Prosper Wanner Diagnostics # 1: The boat swordfish, well-inalienable shared.

Preamble the MCEM has entrusted in 2006 the maintenance, conservation and extension to the general public of the boat the Swordfish, well inalienable, to the association Boud'mer which proposes to "share the sea together". The diagnosis proposes to situate this cooperation, to understand the reasons and to measure the first results obtained. In order to measure and compare the impact of these private public cooperation, it is essential to use a common indicator system.  The diagnosis refers above all to the new performance indicators of the state vis-a-vis the taxpayer, the user and the citizen used in the framework of the Organic law relating to the laws of finance of first August 2001-LOLF. He proposed to answer the following questions: What were the reasons for this cooperation? Two years later, what are the first assessments that can be drawn from this experience? How does this private public cooperation promote the accessibility of swordfish?  In a context of control of public spending, does it participate in limiting the costs inherent in the conservation of a traditional boat? Is it performing for the Boud'mer association?

Virtual Expo in 2007, the Association of curators of the public collections of France section Paca (AGCCPF Paca) has launched an international invitation to young graphic designers from schools or in the course of training to dialogue on the news of Stakes in their trades. Curators and graphic designers are looking for the most suitable forms for the new forms of cooperation indispensable in the symbolic space today. The guest of the Virtual Expo 2007 was Marion Arnoux. She has just come out of the design school of Saint-Etienne and participates in the experimental structure IRB Laboratory, under the responsibility of Denis Coueignoux and Ruedi Baur. The project results from a collaboration with Mathieu Ehrsam, multimedia Designer to produce a graphical interpretation of portraits devoted to professionals of the economic world who seek with the curators durable solutions in the life of Objects of public collections entrusted to them. [Kml_flashembed Publishmethod = "static" Fversion = "8.0.0" movie = "http://hoteldunord.coop/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/expovirtuelle_espadon.swf" width = "800" height = "600" Targetclass = "Flashmovie"] Mr. Thome is the director and founder of the association "Boud'mer, share the sea together". He created this association to reconcile the necessary protection of the marine environment with the development of access to the marine heritage for all. Created in 2001, it aims to safeguard the Mediterranean maritime heritage, to democratize its access and to raise awareness among the general public. Its members share the use of traditional boats and offer numerous thematic excursions at sea such as the discovery of coastal heritage or fishing. Their boats are stationed in Marseille marinas. In 2006, they were more than 200 people to share 5 boats. With an annual budget of 60 000 euros, 3 employees (2 full-time equivalents) and 12 active volunteers, the association carried out this year 150 outings at sea, of which more than half thematic. Through the "sharing of boat", as there are in Marseille the auto-partage, it proposes to anyone to have access to this heritage while going in the direction of a regulation of the pressure of the pleasure boats on the coast. Swordfish is a boat that has entered the collections of the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean under the inventory number: 2004-90. Mr. Thome has participated in his expertise and restoration. The laborious and costly maintenance of traditional boats coupled with the lack of space in the harbour leads many owners to separate themselves from this heritage. The swordfish was built in Cannes in 1965 by the same. 7 meters long and with a capacity of 8 persons, it served until 1992 to the same artisan sinner. After thirty years of professional activities, she was disarmed with her fishing equipment and sold to a boater. Then in 2004, the boat was proposed as a donation to the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean, the MCEM. The MCEM is a museum of society dedicated to the civilisations of Europe and the Mediterranean. This orientation given to the former National Museum of the popular arts and traditions goes along with its installation in Marseille, on the Mediterranean Sea. The objective is to stimulate debate by articulating exhibitions to major societal issues. The MCEM will be endowed in 2008 with an annual budget of more than 13 million euros, of 160 employees. Its current reserves are estimated at more than half a million objects. Denis Chevalier, chief curator at MuCEM, took charge of the follow-up to the Swordfish donation request. In charge of the Marseille antenna, his interest in industrial heritage leads him to take into account the potential of conservation in situ or "alive" heritage. And to wonder, as soon as possible, about the possibility that a property can be placed on deposit in a company and thus continue to live its own history. Hence the idea, for traditional boats, Euro Mediterranean maritime heritage, to go so far as to control their manufacture (maintenance of know-how), to film the construction site and to moor them at the feet of the MCEM. This project is initiated with a traditional Tunisian boat. In this continuity, the potential for in situ conservation of swordfish was one of the factors taken into account: possible uses, necessary equipment, capacity of reception and activity potential. Today, maintained by the association, Swordfish participates in the economy of the association Boud'mer. Following the favourable opinion issued by the Boud'mer Association on the status of Swordfish, its heritage interest and its potential for use, the MCEM initiated the application process for the Swordfish classification. Once the agreement was received, the reclamation of swordfish was entrusted to the Boud'mer Association and a Marine Carpenters company. The MCEM then made the choice to entrust the maintenance and shared use of the boat to the association. The Convention is annual and tacitly renewed every year. This Convention, lacking an existing reference, was based on that of the Pendwick II, which was made available to a sailing school. For the Boud'mer Association, the first plus value concerns its legitimacy. Its purpose is not to acquire traditional boats but to facilitate access and maintenance. It seeks to encourage owners to share their boat in return for the financing of maintenance costs, the main motivation for abandoning this heritage. The museum's confidence in the association strengthens its credibility with public and private partners. The second is economic. The participation of the users at each exit at sea allows Boud'mer to finance the costs of maintenance of the boats but not the costs of structure (office, coordination, etc.). The latter are financed mainly by temporary resources (exceptional grants, contributions, volunteering). To increase its profitability, the association should increase its tariffs and promote individual outings (go to the rental) while its associative object is more the discovery of the heritage (outings accompanied) and access to the largest Number. Not to mention the tax consequences related to the transition to an activity mainly of renter: subjecting to VAT, to the professional tax. This situation is different with swordfish, whose maintenance and repairs are taken care of by the museum. It is the only boat of the association to participate today in the financing of the structure costs. Such cooperation allows the association to eventually consider an economic model that allows it to defend its associative project without becoming a boat rental company. Today swordfish helps to finance 5% of the structure costs of the association. The economic equilibrium of the association could be based on equal funding between private financing (rentals, sponsorship, outings), public subsidies and the management of a "heritage" fleet of half a dozen boats.

