Margéniaux (Dissonance ensemble)

Association using classical music to fight exclusion Supported by the Foundation (December 2010)

Les Margéniaux (‘The Marginals’) was born of an encounter with the classical ensemble Les Dissonances, formed by violinist David Grimal. In the aim of assisting people in the process of rehabilitation, the idea is to recycle money raised at concerts and Les Dissonances record sales into projects for street people, in the form of microcredits. The initiative, which for example involves helping a homeless person to pass their driving test after finding a job, or supporting a former prostitute in selling artefacts at the market, builds on the work of Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus. The first concert took place in 2003 at Saint-Leu, in Paris. Since then, a concert has been held every year, at Christmas. The idea of a single location is key: it is an anchor, a meeting point with associations and social workers with knowledge of the terrain. A further project was born in 2010. L’Autre Saison (‘The Other Season’) lays on concerts every month of the school year for people living on the street. Staging the concerts is a rehabilitation project in itself: homeless people are taken on and paid – unlike the members of the association, who are all volunteers. Émilie Le Bouffo, of Les Dissonances’ administrator and volunteer with Les Margéniaux, says: “The idea is not to give money to the poor, but to help those who have already adopted a personal strategy and simply lack the means to move on to the next step. The idea of microcredit is to empower people by agreeing to a variable long-term repayment schedule. The money that has been lent by the Margéniaux will, once repaid, serve other people in need.”