Villa Créative, a heritage dedicated to culture and the creative industries
Would you like to take part in the Villa Créative's artistic, scientific and educational programme?
Since 11 June 2024 the call for projects is launched.
To submit your project, you have until 1st September 2024 by clicking here !
A meeting place dedicated to culture and the creative industries
Villa Créative was born out of the desire to open up the University to the community, to "create a University outside the University". Set in a heritage site in the heart of Avignon, Villa Créative aims to bring people together by inviting them to take advantage of open scientific, educational and artistic spaces to interact, create and produce new knowledge.
Arts + Science for a learning society
Building on the university's missions, interdisciplinarity and the arts at the heart of its offering
The Villa Créative is a new tool for a learning society. Centred on open science and participatory research, it offers awareness-raising, training, experimentation and meeting opportunities.
A genuine public space open to the city, the Villa Créative is a venue for exhibitions, residencies and artistic performances, as well as a place to share a meal or a coffee...
An ecosystem of over 60 partners
The Villa Créative brings together lecturers, researchers, student entrepreneurs and creative artists in the field of culture and the creative industries, as well as decision-makers, elected representatives and the general public.
Villa Créative is part of a rich network of national and international partnerships with universities, schools, businesses and institutions.
It intends to play a specific role in higher education and research by offering cross-disciplinary initiatives directly linked to socio-economic players.
Public/private hybrid
The result of an unprecedented legal and financial model for a public structure, Villa Créative-Avignon Université is the 1st University and Research Company in France. With the State as one of its shareholders, it represents a unique hybrid public-private model that is particularly innovative, enabling the University to make the most of its property assets, develop its continuing education activities and strengthen its links with its socio-economic environment.
The Villa Créative is open to any public or private entity, national or international, wishing to contribute to the cross-fertilisation of know-how and the development of research.
8200 m2 of space on 2 sites
1 pavilion of 230 m2 dedicated to Research & Innovation
1 pavilion of 150 m2 dedicated to "Arts & Métiers".
4 artistic platforms with 440 m2 of exhibition and demonstration space
1 80-seat auditorium
1 audio and video editing studio
800 m2 of office and training space
3000 m2 of outstanding gardens
1 town brasserie with a 100-seat terrace
The Étic label
Étic® - Foncièrement Responsable, a socially responsible enterprise (ESUS), creates, finances and manages office and retail space throughout France. These spaces give players in the social economy access to affordable business premises, and enable them to share space and services. The atmosphere is conducive to sharing and mutual assistance, and users work in a heritage building managed to the highest environmental standards.
A creative and committed brewery
The brasserie is an essential cog in the wheel of the living space it feeds on a daily basis, and embodies the values of Villa Créative: eco-responsibility, creative renewal, inclusion, conviviality and commitment.
Open to all, all year round. The restaurant offer, inspired by the Villa Créative's current events, is based on local products, from short circuits, with low carbon costs, fair and equitable. A place of learning, a restaurant of application, the brasserie is the place where training, research, creation and culinary art meet.
An inspiring, open garden
Open to all, the Villa Créative garden provides a breathing space for plants in the urban sprawl of Avignon's inner city. Soil decontamination carried out during the redevelopment has enabled this outdoor space to be reclaimed and biodiversity to be reintegrated.
This garden is now a calm, welcoming, harmonious, friendly and relaxing space. A natural space of transition, sharing and meeting, it accompanies the rhythms of the Villa Créative.
Every year, the Festival d'Avignon becomes an identifiable haven and landmark, open to the city and the world, where different audiences meet and interact.
The founders of Villa Créative
Villa Créative is home to structures belonging to the ecosystem of Avignon Université's "Culture, Heritage, Digital Societies" specialisation area. These six founding members, permanent residents of the Villa Créative, contribute to the ecosystem in several areas: training, research, entrepreneurship and creation.
The Cnam
Housed in the "Pavillon des Arts et Métiers", an annex of the Villa Créative, the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers offers a meeting place for the worlds of arts and crafts.
academic and professional.
Dedicated to training
The Cnam offers a wide range of diploma courses and innovative, immersive schemes to help local authorities and organisations develop the skills of all those involved in culture, particularly in the following areas
ecological, digital, managerial, entrepreneurial and social transitions.
outlook.
School of New Images
Awarded a prize by the Academy of Oscars®, the École des Nouvelles Images trains 250 students for careers in the film and television industry.
2D/3D animation and video games.
