As a mother tongue for some, the language of the host country for others, the French language allows communication between all. With a view to linguistic integration and the fight against illiteracy, the Ministry of Culture supports projects and forms of mediation adapted to people with insufficient command of French, through the program Cultural action and the French language (ACLF).
After four bi-annual editions and more than eight hundred projects supported throughout the territory for people with French learning and practice needs, the ACLF scheme is renewed in 2023 in the form of an annual programme. An endowment of €500,000 is allocated to it in 2023 by the Ministry of Culture and will be renewed every year.
Presentation of the device
What is the annual programme "Cultural action and the French language"?
The challenge of this program is to contribute to the reduction of inequalities in access to the French language and culture through cultural or artistic projects conducted with people involved in the acquisition or strengthening of French.
Special forms of mediation must be established with the help of cultural operators, such as integration, socio-cultural and socio-educational fields, training and justice.
Objectives of the approach
The objectives of this annual program are to:
- To encourage cultural and artistic practices as levers for the appropriation of French;
- To promote partnerships at the territorial level between cultural professionals and specialists in the appropriation of French;
- To enhance the languages spoken by populations of foreign origin or regional languages.
Particular attention is paid to priority areas (city policy districts, rural and ultramarine areas).
Am I concerned by this approach?
- Associations
- Commons
- Departments
- Private companies
- Local public enterprises
- EPCI with own taxation
- Public institutions/ State services
- Individuals
- Regions
The eligible structures are:
- Cultural associations and bodies, whether under the control of the State or local authorities, as long as they are associated with one or more local structures.
- Associations and organizations setting up activities to learn or practice French as a foreign language and to combat illiteracy or prevention for young people.
- Integration, socio-cultural and socio-educational (including early childhood and parenthood) associations, training and justice
The beneficiaries are:
- Allophone adults
- Adults in illiteracy situations
- Persons placed in custody
- Children and young people in a situation of linguistic fragility, outside of school time
- Young people aged 16 to 25 without qualifications or employment
- Minors on Child Welfare and Child Welfare
Two types of projects can be selected under this programme: local projects and tooling projects with a national dimension.
The feasibility of the projects should be demonstrated, as well as the ability of the structure to mobilize financial and operational partners.
Local projects
Local projects must meet the following criteria to be eligible:
- Fall under one or more of the following areas:
- Speech arts: slam, reading aloud, eloquence contest, improvisational matches, public and civic speaking, public reading, etc.
- Writing workshops: storytelling, poetry, comics, spelling competitions, etc.
- Performing arts: theatre, circus, song, music, etc.
- Cinema, media and digital practices
- Heritage: museums, historical monuments and heritage sites, archives, cities and countries of art and history, etc.
- Visual arts
- Associate speakers with proven expertise in the field of cultural mediation and the accompaniment of people with learning and practice needs in the field of French and basic skills
- Define the co-construction of the project between linguistic and cultural stakeholders so as to link language activities to artistic activities
- Reach the same group of 15 to 20 persons (except for persons in custody, and isolated minors) for a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 12 months
- Provide for an assessment of language learning (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) for allophones in particular)
- Provide for a final evaluation of the project and a time of public restitution or feedback to which it will be appropriate to invite the decentralized service of the Ministry of Culture (DARC/DAC/DCJS/MAC) if necessary
- Involve public financial partners (decentralized State services, local authorities, public bodies) or private
It is advisable to contact the decentralized department of the territorially competent Ministry of Culture (DRAC/DAC/DCJS/MAC) for more information.
Tooling projects on a national scale
Projects with a national dimension must meet the following criteria to be eligible:
- Concern the development of digital tools responding to an uncovered need, the continuation of projects requiring multi-year implementation, the dissemination of tools made during previous national calls for projects
- Provide tools for stakeholders in the networks concerned (collections of good practices, training kits, online tools, etc.)
- Provide for the dissemination and appropriation of the tool(s) produced by promoting the networking of partners and the transfer in neighbouring contexts to other networks.
Winning structures may not participate in two consecutive years of the programme.
Projects not meeting the above criteria are not eligible.
The following projects are also not eligible:
- International in scope
- Requesting financial participation from targeted audiences
Proceeding
A total of €500,000 will be distributed among the winners of this programme.
Assistance from the Ministry of Culture may not exceed 60% of the project budget.
The subsidy consists of an advance on the estimated costs and/or a reimbursement of the costs incurred.
It will be paid in one instalment directly to the structure’s account between July and September.
The General Delegation for the French Language and the Languages of France (DGLFLF) is responsible for the overall coordination of the programme and its restitution. It relies on a national steering committee composed of representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the National Agency for Combating Illiteracy (ANLI), as well as several ministerial departments responsible for public policies relating to the mastery of French and cultural democratization.
The programme is led at regional level by the Ministry of Culture’s decentralized services (DRAC/DAC/DCJS/MAC), in collaboration with the other decentralized services of the State.
