As part of the partnership between Aix-Marseille University and The Beit Project, several students took part this year in the Marseille sessions, held within the framework of the FARO project. This European cooperation and training program aims to strengthen skills in the fields of heritage and cultural mediation by supporting partnerships between institutions, universities, and practitioners. Through this collaboration, Master’s students were given a first hands-on experience in cultural mediation with middle school students, particularly at the Citadel of Marseille.
This year’s Marseille sessions were also marked by meaningful human encounters. Among the facilitation team were Amadou and Mamadou, both Master’s students at Aix-Marseille University, who experienced their first mediation work with middle school students at the Citadel.
Within this framework, Amadou and Mamadou—both second-year Master’s students in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, specializing in tourism and heritage—joined the facilitation team and took part in this mediation experience.
Amadou, 28, who arrived in France in 2023, is currently working on plant and landscape heritage and hopes to pursue a career in heritage mediation and promotion. He discovered the project through a university professor. For him, this experience was above all a confidence boost: “I’m quite introverted, and this experience helped me feel more comfortable reaching out to others.”
Mamadou Diaby, enrolled in the same program, was looking for a practical experience that could connect heritage with contemporary issues. “I was drawn to The Beit Project because of its different approach—more interactive and centered on dialogue.” Over the course of the sessions, he discovered a new way of engaging with heritage: “I realized that a place can be more than something to explain—it can become a starting point for reflection, dialogue, and connection.” Among the most memorable moments, Mamadou highlights the interviews conducted by the students outside the Citadel: “Seeing middle school students approach strangers, ask questions about topics like racism, exile, and power, and manage to create genuine exchanges was very powerful.”
These Marseille sessions, made possible through the partnership with Aix-Marseille University and the FARO project, highlight the importance of collaboration between universities and field practitioners in training a new generation of cultural mediators. Many thanks to them for their commitment.
