Catapulting cultural discoverability in Montérégie

This text is part of the special Culture Montérégie notebook

The new Catapulte platform, designed by Culture Montérégie, promises to make art more accessible to students of the region, by arranging a happy marriage between the cultural and educational circles.

“The impact will be formidable on several levels,” explains Johanne Leblanc, director of the Amitié primary school, who took part in the evaluation of the platform as well as the analysis of submissions from artists wishing to participate. register there. From a practical perspective, the platform minimizes research time through targeted submissions tailored to various educational needs. »

Currently, Quebec artists who offer artistic workshops are listed in the Culture-education Directory which has more than 2,500 records of artists, writers and organizations. You can search by region, by discipline or by school level. Catapulte goes a little further by taking into account the specific needs of the students, as well as the logistics between the artist and the school.

Logistics is precisely what children’s author Josée Bournival highlights as one of the advantages of the new tool which will be launched next September and which lists Montérégie cultural offers. The creator of the series Zalou considers this platform essential, particularly due to the logistical and financial challenges posed by touring schools across Quebec. “This year, I led nearly a hundred workshops in schools, but less than half of these workshops took place in Montérégie,” she explains. For me, this means nights away from home and hours of unpaid travel, so it is significantly more beneficial to conduct workshops in my area. »

In addition to facilitating connections between schools and artists, the platform also simplifies preparation before workshops. “The activity which precedes the arrival of the artist is turnkey,” indicates Johanne Leblanc. If artist materials are needed, they will be available on the platform and teachers can print or present them so that children are ready. »

Administratively, this tool also saves time. “It automatically generates things that we previously had to manage manually, like invoicing,” explains M.me The White. Everything is sent directly to the management for signature, which facilitates the work all the way to the school secretariat. »

Discoverability, a national challenge

One of the concerns of the school community was the importance of aligning activities with educational needs, according to Johanne Leblanc. “We placed a lot of emphasis on taking the clientele into account, on ensuring that the activity does not go unnoticed because it is not aimed at the right age or the right type of students,” she elaborates.

To which Culture Montérégie responded by working to ensure that learning is aligned with the skills that teachers must evaluate. “The networking is done more adequately with the artists,” believes Josée Bournival. For our part, we will gain visibility, but the schools will also benefit because the offer will be more detailed and will highlight what is beneficial for them. »

The Catapulte platform, which aims to improve the discoverability of cultural content, mobilizes various key players, including Bibliothèque et Archives nationaux du Québec (BAnQ), which has been working for several years to make cultural and educational production in Quebec more discoverable and discoverable. “We realize that there is an under-use of cultural content which is nevertheless of quality,” underlines Mathieu Thuot-Dubé, senior director of education and cultural action at BAnQ. There is a language problem which is very cultural and not very educational, so for the teacher, it is quite a challenge to make the transfer. »

Catapulte will therefore endeavor to rectify the situation by testing approaches proposed by BAnQ, such as the use of particular keywords and controlled vocabulary to facilitate research by teachers.

Discoverability relies primarily on data and metadata. These “invisible words” play an essential role in the discoverability process. “Our goal is for these keywords to be more in line with the natural vocabulary of teachers, which is currently lacking,” explains Mr. Thuot-Dubé. He also emphasizes that terms that are too specifically cultural do not make the task of teachers easier and cause a misalignment with the training programs of Quebec schools.

We go so far as to hope one day to be able to integrate the cultural and educational offering directly into the integrated systems of school libraries, “thus allowing the teacher to access it via their everyday tools”, adds Mathieu Thuot-Dubé .

Facilitate the integration of art in schools

The Catapulte project ultimately has the objective of bringing different forms of art to schools. “This can feed the flame, which is already present, but which is not always maintained in the family environment, nor even in the school environment, because obviously, we are going to give priority to the school sector,” says Josée Bournival. We must stop seeing culture as a treat, as something that is not necessary. »

Johanne Leblanc agrees. “I think art heals. It is an opening which can undoubtedly allow a student to open his mind, to have a goal, a project, a dream, or to understand that his thinking functions in an artistic way. This can particularly help children who have more difficulty in very pragmatic areas. »

This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.

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