Association ATRE

What if museums could become welcoming, familiar places where children who rarely have access to them feel free to express their emotions and explore their imagination?

This is the vision behind Association ATRE, a museum-based art therapy program designed particularly for children living in residential child welfare facilities (MECS) in France.

71%

Of surveyed child welfare professionals consider the young people in their care to have low to moderate levels of participation in cultural activities.
Source: “Culture × Child Welfare” survey, ASE questionnaire, May 2021.

"Association ATRE brings together my life experiences, professional practice, and a deeply held belief: museums can become places of healing and support for vulnerable communities. But making this possible also means reaching out to those who feel disconnected from cultural institutions."

Rodrigue Faucin - Art Therapist, Former Social Educator, and Founder of Association ATRE

FROM PILOT PROGRAM TO THE CREATION OF ASSOCIATION ATRE

In 2025–2026, Fondation Altitudes supported Rodrigue Faucin in designing, piloting, and incubating an innovative museum-based art therapy program in Nantes, France.

A certified art therapist trained at the University of Lille's Faculty of Medicine and AFRATAPEM in Tours, and a former social educator, Rodrigue developed the program in collaboration with child welfare professionals.

His approach draws on scientific research, particularly the work of Pierre Lemarquis, as well as ten years of hands-on experience working with vulnerable populations, especially children living in residential child welfare facilities (MECS).

The program was piloted with two groups of children and adolescents to assess the relevance of the approach and gather feedback from both participants and their caregivers.

Encouraging feedback from this initial pilot inspired the next step: Association d'Art-Thérapie Ressource (ATRE) was established in 2026 to sustain the program and support its future development.

THE PROGRAM

Association ATRE offers a structured, multi-step experience: working with care teams to define objectives for each group, preparing children for their museum visit, guiding them through an experience facilitated by an art therapist, and reflecting afterward with care professionals on the experience and its impact.

More than a cultural outing, the goal is to make museums accessible and supportive spaces for children who often feel excluded from them, using art as a means of emotional expression, self-confidence, imagination, and personal discovery.

OUR COMMITMENT

After helping develop and test the program, Fondation Altitudes is now supporting its expansion across the Nantes area and strengthening the organization's foundations.

Our commitment combines financial support and community engagement: funding program operations; developing activity kits for children; supporting communications and fundraising; engaging friends, family, and local supporters; and organizing a fundraising campaign and an annual event.

This community involvement is an integral part of the project. Association ATRE grew out of a desire to bring people together around a meaningful cause in a community close to our hearts, giving everyone an opportunity to contribute through their resources, skills, or personal networks.

100

Children and young people per year 2026–2027 target

10

Residential child welfare facilities (MECS) 2026–2027 target

OUR SHARED AMBITION

The next step is to establish the program as a lasting initiative in the Nantes area, working with approximately ten residential child welfare facilities and eventually welcoming around 100 children and young people each year.

But the ambition extends beyond Nantes. Association ATRE aims to progressively document and share its approach with other art therapists, child welfare organizations, and museums, while building a network of partners committed to making cultural institutions more accessible to communities that have traditionally been excluded from them.