Culture means venues:

a library, rooms available for activities and sometimes an auditorium.

The library, directly accessible in each prison, is the first stop for culture. Detainees have access to reading material (books and the press, in French and other languages) as well as, increasingly, CDs and DVDs to be listened to or watched at the library or borrowed and taken back to their cells. The library operation, for both enhancement of collections and the organization of book-related events (writing workshops, meetings/readings with authors, etc.) is based on a partnership with local libraries.

Occasional or long-term cultural activities are offered to the entire prison population – men, women and minors. They are organized in partnership with local cultural structures and events, and led by artists and professionals from the culture sector, with the aim of ensuring an inside/outside link. They concern all fields (music, theatre/dance, film, books and reading, museums and heritage, plastic arts) in two forms:

• Broadcasting: concerts, screenings, readings, plays, lectures, etc. followed by meetings with the participants.
• Creative workshops: writing workshops, video production, amateur cultural practices (music, dance, theatre) leading to premieres, plays, recordings, publications, etc. designed to be shown or presented outside the establishment.

There could be greater development of cultural activities if, in some areas, financial, material or geographical issues could be resolved. One of the goals of the Foundation is to encourage and support the existence of quality cultural projects in these places.

Here are a few examples of cultural activities:

Bib_Rennes_11

Library at the women’s prison in Rennes, France.The library is the prison’s cultural breathing space. Detainees can borrow — or consult — books and magazines. Writing workshops are sometimes organized. The collection is renewed in partnership with the municipal or departmental libraries, which enhance the collections through book deposits.

prison-2-bibliotheque_0Expo_CP-LePontet_2009

Work session during the making of a film in the video workshop led by the organization Lieux Fictifs (“Fictional Places”). Men’s prison at the Les Baumettes penitentiary in Marseilles.Since 1987, Lieux Fictifs has organized audiovisual programming and production workshops at Les Baumettes. The films produced by detainees working with film makers are regularly screened at festivals in France and abroad.http://www.lieuxfictifs.org/site/

Prison 4 Lieux FictifsTransmurailles 2008

Exhibition within the framework of the Angoulême Festival 2009 of prizewinners from the cartoon drawing in prison competition, Transmurailles (“Through the Walls”).The second edition of the competition was launched in 2009. Prizewinning entries will be shown in Angoulême in January 2010. Detainees are also offered plastic arts and cartoon creation workshops. In parallel, the competition is open to those who carry out artistic practices outside the workshop structure. It is crucial that detainees’ works be visible to civil society.

Prison 1 TransmuraillesOrphea_11276

Theatre workshop at the Chauconin penitentiary in Meaux.Performance given at the prison following a theatre workshop. In parallel to theatre workshops, within the framework of partnerships with national theatres and halls, theatrical performances are given by professional companies.