• COOPERATIF indicator No. 1 – Economic valuation [1]-Is this private public cooperation effective for the Boud'mer association?

Leaving the reserves and putting in the water, swordfish is shared daily. This fishing boat does not in itself have a unique character. Its main richness rests more on the link it represents with all the other boats of the same type present throughout the Mediterranean rim. All the museums of ethnology have a priori boats of this nature and risk weakly to request one from other museums. To this is added the large size of a boat that makes it difficult to transport. Swordfish has little chance of being exposed permanently, temporarily or in a deposit. A gift of this nature is more likely to reach half a million objects in the MCEM reserves and few chances of exits. It would be kept but poorly accessible. And while the LOLF sets the objective for museums to make physically accessible a part of heritage growth (Mission Culture, Heritage, Objective 2) [2].  

The cooperation initiated with Boud'mer allows a better development of swordfish by giving it an exposed object status [3]. Swordfish carried out a full operating exercise in 2007. It carries out an average of 30 outings a year with 6 people per outing and fifteen thematic days with 50 to 100 people per day (Thalasanté, September at sea, etc). The rates are differentiated according to the outings and the public ranging from free to a maximum participation of 15 euros per person.

•  COOPERATIF indicator No. 2-efficiency [4]-How does this private public cooperation promote the accessibility of swordfish?

