Rima Abdul Malak, Minister of Culture, in full agreement with Benoît Payan, Mayor of Marseille and Renaud Muselier, President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, gave his approval to the proposal of the jury to appoint Loïc Magnant to the management of the FAI-AR (Advanced Travelling Training in Street Arts). This institution offers a cycle of higher education in writing and the realization of artistic projects in public space. The FAI-AR also runs continuing education courses, masterclasses and a MOOC.
Registered within the Cité des arts de la rue in Marseille since 2003, the FAI-AR is unique in its field at European level and plays a decisive role in the future of the street arts sector because it aims to build a pool of artists in the making, carriers of the renewal of the aesthetics of creation.
Former coordinator of the City of Street Arts Prefiguration Association (2006-2010) and co-founder of the Girl Guides Bureau, Loïc Magnant has a fine knowledge of the local fabric as well as nationally and internationally. Thanks to its past collaborations with the FAI-AR and other training institutions, such as the Institute of Public Management and Territorial Governance in Marseille or the Observatory of Cultural Policies, It also presents pedagogical expertise and the ability to understand issues specific to higher education.
Loïc Magnant’s project is a continuation of the main lines of the current training, designed to allow artists to seize all the new possible frameworks of creation in public space (public policies, urban and rural contexts, ecological and social transitions, etc.). While keeping the pedagogical dimension at the center of the project, Loïc Magnant wants the FAI-AR to be both a tool for producing resources and sharing knowledge, as well as a field of research and actions, where young European creation can meet and experiment.
This appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the Cité des arts de la rue: as well as Alexis Nys, very recently appointed to Lieux publics, Centre national des arts de la rue et de l'Espace Public de Marseille, Loïc Magnant intends to revitalize the network between the various actors of the Cité des arts de la rue, opening it up to the territory and consolidating its development in France and Europe.
The Minister of Culture also wishes to commend the remarkable work done by Jean-Sébastien Steil, former director of the FAI-AR, who has now joined the Labasse Abbey. He was able to renew the pedagogy within the school, and anchor it in the societal problems of today. It is a solid base on which Loïc Magnat can rely.