The art of story-telling forges links
Paris 7e
Founded by Huguette Fromenthal in 1975, the association Âge d'Or France combats the isolation of the elderly by setting up places for exchange and cultural activities in order to bring isolated people together.
The association was very soon recognised as being in the public interest, received support and subsidies from Paris City Hall, made links with social action centres and also received support from parishes, which made rooms available to the association's various clubs.
With around 1,000 members, Âge d'Or France offers various cultural, intellectual and physical activities: ballroom dancing, gymnastics, theatre, singing, IT, languages, walks and outings etc.
Shortly after its creation the association developed and above all distinguished itself through an extremely original approach based on the art of story-telling, which remains its speciality today.
A traditional practice reinvented to forge supportive links
This practice, records of which go back as far as the Greeks and Romans, was abandoned in the nineteenth century in favour of the novel, but is now coming back into fashion: magical subjects are always an outlet. A look at the etymology of the word conter (tell a story) is enough to see that the origin is oral: it comes from the Latin computare which means "enumerate": what is involved, therefore, is enumerating the sequences of a story, or telling it. What is important in the art of story-telling is the ability to create surprise effects, to adapt the story.
And it is this that the association aims to do: to at last return the oral dimension to the place it had in traditional societies and that it has lost in our "modern", writing-based society. Story is the means of expression and sharing that fosters openness and makes the memory work.
Wide-ranging activities have been developed on the basis of this art; the association trains story-tellers who go to meet children in nursery, primary and middle schools in the Paris region, particularly in "difficult" suburbs. What the story-tellers say about the experience is often surprising: warned of the pupils' "unruliness" by teachers, they always find an attentive and curious audience receptive to the stories and the story-tellers.
The regular activity of the Âge d'Or story-tellers is organised by the association's coordinator. Schools and libraries ask the association to provide speakers for various lengths of time. Two story-tellers attend the events in order to improve through observation. They are always volunteers, while the association receives payment in order to cover its running costs.
In addition to such regular activities, there are exceptional activities at particular events in the Paris region, such as the social support summer in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, the social support days at the Parc Floral, the Telethon, etc.
A specific partnership has been set up in Paris with an association of young blind people: in return for making a venue available, the story-tellers tell stories and then provide training in the art to the requesting association.
This movement is gradually expanding: trained in the Paris region, story-tellers from the provinces go home with the necessary "material" to transmit this passion. New training centres are being established, areas of involvement are broadening to include hospitalised children, for example. These individual sessions are a special time of sharing.
For a beginner story-teller, they are a way of improving his or her art, for the child, a ray of light in an often difficult environment.
The mission of Âge d'Or has therefore been successful: the oral has (again) become a medium of social support.
