The FAI AR is an association which conforms to the law 1901 under the tutelage of the Ministry of Culture and Communication and supported by the PACA (Provence-Alps-Côte d’Azur) region and the City of Marseille.
In April 2005, after several years of reflection and experience in the field of public area training, it launched the first advanced itinerant learning programme in France and Europe dedicated to artistic creation in public areas.
For a period of 18 months, the FAI AR, the Advanced Itinerant Learning Programme for Street Arts, aims to consider the main resources favourable to artistic creation in public areas. At the heart of the “Cité des Arts de la Rue” project in Marseille, it moves between different places devoted to urban arts in France and throughout Europe.
Original and innovative, the FAI AR bases its pedagogical construction on meeting active artists and companies, on multidisciplinary and professional artistic openness (philosophers, town planners, etc.).
This training revolves around three main axes:
- The collective fundamentals. These look at the questions “which we can’t avoid asking ourselves when we choose to express our words in public areas”: “sound”, “urban involvement”, “the scenographic object”, “verticality”, “the projected image”, “natural and artificial lighting”. These themes are handled in a specialised professional and geographic context for a period of two to three weeks.
- The individual adventures. Every apprentice (the name given to the students at the FAI AR in reference to the German Bauhaus school) must experience a number of “extraordinary moments”, popular fêtes or exceptional artistic events; undertake an “imagined journey” confronting him/her with non-western cultures; and work on his/her “garden to be cultivated”, an additional skill or basic artistic training. A “volunteer collaboration”, involving two months of total immersion as an assistant in a company creating a project, is scheduled for the third semester.
- The personal artistic project is the main theme of the adventure of each participant. The apprentice chooses a tutor who will help him/her to develop his/her initial project through the experience, knowledge and “personal skills” acquired throughout his own personal research. The “Panorama of the worksites” of the FAI AR, which brings the training to a close, will present all the suggestions for artistic creation to members of the profession.
The training programme lasts 18 months. It must be followed from start to finish.
An excellent level in written and oral French is essential in following this training course.
Presentation of the FAI AR > PDF document
Chapter 2 of the “Study for the definition and viability…” presenting the content and organisation of the FAI AR
A vivid image > PDF document
Extract from the “Study for the definition and viability…”. A poetic summary of the content and organisation of the FAI AR