Using art to encourage
children’s personal development
the origins of la source Garouste
Founded in 1991 by artist couple Gérard and Élisabeth Garouste, the association was born from the belief that artistic creation can support social action and help combat all forms of exclusion. It is grounded in the idea that art is a fundamental force in building society and plays a key role in empowering individuals from a young age.
The association has been organising long-term artistic workshops led by a professional artist and a member of the educational team, for children and teenagers in vulnerable situations.
La source garouste-iturria
Founded in 2017, La Source Garouste-Iturria is the only branch in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. With its nomadic structure, it operates throughout the Basque Country. For the past 8 years, it has worked closely with schools and social and medical-social institutions dedicated to children.
The workshops, averaging 20 hours each, are led by a professional artist—often local—together with a social worker. They are tailored to the needs of the participating youth. Each workshop concludes with the creation of a collective artwork, unveiled during a vernissage, which serves as a key highlight of the project. Through diverse artistic forms (visual arts, music, dance, writing…), participants find different ways to express themselves, gain confidence, ask questions, and explore creative solutions outside the conventional framework.
A PARTNERSHIP Launched in 2024
with La source garouste-iturria
As an essential part of learning to write and as a drawing tool, the BIC® ballpoint pen has a special place in the daily lives of children and young people. On the impetus of Pauline Chandon-Moët and Alix Dufour, members of the Bich family who own Château de Ferrand, a partnership was launched in 2024 with La Source Garouste-Iturria.
This first partnership was based on the organisation by the association of two workshops with visual artist Laurent Terras. Ten young people from the Saint Etienne social centre in Bayonne and around fifteen teenagers from the Institut Médicoéducatif Le Nid Basque (Anglet) created unique artworks using BIC® pens, which were exhibited last summer at Château de Ferrand in Saint-Emilion.
A NEW TURNING POINT IN 2025
Once again this year, visual artist Laurent Terras led the two workshops organised by La Source Garouste-Iturria, using the BIC® pen as inspiration for the creation of each artwork. The children and teenagers who took part in these two workshops will go and set up their works on July 7, accompanied by Laurent Terras, at Château de Ferrand, which will host this exhibition throughout the summer. This day will also be the opportunity for the young people to discover this 18th-century property.
After this first collaboration full of discoveries, the BIC Foundation and the Château de Ferrand decided to reinforce their partnership to develop an even more ambitious project, throughout the association’s national network. In 2025, 5 of the 10 La Source Garouste sites in France will be taking part in the project.
bicados
Working with young people from the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul children’s social care center (Biarritz, 64), Laurent Terras wanted to create a design combining the Cristal® pen and the colours of the 4-colour BIC® pen. After building the frame and cutting the plexiglass sheets, the young people painted the different sides in a stained-glass style. The whole thing was fixed together so that the BIC® pen appeared to be writing on the ground, wavering in the wind.
embouteillage
With the children from the Maison de la Vie Citoyenne Bayonne Centre-Ville (Bayonne, 64), the initial idea was to symbolise the BIC® Cristal® and the Château de Ferrand from two different angles. On the one hand, the children modelled clay bottles in various shapes, glazed in white and blue. On the other, they were introduced to engraving on bottle racks. The result? A delightful traffic jam of bottles.