Applications for a local project will be examined by the decentralised department of the Ministry of Culture of the project location.
Applications for a national tooling project are reviewed by DGLFLF.
Particular attention is paid to the following conditions:
- Project Feasibility
- Ability of the structure to engage financial and operational partners
- Production of training tools or intervention kit that can be easily transposed throughout the country (concerning tooling projects)
- Implementation of cultural action measures (public reading, performing arts, heritage, digital practices, etc.) in the service of mastering French for audiences in difficulty
- Partnerships with local authorities, decentralised government services and the private sector
- Opening of the deposit of files: 01 February 2023
- Application deadline: 31 March 2023, 23:59 (Paris time). No file may be filed or considered after this date.
- Announcement of results: early June 2023
- Grant payment: between July 2023 and September 2023
An interim balance sheet must be sent in the first quarter of 2024 and a final balance sheet in the second half of 2024.
If necessary, the return to the Public Treasury of the amount allocated may be required, at the end of the balance sheet of the project.
- To access the online form, click on the "Access form" button at the bottom of the page.
- Log in or create an account, then let yourself be guided.
Examples of previously supported local projects
- Amount of subsidy paid: €3,956
- Project description: This project involves working with musicians and a sound technician to collect lullabies from families housed in an emergency shelter, to work the expression around this practice with the help of the trainer in French Foreign Languages and the socio-cultural facilitator of the CHU (emergency shelter) and then to put in image these lullabies, through workshops led by illustrator Cloük. The CHU also plans to work with families around the creation of a book-cd bringing together lullabies of host families.
- Amount of subsidy paid: 3,315 euros
- Project description: The project is structured around a writing workshop (10 sessions) conducted by a mediator of the book of the association "On a
Marché sur la Bulle" and is addressed to an audience composed of allophone and illiterate adults and/or young people aged 16 to 25 without qualification and without employment identified by the Centre Social Georges Brassens (Creil).
The work was conducted around the theme "Life stories" allowing each participant to share his story, his journey.
You will also find other examples of projects supported previously on the dedicated page.
A question?
For any questions about the program Cultural action and the French language, you are invited to contact:
General Delegation for French and French (DGLFLF)
Mission language proficiency and territorial action
aaplanguefrancaise@culture.gouv.fr
01 40 15 36 69
3 rue de Valois, 75001 Paris
or to the decentralized service of the Ministry of Culture of the place of realization of your project:
Noëlle Drognat-Landré: noelle.drognat-landre@culture.gouv.fr
Sylviane Jourdheuil (Dijon): sylviane.jourdheuil@culture.gouv.fr
Habiba Imaaingfen (Besançon): habiba.imaaingfen@culture.gouv.fr
Enora Oulc’hen: enora.oulchen@culture.gouv.fr
Vanessa N’Doye: vanessa.ndoye@culture.gouv.fr
Jean-Luc Sarrola: jean-luc.sarrola@culture.gouv.fr
Delphine Quéreux-Sbaï (Châlons-en-Champagne): delphine.quereux-sbai@culture.gouv.fr
Colette Gravier (Metz): colette.gravier@culture.gouv.fr
Philippe Charrier (Strasbourg): philippe.charrier@culture.gouv.fr
Jacques Sauteron: jacques.sauteron@culture.gouv.fr
Cécile Hauser de Bisschop: cecile.hauser-de-bisschop@culture.gouv.fr
Françoise Dekowski: francoise.dekowski@culture.gouv.fr
Benjamin Vallée (Caen): benjamin.vallee@culture.gouv.fr
Idyll Bottois (Rouen): idyll.bottois@culture.gouv.fr
Justine Dujardin (Gironde outside Bordeaux metropolis, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques): justine.dujardin@culture.gouv.fr
Arnaud Travade (Bordeaux metropolis, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques): arnaud.travade@culture.gouv.fr
Jacques Deville (Charente, Charente-Maritime, Seine-Maritime, Vienna): jacques.deville@culture.gouv.fr
Sandrine Pantaleao (Corrèze, Creuse, Dordogne, Haute-Vienne): sandrine.pantaleao@culture.gouv.fr
Fleur Bouillanne (Montpellier): fleur.bouillanne@culture.gouv.fr
Marie Sarah Villeroy (Toulouse): marie-sarah.villeroy@culture.gouv.fr
Séverine Boullay (Nantes et sa métropole): severine.boullay@culture.gouv.fr
François-Xavier André (Vendée, Loire-Atlantique, Mayenne): francois-xavier.andre@culture.gouv.fr
Maria Mones: maria.mones@culture.gouv.fr
Nathalie Erny: nathalie.erny@culture.gouv.fr
Abdoulaye Keita: abdoulaye.keita@guyane.pref.gouv.fr
Katia Leloutre: katia.leloutre@culture.gouv.fr
Yolande-Salomé Toumson: yolande-salome.toumson@culture.gouv.fr
Djaouharia Mohamed: djaouharia.mohamed@culture.gouv.fr