1. AR – First of all, could you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
ER – I’ve been working in scientific mediation and cultural action for over 10 years. Like many people, I started out in the field as a mediator. My first position was at the Val-de-Marne departmental archives. During this first experience, I designed exhibitions and workshops on a wide variety of themes at the Maison de l’Histoire et du Patrimoine in Champigny-sur-Marne. Alongside this experience, I was also a referent for the Concours national de la résistance et de la déportation. For several years, I accompanied students as they took part in this school competition organized by the French Ministry of Education and the Souvenir Français. These early experiences, closely linked to mediation and the public, confirmed my desire to get involved in these fields.
After this initial experience, I was recruited by the Seine-et-Marne département as a public development officer at the Château médiéval de Blandy-les-Tours, and then as head of the public services department. During these 4 years, I was able to implement mediation actions on the history of the site, as well as develop contemporary creation projects in conjunction with the House of Juggling, and national and international companies, which gave rise to various festivals that could welcome 15 to 20,000 visitors in a single weekend.
In April 2019, I joined the Musée de l’Homme, attracted by its vision of humanity in all its plurality: societies, cultures and beliefs, biological environments. Such a vision requires highly diverse teams who invest incredible energy in mediation and the transmission of scientific and cultural knowledge, without losing touch with the public.
It was with this ambition that I joined the museum, first looking after school groups and the social field, and then, in February 2021, taking charge of this 8-person department (including a referent dedicated to the social field and the Mission Vivre Ensemble). Each year, within this department, we integrate into our workload a project that enables us to target an audience requiring special attention. This is how the card game project for French language learners came about, to be implemented between 2019 and 2021.
2. AR – Could you tell us how this participatory project came about and how you managed it?
ER – The idea for this project was spurred on back in 2016 by Camille Noize, the former head of the mediation and cultural action department. As part of her duties and in connection with the Mission Vivre Ensemble, she had taken part in a working group with audiences learning French.
In view of the strong presence of social visitors in the museum’s attendance figures (the 2nd most popular group after schoolchildren among the 200,000+ visitors), it seemed necessary to develop a tool aimed at both the professionals who accompany these visitors to the museum (socio-cultural associations, associations for integration, training and French language learning) and the visitors themselves and their families. The aim of this tool was to help visitors get to know the Galerie de l’Homme and the objects in its collection, and to convey the museum’s fundamental messages, while at the same time contributing to the learning of the French language.
It was really in 2019 that we approached L’Ile aux Langues to co-construct this project with this association for social and digital inclusion, while at the same time mobilizing some forty of its students, whom it was training to learn French and who wanted to get involved in this playing card project. This group was truly at the heart of the project (without them, it wouldn’t have been possible). To mobilize them, numerous sessions were held with the teachers and learners to identify the objects in the collection to be enhanced, iteratively draft the questions to be asked, prototype the card game and test it in situ (some twenty test visits were carried out).
3. AR – Can you give us a more detailed description of the card game you’ve produced, and what it’s used for today?
The device created as part of these workshops is a set of 40 cards that is as accessible as possible, and can be used in a wide variety of ways: as part of in-house or off-site workshops, to create itineraries, or to choose themes or objects for a visit to the museum.
In the form of a quiz, it can be used for a variety of activities:
- Ahead of the visit, the game gives you a better understanding of the Musée de l’Homme: its building, its collections, its geographical location and how to get there.
- During the tour, groups or individual visitors take charge of their visit, seeking answers from the collections on display to help them better grasp the different themes addressed in the Galerie de l’Homme: the human race, prehistory, globalization, etc.
After the visit, questions can be asked to complete the tour and review what you’ve learned, your understanding of the collections, etc.
Since 2021, this game has been integrated into and offered as part of the monthly training courses run by Chloé Pourtier, the museum’s social field referent for professionals. It is also widely used by L’ile aux langues as part of its training courses. In addition, it is referenced in the Mission Vivre Ensemble newsletter, and relayed quarterly to a large mailing list of professionals in the social field (like the other mediation offerings of member museums). Finally, various partners relay this offer through their own communication channels. This is the case, for example, with RATP and the inter-regional directorate for the judicial protection of young people. Every year, some fifty prints of the game are produced by the museum.
