The L’écho des cimes Prize aims to support alumni—young artists recently graduated from Villa Arson—in their professional development. The Pays de Grasse is committed to helping emerging artists by offering them opportunities to meet with local communities across the region. Winner of the 2025 edition, Annika Katja Boll will present her work in a solo exhibition at the Espace de l’Art Concret – Centre for Contemporary Art of National Interest, in Mouans-Sartoux, from September 20 to October 19, 2025. The exhibition will be entitled Highway Hypnosis.

The École(s) du Sud are pleased to announce the names of the nine graduate artists (DNSEP classes of 2024, 2023, and 2022) selected to take part in a residency program within one of the partner structures of the Miramar network in 2025. Miramar is a Mediterranean network of academic, artistic, and cultural actors, initiated by the École(s) du Sud in partnership with several Mediterranean artist-run spaces and with Dos Mares in Marseille. It aims to support the professional development of recent graduates, artists, and art workers, while fostering cultural exchange opportunities based on solidarity, reciprocity, and hospitality.

As part of a new cultural initiative between the French National Museum of Natural History (which includes the Val Rahmeh Botanical Garden) and the Villa Arson, a transmission residency focused on the design and facilitation of family workshops is being offered to Villa Arson alumni. Aimed at family audiences during the All Saints’ school holidays, these workshops seek to connect artistic practice with the discovery of the two gardens, fostering a dialogue between scientific knowledge and contemporary creation.

As early as 2004, Villa Arson committed to an ecological transition, marked by a major first step: the discontinuation of glyphosate use in its gardens. Initiated by Patrice Lorho, head gardener at Villa Arson, the ecological transition of the gardens has intensified over the past decade. In a district that has become densely populated over the years, Villa Arson and its gardens constitute a particular biotope and have become a real green lung for the city and its inhabitants.