At the Economic Inclusion Forum in Avignon, a cultural industry in search of renewal – Liberation

Moving forward on questions of inclusion, opening up advertising or artistic creation to other audiences, giving a chance to the suburbs, to people with disabilities, to all those who are far from labor codes… “The least we can say is that there is still work to do,” underlined a participant in the first Forum of the economic inclusion in the culture and the creative industries which was held Tuesday, with the university of Avignon, animated by Fabien Claire, director of the drafting of News Tank.

How to create bridges, reach these young people who do not think that these trades are accessible to them? Moussa Camara created the Determineda structure that aims to promote the emancipation of young people in working-class neighborhoods, with a device within companies. “What counts is the human being and the desire, explains Musa. These professions lacked creativity. However, these different life paths enrich creativity. In the advertising sector, this is not easy. Lots of young people say to themselves: “It’s not for me.” There are no examples that precede them. We wanted to create opportunities. We had to inform, build confidence and support. That takes time. People have to evolve.”

Gilles Fichteberg, co-founder of the Rosa Paris agency, reacted immediately. “We learn by walking. The last kilometer is difficult, the first just as much. The idea was to connect young people to the cream of advertising, encourage their commitment to work-study contracts and fixed-term and permanent contracts. Eighteen of them have been working alternately in agencies for five months. Success will be massification, bringing more over the years. The Afdas accompanies us, we have a little breakage, but at 80%, it is a success. Finally, Moussa Camara insists on this “change mindset. I hope this will encourage many more companies to act, which will ultimately lead to a more peaceful society. Integration is essential”. And Gilles Fichteberg concludes: “We are dealing with young people who have dropped out of school. We work with them without prejudice.” In the room, an association leader quotes Nelson Mandela: “I never fail: either I succeed or I learn.”

“Being together is a single vision of the world”

Make way for Catherine Santy, audiovisual production consultant on culture and diversity issues at the Mozaïk Foundation. With Netflix, she participated in an inclusive program to put inclusion into action. She highlights how people are used to working with their own network. “The decision-makers are among themselves and do not open up to others, thus leaving part of the French imagination fallow. Failure to do so is professional misconduct. Self-segregation is a single vision of the world. People tend to say: I’m not against diversity and I do it all the time, each of us thinks we do, but no. It is necessary first to arrive at the acceptance of the other, then at the commitment, and finally at the action. We’re all running after the audience, it’ll make the cake bigger. By appealing to those people who have different voices and will reach other audiences. The talents are there, but I’ve seen a lot of them go to waste,” deplores Catherine Santy.

Another experience: that of Bruno Lajara, director of l’Envol, a “starting class”. Bruno Lajara works in the north of France, where successive crises have taken place, impoverishment, with the mining basin of Pas de Calais. He drew on a Brazilian example, where artists stayed in factories to work with the population in the favelas. “The goal is to resume training or employment. We are also dedicated to mobility. Many young people do not have access to care, to an apartment, have experienced episodes of strong violence. We have one hectare of land to launch an agroecological transition school. We are facing an aging of intermittent workers. We must renew the population by opening it up more.”

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The media are not the last concerned with the issue of inclusion. Pascal Guénée, president of the conference of journalism schools, director of the practical institute of journalism Paris Dauphine, says it clearly: “We never meet someone who tells us: diversity is not important.” He is aware of the role that the media have to play in “inclusive journalism”, another way of processing information. “You have to give a first boost to an audience that editorial offices are not ready to welcome. For twenty years, there has been real progress.” This subject will be at the heart of the Estates General on the training and employment of young journalists, on October 3 and 4 in Paris.

About journalism, notes Pascal Guenée, the first two words that come are “social utility” and “precariousness”. “Entering the profession, not everyone can afford this luxury.” The job passion does not excuse everything, we must think about better remuneration (especially for freelancers)… Finally, what can we change in the editorial? “Young people increasingly want to give voice to people who are far from the media. People who are far from education are also far from democracy,” concludes the journalist.

Women “erased” from history

To close this day, a round table around “Equality between women and men, the urgency to act” was organized by Release. Yoann Duval, Deputy Editor, began as follows: “Every year the numbers speak. In live performance, the wage gap between men and women is 12%. Only 38% of women reach the highest positions in public establishments.” And there is no director in prestigious positions such as the Théâtre national de Strasbourg, Chaillot or the Comédie Française… How can we promote inclusion and raise awareness of this issue? A question taken up by Aurore Evain, author, director and researcher, who underlines the extent to which the creators have been “erased” throughout history. “This “heritage”, she says, is an important political issue. Four hundred years before the Fountain, there were authors who wrote works performed at the French comedy. Thirty years ago, when I was studying theater, I didn’t even imagine that women had written theater before Marguerite Duras. By discovering the first artists like Madeleine Béjart, I discovered these authors, a word that has existed since antiquity and against whom we made war.

To conclude, the floor was given to Courtney Geraghty, director of the Croix-Rousse theater in Lyon. “The images that forged me were purely masculine. When I seek to program artists, it will be mostly men, yet there are equally talented women. So I say: I have to be equal. I do not derogate from it. The only way to get there is through numbers and quotas.”

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