Dear friends of arc en rêve,
We wish to share the full text of the open letter—Letter of support for the arc en rêve public interest initiative—available for signature on the change.org digital platform: https://c.org/cbghsK7B8x
This open letter, sent on October the 29th, was initiated by architects, teachers, visitors, and curators who want to advocate for our association’s mission.
We hope to count on your support to continue working together toward the idea of architecture as a common good.
As architects, teachers, visitors and curators, we publicly reaffirm the vital and unique role played by arc en rêve, centre d’architecture in Bordeaux, in promoting architectural culture and developing critical thinking about how we inhabit the world. This institution is in the public interest, informing public debate and enriching democratic life and the professional and academic worlds.
For more than forty years, arc en rêve has been making architecture accessible to all: exhibitions, conferences, children’s workshops, seminars, publications and urban tours maintain a stimulating dialogue between creation, experimentation, uses and territories. Based in Bordeaux and open to the world, this ongoing work has shaped generations of architects, residents, students and public officials. Founded in 1981 and located in the Entrepôt alongside the CAPC, the centre is now recognised in France and internationally as a benchmark for contemporary architectural, urban and landscape thinking.
We take note of recent articles and the report by the Chambre régionale des comptes Nouvelle-Aquitaine (Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Chamber of Accounts) pinpointing management practices and calling for changes in governance. However, we do not want certain shortcomings to be used as a pretext to undermine a cultural institution whose public utility is no longer in question. The report itself highlights arc en rêve’s national and international influence, its educational mission and the scope of its activities. Since 2021, the arc en rêve teams have been working hard to restore the organisation’s finances while maintaining an ambitious and demanding programme, demonstrating their unwavering commitment to this unique institution in France.
arc en rêve is not a luxury: it is an essential cultural service that informs the way we live, build and debate. At a time when social, climate and democratic crises are overlapping, we must preserve and protect one of the few places where architecture is explained and discussed publicly, in touch with reality. We must continue to support the arc en rêve project and those who bring it to life on a daily basis, so that this institution can improve and continue to play its central and essential role in mediating and designing our future living environments.
We, architects, teachers, students, visitors and curators, pay tribute to the ongoing commitment of the City of Bordeaux, Bordeaux Métropole, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, the State and all arc en rêve’s partners, and reaffirm our confidence in their unwavering support. We invite them to secure without delay the future of arc en rêve, a leading institution essential to contemporary architecture, which has been working in the public interest for more than forty years.