This shared treasure anchors the museum in sustainable Development. The ability to accept a gift of this nature and to provide economical access to it now represents a heritage issue. The recommendations of the Council of Europe, in particular the Faro Framework Convention [5], commits cultural policies to recognise the value of the cultural heritage situated in the territories under their jurisdiction, irrespective of its origin and To promote its protection as a major element of the combined objectives of sustainable development and cultural diversity (Faro Convention, article 5) [6].  What circulates is our identity. And if French art circulates well throughout the world, Swordfish's low circulation potential poses a question. In particular to a museum of society positioned on the civilisations of Europe and the Mediterranean. How can we reconcile the control of public spending with its conservation and accessibility? The conservation of a wooden bark is much more costly "dry" "than Water" [7]. The life of a boat out of the water is estimated at 2 years against 8 years at sea, before it is necessary to make large repairs. The choice of "dry" storage requires a costly technical vacuum installation. Conservation at sea requires a place in the harbour and regular maintenance. If in the long run the MCEM has as a project to develop a space at sea, today it keeps a boat "dry". The analysis of the financial data of the association Boud'mer allows to evaluate the cost of conservation "at sea" of swordfish. It is valued at EUR 30 000 per annum, after unposted resources are re-integrated (volunteering, provision of a place at the Port). The MCEM takes over 20% of the cost of which a part in a non-monetary way by making available a place at the Port. or 80% of external resources linked to cooperation [8]. This is important insofar as expenditure control becomes, with LOLF, a very decisive element in the management choices of a museum. The supervisory bodies of the Ministry of Culture must control their operating expenses as well as increase the share of own resources, such as sponsorship or entry fee (Mission Culture, Heritage, Objective 3) [9].

• COOPERATIF indicator No. 3:-efficiency [10]-in a context of control of public expenditure, does it participate in limiting the costs inherent in the conservation of a traditional boat?

 Today this cooperation is based more on people than on contractual mechanisms of regulation. The Convention which serves as the basis for the one passed between the MCEM and Boud'mer is that concerning the provision of Pen Duick II to a sailing school. There seems to be little reference in the heritage field to lay the groundwork for public/private cooperation. The regulation of the relationship between heritage interests and economic interests is based more on trust between people than on contractual elements. The association does not necessarily send its activity balances to the MCEM and the latter does not necessarily inform its visitors of the presence of swordfish (no common signs). This situation can be explained in part by the youth of this cooperation. 2007 was the first year of full exercise for swordfish. This situation makes it possible to maintain a flexibility favorable to an experimental process. However, its reproducibility on other sites, in other contexts or its durability depends on mechanisms of regulation of conflicts of interest more independent of the people who founded this cooperation. It raises a number of important new issues in view of the progress of the project: How to structure this cooperation without freezing or unbalancing it? What can be the contributions of France's ratification of the Faro Convention? How to translate them into common law? Prosper Wanner, S.C.O.P. Place-January 2008 additional Sources:

• Website of the Association Boud'mer: http://www.boudmer.org/
• MCEM Website: http://www.musee-europemediterranee.org/
• Council of Europe Website: http://www.coe.int/
• Site of the LOLF: http://www.performance-publique.gouv.fr/

Diagnostic Sources This diagnosis was finalized in January 2008 mainly from the following elements:

• 1 Interview with Denis Chevalier, chief curator of the MCEM;
• 2 Interviews with Philippe Tome, founder and director of the Association Boud'mer;
• The accounting data for the financial year 2006, the forecast budget 2007 and 2008 and the activity balance sheets from 2003 to 2006 of the Boud'mer Association;
• The agreement between the MCEM and the Boud'mer Association concerning swordfish;
• The presentation paper of the MCEM Scientific and Cultural Project 2002: "Reinventing a Museum: the MCEM"; and statistics of visits from 2003 to 2007 of the MCEM.
• Market prices related to the operation of a boat: place au port, skipper,…
• The LOLF documents on performance indicators;
• The Council of Europe's "Faro" framework convention.