Valeria Fayad
Chargée de mission pour les relations internationales
Téléphone : 33(0) 1 53 79 88 23
Programmes for welcoming international professionals
2024 Call for Applications currently opened
Deadline : 18 September 2023
“Résidence Culture” and “Parcours de collections” are two programmes from the French Ministry of Culture which make it possible to welcome international culture professionals at the BnF for a duration of one, two or three months. During their stay, residents are accompanied by an advisor. They work on one main subject, collection or project that is closely linked to the collections or to the current activities of the BnF.
Malian librarians at the BnF © Béatrice Lucchese / BnF
Joining the programme
The programme is selective. The call for applicants is held yearly following a calendar set up by the French Ministry of Culture.
Applications for the year 2024 are currently open. The deadline for submission to the BnF is 18 September 2023.
Before sending the application to the BnF, the application must be sent to the cultural service of the French Embassy in the applicant’s country for a reasoned opinion.
Download the form Résidence Culture
Download the form Parcours de collections
You can apply by sending the completed application form (in Word format) and a copy of your passport by email to Valeria Fayad.
The programme is aimed at seasoned professionals working in cultural institutions outside of France in an operational capacity whose projects are related to the collections and services, scientific work, cultural programs, management or development projects of the BnF.
Applicants must propose a concrete professional project based on knowledge and skills exchanges, the outcome of which can contribute to the reinforcement of relations between the BnF and their institutions and countries of origin.
The main elements which are taken into consideration by the BnF are:
- Interest by the relevant BnF department for the project
- Potential dissemination of the applicant’s project back home and promotional opportunities (publications, conferences, events, etc.)
- Potential in-depth cooperation prospects between the BnF and the applicant’s institution of origin
- Applicants can stay for a duration of 1, 2 or 3 months
- Each resident joins a BnF department and is accompanied by an advisor with expertise in the resident’s field
- Housing is provided for by the BnF
- A 1500€ per month allowance is allocated by the French Ministry of Culture
Transportation to France is paid for by applicants. It can be funded by their institution or by any other type of support.
The chosen professionals go through a rigorous selection process.
The cultural services of the Embassies of France receive the call for application from the Ministry of Culture and communicate it to relevant institutions. They collect applications and conduct the first screening process. Once this first evaluation has been done by these services, the applications can be sent to the BnF.
Once at the BnF, applications are transmitted to the International Relations Delegation. The delegation takes into account the context according to the current relations between the BnF and the institution or country of origin. The application forms are then transmitted to the directions and departments likely to welcome the applicants. They then evaluate and formulate an opinion about the proposed project following criteria of interest, availability and skills. All applications are examined by a commission presided by the International Relations Managing Director.
After validation by the BnF General Direction, applications are transmitted with due feedback to the Ministry of Culture which is in charge of the final selection process.
About the programme Résidence Culture
objectives
“Résidence Culture” is a programme that welcomes international culture professionals in France. The programme was set up in 2003 by the Ministry of Culture, making it a priority as an international programme. It is operated by French public cultural institutions under the guidance of the Ministry.
The objective of Profession Culture is to favour exchanges between culture professionals. Professionals have the ability to experience French cultural practices from up close. Its goal is to favour the creation of a sustainable network of exchanges between public institutions in France and across the world.
The participants
Mr Sisay Sahile BEYENE (programme “Parcours des collections”), assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Gondar, Ethiopia
- Subject: study of the Amharic notebooks written by the informants of the Dakar-Djibouti Mission
- Host department: Manuscripts department, Collections directorate
Mr Watson FRANÇOIS, Head of the Children’s Section at the National Library of Haiti
- Subject: professional capacity building to develop the children’s section of the National Library of Haiti and consolidation of the partnership between the two institutions
- Host department: CNLJ, Literature and Art department, Collections directorate
Mr Illiassou OUSSEINI MOUSSA, Head of the Audiovisual Department at the Research Institute in Human Sciences of the Abdou Moumouni University (IRSH), Niger
- Subject: Reinforcement of professional capacities in terms of collection, conservation and valorisation of audiovisual collections and in particular the sound archives of the Jean Rouch collection
- Host department: Sound, Video and Multimedia department, Collections directorate
Mr Thi Thanh Thuy TRUONG, librarian in charge of English, French and Vietnamese collections at the National Library of Vietnam
- Subject: work on the Indochinese collection of the BnF in order to enrich the France-Vietnam digital library and strengthen the partnership between the two institutions
- Host department: Literature and Art department, Collections directorate
Ms Jana FRANKOVA, researcher at the Music Department of the Moravian Library, Czech Republic
- Subject: to study the musical relations between France and Central Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries
- Host department: Music department, Collections directorate
M. Jaroslav STANOVSKY, researcher at the Department of Old Prints and Manuscripts of the Moravian Library, Czech Republic
- Subject: to study on revolutionary and counter-revolutionary texts from the 1789-1799 decade
- Host department: department of Philosophy, History and Human Sciences, Collections directorate
Mr João Marcos CARDOSO, curator in charge of the creation of tools for dissemination and enhancement of the digital library, Biblioteca Brasiliana Guita e José Mindlin, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
- Subject: To establish a selection of documents relating to Franco-Brazilian relations for their digitisation, as well as for the development of the ‘France-Brazil’ Shared Heritage website
- Host department: Literature and Art department, Collections directorate
Ms Mbene DIACK, Head of the Collections Management and Development Division at the Administrative and Legal Library, Senegal Archives Department
- Subject: The improvement and appropriation of digitisation techniques (especially for the press), follow-up of a first residence in 2019.
- Host department: Conservation department, Services and Networks directorate
Ms Boubacar DIALLO, Head of the editing, publication and communication department at the Ahmed Baba Institute in Timbuktu, Mali
- Subject: To catalogue historical and religious manuscripts of the Umarine Library (continuation of the 2019 residency).
- Host department: Manuscripts department, Collections directorate
Mr Seyed HAKIM, senior researcher for cataloging of Islamic (Arabic and Persian) manuscripts, National library and Archives of Iran
- Subject: to identify the heritage of the Safavid royal library at the BnF and its history.
- Host department: Manuscripts department, Collections directorate
Mr Dhir SARANGI, professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Center for French and Francophone Studies, New Delhi, India
- Subject: To create of a digital library of the visual collection relating to India as part of the BnF’s “France-India” project.
- Host department: Manuscripts department, Collections directorate
Mr Makhone TOURE, archives curator, head of the Contemporary Archive Division at the Senegal Archives
- Subject: To carry-out a cross-inventory of the press collections published in French West Africa kept at the National Archives of Senegal and at the BnF in a double perspective of completeness of the collections, and to create a digital portal of the National Archives of Senegal (follow-up of the 2018 residency).
- Host department: department of Law, Economics and Politics, Collections directorate
About the programme Parcours de collections
Launched in 2022 by the Ministry of Culture, the programme “Parcours de collections” aims to welcome foreign professionals from museums, libraries and historical monuments, in order to study and document the history and path of objects held in the collections of French museums and other cultural institutions. It allows professionals who are specialists in their own country to help identify these objects, to exchange and dialogue with their French colleagues in order to achieve a better common knowledge of this history. This programme is dedicated to the African continent as a priority, but not exclusively.
