Orange rouge (L')

Association for inclusion through contemporary art (Paris) / Supported by the Foundation (2010)

After graduating from the Paris School of Fine Arts, Corinne Digard worked in advertising (Saatchi & Saatchi, DDB, McCann Erickson) and modern art, before deciding in 1994 to set up an Paris-based association known as L’Orange rouge, which aims to help children and disabled adolescents understand modern art. She has also since worked as an art therapist in hospitals for the Tournesol association. Assisted by school teachers and up-and-coming or renowned artists (around twenty per year), her association sets up educational activities and creative encounters with children in education inclusion units classes with inclusion schemes for disabled children¾or in medical education centres. The association’s range of activities reaches 140 children aged between 11 and 16 in the units, 30 in the centres and 50 more experiencing learning difficulties. The programmes last 60 hours, 2 hours each week, mostly outside school times.

How are the projects set up? The artists first introduce their work and enter into dialogue with the guidance teachers at the unit and the children themselves. This then becomes the project, culminating in a creative work. How the works themselves then unfold depends on the style of the artists, the materials, and above all their relationship with the children and the teachers. The children’s work is finally collected for exhibition. Cultural outings are organised alongside the programmes, in conjunction with the workshops.