Due to the cut down of a century-old cedar during a construction site, local residents were looking for giving back a memory to this tree. Immobilière Podeliha joined Art’M, a local association, to co-create an artistic project based on re-using the cut wood, offering wood carving workshops to all public and, by this way, the possibility of creating a new story.

In 2016, the “Tree and City» project was introduced to the Social Innovation Funds (FIS) and awarded by it. Funds have been granted for two years. The Social Innovation Department of Immobilière Podeliha was in charge of the general coordination, and members of its department worked closely together with the artists to carry it out.

The first year of the project (2016-2017) was focused on individual learning of carving. All participants developed skills and know-how. On average, 16 adults were present to these weekly workshops, with a great pleasure to meet each other again every week.

In top of that, since the very beginning of the project, Reg’Art, a local association of artistic photographers, joined the collective and went along with the inhabitants-artists, making pictures of people, sculptures and gestures.

In order to strengthen inter-generational links, in addition to these weekly workshops, the following actions took place:

- A 3-months wood-carve workshop in the Social Centre, for the 7-9 y-o. The fruits of the work done were exposed to the “Spring Festival”. Following that event, parents signed up for weekly workshops

- A 3-days work placement organized by the Social Centre

- A “Kalishibaï workshop”: Japanese art mixing arts and writing, co-organized in link with 3 schools of the city

The first year was all about creating constructive dynamics of cooperation, sharing skills and values and transmitting knowledge between generations.

The second year of the project was focused on creating a collective work of art, a live-size forum, with the idea of setting it up in the green areas of a social Residence of Immobilière Podeliha in Trélazé. From the conception to the setting up, a huge collective and handmade work has been done in 2018. During this year, other exhibitions were organized such as one in the Head Office of Immobilière Podeliha.

On 22th of June 2018, the project ended with a final exhibition and was organized in the Social Centre where inhabitants, partners, employees of Immobilière Podeliha were invited. During this exhibition, people discovered works of arts of inhabitants as well as artistic pictures from the local association Reg’Art and the life-size Forum.

A week later, the Forum was set in the outdoor of the social residence, visible from the street.

To retrace this two-year project and keep in memory moments of the collective work, the inhabitants and artists decided to write a booklet, retracing the new story with pictures and poetry. 200 copies have been dispatched to the stakeholders.

Bonus :

- https://youtu.be/LSTJlLrpjt8