With his catchy good humor, Sylvain Marthouret walks the corridors of the conservatory, smiling at each of the people and students he meets. Arriving on Monday March 4, the new director of the Agen Departmental Conservatory had time to get his bearings.
At 44, this man from Ardèche is taking his first steps into school management. He started with several music teaching positions in his region of origin, then arrived in Bordeaux in 2015 at the Jacques-Thibaud Conservatory. He stayed there until June 2023. Then he spent a brief stint as director of the Gradignan conservatory.
Training the artists of tomorrow
It was following the retirement of the former director, Jacky Lhiver, that Sylvain Marthouret arrived in Agen. “I liked the project of this house, because what matters here is to highlight youth and make them shine through all the teaching provided,” comments the forty-year-old. Indeed, Jacky Lhiver had entered into partnerships with neighboring schools and music schools to open up access to cultural education as much as possible.
With this new role, Sylvain Marthouret is keen to take up these fundamental issues. “That was also what interested me in this position: to be able to combine, articulate, develop and bring to life together the issues of artistic and cultural education. »
A “Swiss army knife” is the expression by which he describes his role within the establishment. “Here, no day is the same. You can be a facilitator, a manager, make important decisions or simply give directions, in a single day. »
Open doors
With the end of the school year approaching, Sylvain Marthouret is preparing the next deadlines for his establishment with his teaching team. Starting with the open days which will take place this Wednesday, June 12 (from 2 to 7 p.m.), with dance and music activities for all ages, from 5 years old. The other big event takes place on June 29 with The Elements in Movements, a dance show which will be presented at the Ducourneau theater in Agen.
In the longer term, the new director would like to continue the dynamic of development of the establishment project, adopted during last summer’s municipal council. “We need quantitative and qualitative objectives, to always be in a progression, to have new partnerships like we have for example with the school on the Simone-Veil side. All the schoolchildren, from CP and CM2, come to the conservatory on Tuesday afternoons, and there is real choir work for their end-of-year show,” says Sylvain Marthouret.
