More than a century at the Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs in Faubourg Poissonnière, 80
and 20 years in La Villette: three Parisian places that will
marked the brilliant course, since its creation after Thermidor, of your
prestigious institution.
Exactly 20 years ago, President François Mitterrand inaugurated
this project for the site of La Villette that was close to his heart since the beginning
of his first term. Since then, the Conservatory has
better adapted premises, a new dynamic, benefiting from
links with the Cité de la Musique, the ensemble intercontemporain and the Centre
National Dance Festival, and focused on diversifying the
that on opening up to the professional world.
With the arrival of youth, imagination, dynamics and
international renown in the person of Bruno Mantovani, the
Conservatoire has all the cards in hand to continue its
and strengthen its missions. These challenges, dear Bruno, I have
full confidence in you, as you know, to raise them,
with you, François Laurent, whose eminent
professional and human qualities, Daniel Agésilas for the
Department of Choreographic Studies, and all of your teams.
I wouldn’t want to intrude on the beautiful musical and
that you are giving us tonight for this anniversary, and that
speaks for itself. Nevertheless, if we want to make a very quick assessment of the 20
years that have just passed for the Conservatoire, I will start well
the profound evolution of its teaching. In fact, this
emblematic higher education institution, for music
as for dance, for the crafts of creation as for those of
the teaching, which has trained so many recognized artists, has known fully
adapt to the changing context of higher education
In recent years, in connection with and complementarity with the university.
Today, students of the Conservatory have fully appropriated
the redefinition of their journey. The gradual implementation of the 3
LMD levels (bachelor-master-doctorate) guarantee, at each of these levels
recognition and visibility that these students will have
need in their professional life.
As you know, Higher Education recently recognized the diploma
of the Conservatory of Music as a Master’s degree, after a
very positive assessment of the AERES. This is a form of recognition
with my colleague, Valérie Pécresse, who was greeted. Art schools are
currently subject to this process, and I am pleased to see
gradually higher arts education combine
recognition of its specificities and recognition of its value and
its level - although there is still some way to go
research level.
Higher education is now taking place, and this is still a process
in the future, in partnership logics, that it is up to you to
develop: with the university, I said at the moment, but also of course
with the CNSMD of Lyon and with the other higher education
music, dance, theatre, visual arts, etc. It is important that
pedagogical and artistic complementarities play fully, so that
students are armed for careers that will make them meet
modes of expression often crossed.
This transition to the LMD format also contributes to recognition
of the Conservatory, since the gains in visibility for the
the Bologna process, in order to
structure the European higher education area. This
visibility, you have all the prestige and notoriety to be able to
increase it even more; so it remains to complete this fitness movement,
and expanding partnership and project initiatives to ensure
your action in sustainable networks, particularly at European level.
The modernization of the Conservatoire is also the continuation of the
the professionalization of curricula and the improvement of integration, through
diverse experiences, including work placements,
as higher education develops in other sectors.
On these various sites, the dynamic is well underway and I am sure, dear
Bruno, that you will be able to pursue and deepen it with your teams.
I would like to pay tribute to these teams. The
Conservatory accompanies these multiple transitions that call
significant efforts to change management practices, and
I am fully aware of the responsibility and quality of the
work you do in this area.
In conclusion, I would also like to acknowledge the remarkable work done by the
teachers of this prestigious place, which I know strongly involved in
all past and future developments. For many of you, you
are also highly recognized artists, and you succeed in the impossible
reconciling what it takes in terms of repetition and commitment
and your pedagogical work. You are demonstrating
an involvement that can only arouse admiration. You are,
with the young talents you help to flourish, the vital forces that
give this institution all its influence.
Thank you.