On 15 June, the French Coalition for Cultural Diversity presented the 2020 and 2021 diversity awards in the garden of the SACD.
Nabil Ayouch, the 2021 winner, received an honorary award in recognition of his career as a filmmaker and activist. The director is committed to cinema in Morocco despite protests and screenings being banned there. The founder of the first Moroccan Coalition for Cultural Diversity, the filmmaker is also committed to youth and is behind several sociocultural centres. Yesterday, the director received a caricature by the artist Soulcié.
In 2021, the Coalition also rewarded the association Principe Actif for its project ‘Voyage Autour de moi’ (Journey Around Me). Founded in 2001, the association is led by Stéphanie Sphyras, director, screenwriter and actress, and Benoît Nguyen Tat. ‘Voyage autour de moi’ is a project that has three components: documentary writing, content via the TikTok application, and a play. It was born out of the meeting between the association’s artistic team, a group of so-called ‘disadvantaged’ young people from the department of 93 and their educators. The play allows the group of young people to speak out by writing and performing a work that evokes the questions one asks oneself in adolescence, while the documentary follows their progress.
In 2020, the honorary prize was awarded to Audrey Azoulay, who received the award from the President of the Coalition for Unesco.
In the same year, two associations were honoured. Choreographer, dancer and artistic director Bintou Dembélé received the award for her company Rualité, which since 2002 has brought together street dancers and engaged them in dialogue with academics and various personalities united by the desire to explore new forms of engagement in performance. Combining dance with multiple influences, live music and singing, Bintou Dembélé’s performances explore ritual and bodily memories, question gender, examine the wounds of the past – individual or collective – as well as the possibility of escaping them through strategies of reappropriation and ‘marronnage’. As an artist associated with the Ateliers Médicis de Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil, Bintou Dembélé created ‘Palbabre’ in 2020 with their support: a web project in which the artist invites various contributors to express their views on social skills and artistic practices on the periphery and on the margins.
Marie José Justammond was recognised for the festival ‘Les Suds’ in Arles, which she created in 1996 to affirm the identity of the Mediterranean countries and more broadly of the South in the context of an international festival that is held over 8 days in July in Arles. On this occasion, concerts of all musical styles are held every evening and during the day, masterclasses on singing, music and the art of living for beginners and professionals take place.
Since 2011, the Coalition has been awarding the Cultural Diversity Prizes to highlight initiatives and professional and artistic careers that encourage and promote cultural diversity.
The winners of previous editions:
2020: Audrey Azoulay and Rualité
2019: Costa Gavras and Clowns Sans Frontières
2018: Pierre Sellal and the Nuits Métis Festival
2017: Véronique Guèvremont, Ivan Bernier and the Sens Interdits Festival
2016: Silvia Costa, Jacques Toubon and the Caravane des Dix Mots
2015: Michaëlle Jean and the Art éclair association
2014: Thomas Ostermeier and the Observatoire de la Diversité Culturelle
2013: Cristian Mungiu and the association Voix de Femmes in Brussels
2012: Raoul Peck, Louise Beaudoin and ASPAS
2011: Jack Ralite, Jean Musitelli and the Festival Musiques Métisses
Press contact for France:
Agnès Mazet – agnes.mazet@sacd.fr