With over 400 prestigious awards and more than 850 international selections, in just 6 years it has become the most awarded school in the world, thanks to the projects created by its students.
At the Villa Créative, in conjunction with the Avignon Université laboratories, she is involved in developing the language specific to
animation and real-time images (narrative, aesthetic issues, staging, direction, immersion, etc.).
French Tech Grande Provence
Spokesperson for the State in Vaucluse and Pays d'Arles, an economic development tool dedicated to innovation in the hands of entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, La French Tech Grande Provence supports
start-ups and innovative companies from the idea stage through to internationalisation.
Within the Villa Créative, it will offer a range of services tailored to the needs of all customers.
innovative players in the region, from start-ups to large groups: incubation, tailor-made support, market watch, etc.
calls for projects, networking, press relations,
events and the European S+T+ARTS programme.
Frames Web Video Festival
A pioneer in
The FRAMES Web Video Festival is open to all videographers, webmasters and video producers who want to make their work more professional.
producers, broadcasters, companies, brands and institutions interested in the sector. Since its first edition in 2016, FRAMES Web Video Festival has been promoting free video creation on
Internet. Every year, the festival creates a space for creators and their audiences to express themselves, as well as FRAMES.PRO, the only trade show of its kind in Europe, to imagine and develop the video creation of tomorrow.
Festival d'Avignon
It is one of the most
major events
of contemporary performing arts. The Festival seeks an alliance
an original audience
with the creation of
contemporary French
and international, as part of a process of openness and transmission. In addition to the strong links between the Festival d'Avignon and research and teaching at the Université d'Avignon, the Festival has chosen to join forces with the Villa Créative to provide a resource centre for festival-goers.
Avignon University
The University has chosen to invest in a 250 m2 pavilion at the heart of the Villa Créative, which will be completely refurbished.
dedicated to Research and Innovation. Conceived as a unique space for hosting teacher-researchers and artists in residence, this space is at the heart of open, interdisciplinary research programmes at the
transitions department.
Avignon Université has also set up a training design department within the Villa Créative, offering new diplomas to any cultural organisation wishing to create a tailor-made course.
"At the Villa Créative, training courses on the creative industries will be offered to explore the intersections between technology, science and the arts, to bring the worlds of culture and entrepreneurship closer together".
Libération - National edition of 12.07.2023 by Christelle Granja
An exceptional setting
Villa Créative is housed in a 19th-century building in the heart of Avignon. This major project brought together 30 companies working simultaneously to take up the challenge of renovating 8,200 m2 of gardens and heritage buildings, while respecting their history and the new environmental constraints.
Financing the rehabilitation
The €16.5m refurbishment was made possible thanks to the financial support of a number of partners working alongside Avignon Université to bring the building back to life. These include the French government (Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation) and the South Region, via the State-Region Multiannual Contract, as well as the Department of Vaucluse, Greater Avignon and the City of Avignon. This project has received additional funding from the State and the University to the tune of €1.5m.
In addition to the heritage building, the University has chosen to integrate a second site. Renovated at a cost of €700k with support from the France Relance programme, this building is located 300m from the main site. Inaugurated in June 2023, the "Pavillon des Arts et Métiers" is now the Cnam's new home in the Vaucluse region.
The architect Alfonso Femia
Alfonso Femia has carried out major urban regeneration projects in France, Italy and many other European cities. Among his most emblematic projects is the redevelopment of the Docks in Marseille, for which he has won numerous international awards, including the Mipim Award in Cannes, the Leaf Award in London, the Uli Global Award for Excellence in Dallas and The Plan Award.
Partners of the Villa Créative
INVESTORS Avignon University, Banque des Territoires | Groupe Caisse des Dépôts, Etic
FUNDERS & FINANCIAL SUPPORT Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur, de la Recherche et de l'Innovation, Région Sud, Département de Vaucluse, Grand Avignon, Ville d'Avignon
ENGINEERING EY, D4 Avocats, Rising Sud, Les Canaux
The Villa Créative team
- Anne-Lise ROSIER Director of the Villa Créative / Director of the Fondation Avignon Université
- Marie-Pierre BONETTI Villa Créative Project Manager
- Christine CALDERON Administrative coordinator
- Sam CORNU College Coordinator
- Jeanne KOCH Trainee
Contact: villa-creative@univ-avignon.fr
Press Relations
Julien DIERS - jigsaw - julien@jigsaw.family
Mis à jour le 24 June 2024