Sustainable development, education, inclusion… Since 2021, the Niort jazz festival “is committed to living better together” in order to introduce this musical genre to as many people as possible. In this year 2024 and among various other actions carried out in parallel, the team of the Jazz à Niort association asked Jean-Philippe Djambaye, alias Jean Djam’b, to lead the “Jazz Y Painting” project.
The man who is both a painter and an art therapist at the Les Genêts residential home led a creative workshop during which the residents recycled, embellishing them with aerosol spray-painted decorations, tarpaulins that had covered the site during the previous editions of the Niortaise high mass of jazz: its fourth version opens on Wednesday June 26, 2024 with Michel Jonasz headlining.
I love the visual arts, especially drawing and painting: it’s the first time I’ve done it with spray paint, it’s relaxing and rewarding. I got compliments!
Sanjana Fichet, resident of the Les Genêts nursing home, Niort
The sessions began in the spring, first at Les Terrasses, then at Les Genêts. The first establishment is notably a pediatric follow-up care and rehabilitation center specializing in the prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity, with 100 young people seen per year. The second structure welcomes, accommodates and supports 50 adults with disabilities.
Jean-Philippe Djambaye, alias Jean Djam’b, shows the preparatory drawings from which the residents of Genêts gave a second life to the tarpaulins.
© (Photo NR)
In both cases, around fifteen “trainees” took advantage of the advice of Jean Djam’b, aware that painting with an aerosol spray “requires concentration, dexterity and control”. For Sanjana Fichet, a 22-year-old young woman met at Les Genêts, it was ” a first : I love it, it relaxes and it’s rewarding. I got compliments! »
A live streaming concert at the Grand-Feu
Nine residents will take turns in the Pré-Leroy park during the three days of the Niort jazz festival to complete their XXL works, numbering half a dozen three to four meters long, under the eyes of the public: all will be able to also attend concerts.
This is a way of “consider them as artists in their own right”, appreciates Jean-Jacques Achard, president of Art oser, the association founded in 2006 by residents of Genêts and their parents. “Opening to the outside world is important for these rather sedentary profiles, who are in a certain precarious situation which could slow them down,” completes Julien Méril, specialized educator and coordinator of the Terrasses health center.
Founded in 2006 by residents of the Les Genêts nursing home and their parents, the Art Oser association is involved in the collaboration with Jazz à Niort for the “Jazz Y Painting” project.
© (Photo NR)
People unable to travel, those from the Le Grand-Feu center, will be able to enjoy a live broadcast – a “live streaming” in the jargon – of the performance of the Brazilian singer Flavia Coelho on the evening of Thursday 27 June 2024. Further evidence that inclusion is “a reason for being” of Jazz in Niort.
