The Association pour le Développement Local et la Protection de l'Environnement (Association for Local Development and Environmental Protection, ADELPE) has set itself the goal of contributing to the promotion of Mauritanian cultural and natural heritage through cultural and educational activities organised in Goural and the surrounding area.
It was not by chance that the town of Goural was chosen as the hub for the NGO’s work: there is already a museum here, opened in 2016, which requires some support in order to improve its services.
In addition to developing the museum through the acquisition of works and objects, the project plans include an annual cultural festival, the organisation of museum tours and development of the website dedicated to its activities, which will also offer virtual tours. A wider audience will be able to follow all these actions on social media.
The Fondation Zinsou aims to provide solutions for the lack of artistic practice and overcome a lack of awareness of contemporary art. This work meets a dual objective: to support artists and help the public to become accustomed to visiting exhibitions and museums. Among its various achievements, in 2013 the association founded the first contemporary art museum in tropical Africa, and also works on producing and holding exhibitions, organising artist residencies, as well as a host of other initiatives.
Convinced that everything begins at a very young age, the foundation aims to help children become familiar with artworks and try out different artistic activities, with a view to contributing to their cultural awareness as well as uncovering future talents. The “Petits Pinceaux” (“Little Paintbrushes”) workshop is the result of this conviction, aimed at children aged 5 to 13, which gives them an introduction to contemporary art through free creative workshops run by cultural educators and artists.
In order to overcome the obstacle of inaccessibility, the foundation has set up the “cultural bus”, a vehicle acquired thanks to support from sponsors, which provides free transport for pupils of over 300 schools.
Le Bus culturel pour l'accès au musée pour tous!
The Fondation Zinsou is a real springboard for the popular distribution and universal recognition of contemporary African art, and also works to ensure that cultural activities are accessible and free of charge. Active for more than 17 years, it has been able to establish solid partnerships with numerous structures and to rise to the forefront of the Beninese cultural scene.
The project proposes to support contemporary artistic creation by promoting free cultural visits. This accessibility approach is already in place in the city of Ouidah where the museum is located. In this project, the aim is to extend the area covered and to reach out to distant audiences with a means of transport that is also already available: the Bus Culturel. The latter will travel up to 50 km around Ouidah to take children to the museum and allow them to participate in educational workshops designed as part of the cultural mediation.