The BNP Paribas Foundation is continuing its support for social support, health, and cultural projects, and is now involved in environmental ones too.
The executive committee of the BNP Paribas Foundation, as well as the various steering committees, have approved support for 14 new projects, and agreed to continue the foundation's collaboration with six of its partners. Moreover, they have decided to provide funding for 42 associations within the framework of the foundation's two social support programmes.
Social programmes
Social support
As part of the Projet Banlieues (underprivileged areas project) begun in 2006, the BNP Paribas Foundation is giving added support to ADIE (Association pour le droit à l'initiative économique – an organisation for helping those excluded from the labour market) through a micro-credit scheme in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. It is also supporting Orchestre à l'école (The Orchestra at School) in opening a class in a primary school in Pantin, in the department of Seine Saint-Denis on the outskirts of Paris. In addition, funding is being provided to 19 new associations which are working to promote social integration in underprivileged urban areas.
It should be recalled that BNP Paribas renewed Projet Banlieues in January 2009 for another three years, with backing to the tune of EUR 3 million. In extending this commitment, the BNP Paribas Foundation is a partner in the exhibition "Ma proche banlieue" ("My Near Neighbourhood") by the photographer Patrick Zachmann, held at the Cité Nationale de l'Histoire de l'Immigration (national centre for the history of immigration) until 11 October, as well as in the eponymous book.
With the Coup de Pouce aux projets du personnel, a programme which encourages involvement on the part of BNP Paribas employees, no fewer than 23 new associated projects have been given the go-ahead.
Health
In this field, through its link with BICI, BNP Paribas's subsidiary in Mali, the foundation is supporting Pesinet, a home health care programme which aims to prevent infant mortality.
Also, the BNP Paribas Foundation is teaming up with the BMCI (Banque Marocaine du Commerce et de l'Industrie – Moroccan bank for business and industry) foundation to co-finance an education project run by the IMOC, the Moroccan association for cerebral motor handicapped people. The association will set up the first integrated teaching development unit, which will host 120 young people between the ages of 4 and 18, with their families.
Environment
As a first step in its involvement with the environment, the BNP Paribas Foundation has associated itself with scientific expeditions run by Patrice Franceschi, captain of the three-masted sailing vessel La Boudeuse. This support will be aimed especially at two expeditions to Latin America, which will study the pollution of mercury in rivers and deforestation.
Cultural projects
Heritage
As part of its programme, BNP Paribas pour l'Art, the BNP Paribas Foundation is providing funding for five new restoration projects: the restoration of 12 Kanak masks at the Quai Branly museum; the painting Venus and Cupid by Luca Penni, in the Bourges decorative arts museum; baroque stage scenery painted by Pierre-Louis Crétey, at the Beaux-Arts museum, Lyon; the collection of old Italian paintings at the Beaux-Arts museum in Quimper; and a still life by Jean Siméon Chardin at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Also, the BNP Paribas Foundation, as partner of the Centre International des Chemins du Baroque, is associating itself with the ambitious Caminos 2011 project, which will be the climax of 25 years of preservation of Latin America's musical heritage. Involving some 15 countries in South America, the cultural co-operation programme set up by Chemins du Baroque has addressed many interconnected aspects: the editing and publication of scores, the restoration of historic organs, the training of luthiers and young musicians, the organisation of concerts, and the making of recordings. With Caminos 2011, a broad range of musical events will be held over the next two years – first in Latin America in 2010, and then in France in 2011.
In the same vein of contributing to the preservation and promotion of musical heritage, the Foundation is associating itself with the young ensemble Les Traversées Baroques, which is researching, bringing back into the repertoire, and widely performing the works of European baroque composers.
Performing arts
Faithful to its commitment to modern dance and the new circus arts, the Foundation is supporting the work of two companies: 420people, directed by the Czech choreographer Vaclav Kunes, and CirkVOST, a contemporary circus collective that has grown out of the company called Les Arts-Sauts.
At the same time, the Foundation is extending three of its partnerships in performing arts, in modern dance with the Georges Momboye company, and in the new circus arts with Aurélien Bory's Compagnie 111 and Antoine Rigot's Les Colporteurs.
One of the few supporters of jazz, the Foundation is funding Jazz at Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and the new opera-jazz project run by Régis Huby. It is also strengthening its partnership with the singer Elisabeth Kontomanou.
In classical music, the BNP Paribas Foundation is also renewing its support for the Lille Piano Festival, organised by the Orchestre National de Lille.
About the BNP Paribas Foundation
Under the aegis of the Fondation de France, the BNP Paribas Foundation strives to preserve and bring to a wider public the treasures in museums, to encourage artists and performers in disciplines that attract little corporate funding, and to finance state-of-the-art medical research projects. The BNP Paribas Foundation also supports education, social integration, and disabled projects. The point of reference in the group in the matter of arts funding, and working closely with its network in France and abroad, the BNP Paribas foundation backs each of its programmes for its entire duration.
www.mecenat.bnpparibas.com (unavailable link)
About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is a leading European provider of banking and financial services, with a global reach, and one of the six most financially strong banks according to Standard & Poor's*. With a presence in 85 countries and more than 205,000 staff, of whom 165,200 are in Europe, BNP Paribas is a European leader in financial services with a global reach. It holds key positions in its three main areas of activity: retail banking, investment solutions, and corporate & investment banking. It operates in four European retail markets: Belgium, France, Italy, and Luxembourg. BNP Paribas also has a significant presence in the United States, and is strongly positioned in Asia and in developing countries.
*In its peer group