Obtaining the Label

At the first stage of this certification process, the National Commission “takes the project into consideration”. Each candidate centre must submit an application containing a five-sheet summary that describes:
- its cultural, artistic and research project: development at national and international level and regional implementation,
- the monument and the re-planning projects,
- public and private partnerships to be develop,
- budget estimations over three or five years,
- information on the monument property,
- legal structure to be adopted,
- composition of the professional team.

The project leader will send this request file to the DRAC, which will forward it to the general secretariat of the National Commission (DDAT) under the regional prefect’s authority, and to the Chairman of the Centres Culturels de Rencontre Association as well.

Each centre “taken into consideration” by the National Commission must conclude a three-year objective agreement. The principle of this agreement had been agreed upon when the Centres Culturels de Rencontre policy was re-launched, in order to ensure a sustainable development for the projects. Each agreement must be concluded by the centre with as many private and public partners as possible, including the local authorities and the State. It must be submitted to the National Commission for advice before being signed. The first proposal of agreement was submitted by the Royaumont Foundation and approved by the National Commission in April 1997. It has since then become the reference for all the other existing or future centres.

The first part of this document will describe what already exists, namely the monument, its project and the organisation that runs it. A second part will draw prospects and developments for the project over a three-year period. When time has come to renegotiate the agreement at the end of the three years, the first part should not be fundamentally modified, unless major changes occurred.

However, the second part may be adapted following the assessment of the initial objectives and the new priorities that may have appeared in the meantime. If the National Commission, during the process of “taking a project into consideration”, acknowledges the value of the project and encourages its further development, the applicant centre is eventually certified at the end of the probationary period, when the signature of the three-year agreement has become possible.