Éric de Chassey, Director of Villa Médicis, presented a report on the reform of residences to the Académie de France in Rome – Villa Médicis to Aurélie Filippetti, Minister of Culture and Communication, which asked him to make proposals for the modernization of this essential mission of the institution.
This report summarizes the work of a commission made up of French, Italian and international personalities: responsible for residence, directors of higher education establishment of creation, former boarders and boarders of the Villa Medicis, members of the board of directors. It reaffirms the specific and exceptional character of the Académie de France in Rome – Villa Médicis and the central place of the mission of welcoming residents and residents within its various missions. It proposes to ensure that it is more adapted to the needs and expectations of residents, that their stay is better valued and disseminated and that the administrative organization of the residence is modernized, in an international context that has evolved profoundly since its creation in 1666 and its last major reform in 1971.
The name of the institution – Académie de France in Rome – serves as a guide to reform.
The aim is to strengthen its character as an Academy, that is, as a training place for selected artists and researchers. To the fifteen or so residents, Artists and researchers recruited for a long time after a difficult competition and endowed with a prestigious title that testifies to the long history of the establishment and the commitment of the Nation in favor of free creation and research, will now be added, for stays of one to a few months, winners from higher education institutions of the Ministry of Culture and Communication. Each promotion of residents will be accompanied by a visiting professor of indisputable international stature, distinguished each year by the Minister of Culture and Communication on the proposal of the jury of the competition.
It is also a matter of ensuring the full international networking of residents. The stay in Rome of artists and researchers continues to find its raison d'être in the possibility of a living relationship to a long and complex history. It must be adapted to the fact that Rome is no longer only the central city of Antiquity and the Renaissance but also that of the Treaty of Rome, a city located in the heart of Europe. More than ever, the Villa Medici must be an exceptional French and European establishment, multi-connected with the rest of the world.
The desire to bring the Académie de France to Rome fully into the 21st century has led the Commission to identify eight orientations that will make it possible to renew the institution while fully benefiting from its anchorage in a long history. All will be implemented.
Details of the guidelines proposed by the Commission:
A. CREATING THE CONDITIONS FOR REAL INTEGRATION OF RESIDENTS INTO CONTEMPORARY NETWORKS OF CREATION AND RESEARCH
1 – Linking the Académie de France in Rome to the network of higher education institutions for the creation, theory and history of the arts, in order to encourage the reception of young creators at the end of their studies, both French and international, within the framework of qualification pathways, in all the disciplines of creation and research on creation, in order to highlight the dimension of school, present at the origins of the Académie de France in Rome.
2 – To promote and disseminate the stay at the Académie de France in Rome, while ensuring the return to the Nation of the efforts made for the artists and researchers of this institution, in particular by organising multidisciplinary collective events and by the commitment of residents and former residents to mention this quality on any public document for a contractual period.
B. MODERNIZE AND OPEN RESIDENCES TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES
3 – To diversify the types of residence and stay, according to age and discipline, to allow a better match to the current conditions of creation and training, by organizing them around a sharing of experiences.
4 – Strengthen the openness of the disciplines received by focusing on the notion of creating a work (original and personal ensemble of achievements, lasting) and by welcoming all disciplines dedicated to research and reflection on creation, beyond the history of art, in all disciplines of the humanities.
5 – Reinforce the criteria for excellence in recruitment, notably through better communication of the possibilities offered and wider internationalisation, while maintaining the criterion of mastery of the French language (common language of the Villa Medicis).
C. MODERNISING THE ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF RESIDENCE
6 – Restructure the remuneration of residents without changing the amount to better reflect their career paths.
7 – Improve the accompaniment and reception of residents, including the establishment of permanent and exclusive positions for resident officers.
8 – Establish a legal status for residents of the Académie de France in Rome, which sets out the mutual rights and obligations of residents and the institution.