes. And this is a very interesting topic, because we think that once these students sign up for one school type, then they have very few interactions with other types of high schools.

Bouchra Aliouat:
We decided to support «La Colline» and the project « Éducation et Proximité », simply because we have been working within the regions and especially with high schools for the last 10 years now. And we also wanted to develop the artistic side of this program. It was important for us to work with young people and show that art can be a vector of professional and social integration, and that it can also help them on certain aspects of their personalities like self-confidence, linked to oral expression. And to give them access to arts as well, especially in the most remote areas, in the suburbs for example. Because in the suburbs, we realize that the artistic programming is quite limited, and that the Théâtre de la Colline, which is a theater located in the center of Paris, is committed with high schools on this subject in the regions and in the suburbs. We find it particularly interesting especially on the aspect of cultural inclusion.