ArkeoTopia under the Spotlight

Following a grant from the Ministry of Culture and Communication (see our acknowlegements page), it is now the City of Paris’ turn to put ArkeoTopia under the spotlight.

At the traditional New Year’s greetings reception at the Maison des Associations (premises used by associations) in Paris’ 7^th district on Thursday 13th January 2011, in the presence of Ms Florence Gerbal-Mieze (official representative for local democracy and associations in the 7^th district) and several elected representatives, ArkeoTopia was invited to speak by Mr Hamou Bouakkaz, deputy mayor of Paris, himself responsable for local democracy and associations throughout Paris. This is how Ms Chris Esnault, Treasurer and Communication Officer came to present ArkeoTopia to an assembly of around a hundred people, including Ms Rachida Dati, Mayor of the 7^th district, and Member of the European Parliament and a film crew from television channel FR3.

Although our president, Dr Gransard Desmond, was absent, detained at a seminar, Ms Chris Esnault stood in for him brilliantly, and added her personal touch of humour and sparkle which delighted the participants. She was also able to relay important messages about the importance of career advice for young people, whether they be in secondary school or university students, and to present the association’s objectives clearly and simply:

To promote, support and defend archeological research and all that relates to it in France and elsewhere.

This moment of conviviality was also an opportunity to mention the SIMPA tool developped by the city of Paris to allow associations to communicate and facilitate a number of administrative exchanges, notably the submission of funding requests. After a lively opening about the difficulty of putting the tool in place which made the assembly laugh, Ms Chris Esnault did not forget to highlight the utility of this tool, which has the great advantage not only of autonomous updating by the association, but also of being a point of contact not limited to the city of Paris’ website, but extending to all the city’s districts, giving ArkeoTopia visibility beyond the 7^th district, since its work involves not only the local area. Even if there are still some details to be refined, this tool will proove to be very useful for associations, notably for following administrative exchanges. After this, and before sharing a galette (a traditional frangipan pie eaten in January), Ms Esnault answered questions from the local online TV station, Saint-Germain TV.

	Chris Esnault shows her humour while presenting Arkeotopia’s New Year greetings. M. Khaldoun Hakim of the Syrian Arab Cultural Centre of Paris, amused by the scene with Web TV Saint-Germain. People jostling in the Maison des Associations of the 7th

We would like to thank Margot Varret for her photography during this event.

If you would like to find us in the city of Paris’ directory, access SIMPA and look up Parisian associations.
If you are an association, access the administrative area and register on SIMPA.

To discover ArkeoTopia and its objectives.
To access the associations page of the 7^th district’s town site.
To access Mr Bouakkaz’s site.
Pour access Ms Dati’s site.