Les Amis du MuCEM

Since 2006 Friends of the MuCEM has been actively supporting the teams of professionals preparing for the grand opening of the MuCEM. By Autumn 2011 the association numbered some 700 members. Our current objective is to bring together more than a thousand Friends—individuals, non-profit associations, companies—in order to participate together in this thrilling adventure.

The MuCEM will open in Marseille in 2013, the year the city, along with all of Provence, will become the European Capital of Culture. On November 30, 2009 Frédéric Mitterrand, French Minister for Culture and Communication, laid the foundation stone. At this moment work simultaneously began at three separate sites: the restoration of the Fort Saint-Jean, the construction at the J4 jetty of the contemporary museum structure conceived by Rudy Ricciotti, and the Resource and Conservation Center at the Belle de Mai, coordinated by Corinne Vezzoni.

"There will be a dialogue between the sheer mass of the fort and the airy quality of the MuCEM," says Rudy Ricciotti. "Viewed from the exterior, the structure will appear as a perfect square of 72 meters—a classic design, Latin, Greek, Middle Eastern. Within this whole lives another volume, this time with 52 meter sides; this is the heart of the museum."

International in scope and dimension, this great museum will address the multiple facets of the varied civilizations and cultures of the Mediterranean Basin and Europe. Preparing its exhibitions, the MuCEM will draw from the collections of the National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions and the Museum of Man, as well as from new acquisitions made on-site in the countries that ring the Mediterranean. In all a million objects, the collection will be stocked in the Resource Center and presented to the public in temporary exhibitions in the new museum space under construction on the J4 jetty and at the Fort Saint-Jean.

The role of Friends of the MuCEM is to accompany the museum in the completion of its many missions. The association communicates with the public regarding museum exhibitions, cultural programming, new acquisitions, and the restoration of objects; it collaborates with the university system in its functions of teaching and research.

The role of Friends of the MuCEM is to participate in the museum's varied missions, to:
         - Support the first decentralization of a national museum to a regional capital
         - Contribute to its local, regional, national, and international influence and reputation
         - Favor the improvement and growth of the museum's collections, as well as, more generally,
            conservation of the cultural heritage
         - Encourage patronage and philanthropy
         - Facilitate cultural exchange within the Mediterranean region and Europe
         - Stimulate reflection about museum projects.

Whether specialists or non-specialists, members of Friends of the MuCEM are regularly invited to participate in lectures, guided visits, and excursions thematically organized around the museum's current projects and, more generally, the wider cultural and artistic scene. These gatherings serve the very clear purpose of cultural mediation central to the spirit of the MuCEM, a space that will soon be open to all.

Alain BOURDY – President, Friends of the MuCEM