Student Award 2022: an edition on the Oceans

The ocean, in all its extent, depth and complexity, is an absolutely prodigious resource. The largest ecosystem on the planet, the ocean covers more than 70% of the earth’s surface and represents 97% of the available water on earth. A major source of biodiversity, it connects people, provides food and oxygen, regulates the water cycle and weather patterns, and stabilizes the climate by absorbing more than half of humanity’s CO2 emissions.

Essential but vulnerableAlthough the oceans have been considered for centuries as an inexhaustible resource, the list of threats to the oceans is limitless: global warming, rising sea levels, pollution, acidification and deoxygenation, overexploitation, degradation of marine habitats, introduction of invasive species… The transformation of the oceans in the face of climate change and the collapse of biodiversity is a major issue and a real challenge for the global balance of ecosystems and human societies.

It is not only the cradle of organic life, but also the cradle of economic and commercial life, housing the majority of humans in its coastal areas and providing a living for three billion of them, who depend directly on marine biodiversity to meet their needs. France is particularly attached to it, having, as it is little known, the largest exclusive oceanic zone in the world, surpassing even that of the United States. It is present on all the continents and oceans of the planet because of its numerous possessions of departments, regions and territories Art and sustainable development

It is therefore not surprising that the ocean is at the heart of the commitments made by France, from the COP21 in Paris in 2015 to the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille in 2021, via the One Planet Summit and the new One Ocean Summit planned in Brest in February 2022.

Geographic and geopolitical issue, the ocean is also our dream horizonThe sea is a cultural as well as a natural heritage and a breeding ground for the imagination, below and beyond the surface and the horizon, where the world begins and the earth ends, where our mythologies are rooted, from floating worlds to sunken cities, where the journey begins and the exile ends, in the heart of island worlds and with fantasized marine creatures, where the world of yesterday and tomorrow is outlined, whether it is before the flood or after the apocalypse

The COAL – Culture & Diversity Student Prize Residence, in partnership with the French Nature Reserves, invites students to deploy their creative forces to imagine new concrete actions and raise awareness of the urgency of ocean preservation.

CONDITIONS

Be a student in a school in the arts and culture field1 and have completed two years of higher education. Student collectives are eligible.

RESIDENCE

The Culture & Diversity Foundation grants the winner a 2-month residency in one of France’s 350 nature reserves, along with a 5,000 euro production grant. The winner will be accompanied throughout his or her residency by the educational and scientific teams of the nature reserve for the implementation of the project. The Fondation Culture & Diversité covers the residence expenses of the winner (transportation, accommodation, meals). In the case where the winning project is carried by a collective, the conditions of residence will be specifically reviewed. 1 List of schools in the artistic and cultural field in the appendix.

PARTNER

The association Réserves naturelles de France (RNF) leads a national network of more than 700 nature protection professionals working daily in the territories where nearly 350 nature reserves exist. Their actions are based on three missions: the knowledge of the natural biological and geological heritage, its management and protection, the sensitization and the discovery by the citizens of these spaces of nature, life, meetings and creation. As an ambassador for nature reserves, RNF is the voice of nature, actively mobilizing all of society’s stakeholders, particularly in the cultural field.

OPERATION

Three finalist projects are nominated by a committee of professionals from among all the applications received in the national call for projects. One of them is awarded the Prize by a Jury composed of representatives of the partner organizations and personalities of art and ecology. In addition, all the applications considered by the Selection Committee allow the exposure of young artists and projects that may be solicited or promoted according to other opportunities and actions carried out by the Culture & Diversity Foundation, COAL and their partners.

JURY 2022

• Bruno David, President of the National Museum of Natural History
• Lucile Deschamps, Deputy General Delegate of the Culture & Diversity Foundation
• Mark Dion, Artist
• Catherine Dobler, Founder of the LAccolade Foundation
• Marc Feldman, General Administrator of the Orchestre National de Bretagne
• Christine Germain-Donnat, Director of the Museum of Hunting and Nature
• Hélène Guenin, Director of the MAMAC, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Nice
• Elsa Guillaume, Artist, winner of the COAL Ocean Prize 2015
• Olivier Lerude, Senior official for sustainable development at the Ministry of Culture
• Léo Marin, Director of the Eric Mouchet Gallery and Curator of The Possible Island
• Anne-Marie Melster, Co-founder and Managing Director of ARTPORT_making waves
• Charlotte Meunier, President of the Nature Reserves of France
• Romain Troublé, General Manager of the Tara Ocean Foundation

DOTATION

The Culture & Diversity Foundation grants the winner a two-month residency in the Nature Reserves of France, along with a production grant of 5,000 euros. Within the framework of the residency, the Culture & Diversity Foundation covers accommodation, food and transportation costs.

PARTNERS

The association Réserves Naturelles de France (RNF) leads a national network of more than 1,000 nature protection professionals working daily in the territories where there are nearly 356 Nature Reserves. Their actions are based on three missions: the knowledge of the natural biological and geological heritage, its management and protection, the sensitization and the discovery by the citizens of these spaces of nature, life, meetings and creation. As an ambassador for nature reserves, RNF is the voice of nature, actively mobilizing all of society’s stakeholders, particularly in the field of culture.

AWARD HOLDERS

The COAL – Culture & Diversity Student Prize is supported by the Culture & Diversity Foundation and the COAL association.

The Culture & Diversity Foundation, a Fimalac corporate foundation created by Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, aims to promote access to the arts and culture for young people from modest backgrounds. Since its launch in 2006, it has been designing and implementing sustainable programs directly in the field with its cultural, educational and social partners. More than 50,000 young people have already benefited from its actions.

The association COAL, created in France in 2008 by professionals of contemporary art, ecology and research, mobilizes artists and cultural actors on societal and environmental issues. Through the COAL Prize, international cooperation actions and more than fifty exhibitions and cultural projects, COAL is the first French actor to promote the emergence of a new culture of ecology.

REVIEW THE CALL FOR PROJECTS

Find out more:

• THE WINNER OF THE COAL STUDENT AWARD – CULTURE & DIVERSITY 2022
• THE NOMINATED ARTISTS OF THE COAL – CULTURE & DIVERSITY 2022 STUDENT AWARD
• COAL 2022 PRIZE-WINNING ARTISTS
• ARTISTS NOMINATED FOR THE COAL 2022 AWARD
• THE 2022 PRICE LIST