Reflections by the Bakehouse Art Complex’s Laura Novoa

The trip began with a ten-day intensive program, Courants du Monde, organized by the French Ministry of Culture, which brought together fourteen cultural professionals from around the world to explore and deepen their understanding of France’s cultural landscape. Following the program, Laura was invited to be in residence at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, where she interfaced with staff and resident artists, supported the planning of a “curated by” open studios event, and delivered a public presentation about Bakehouse Art Complex.

• During the Courants du monde program, you visited several cultural third places in France. What struck you about the diversity of these spaces, especially in terms of their models, organization, and ways of working? Are there any insights or takeaways you believe could be relevant or inspiring for the cultural third place ecosystem in the U.S.?

What stood out most during the Courants du monde program was how deeply rooted many of the French cultural third places are in their local contexts, while simultaneously engaging broader, often international, networks. The diversity of models—ranging from digitally-driven hubs like Le Cube to rural experimental sites like La Maison Forte in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region—reflected a flexible and adaptable approach to community building. Many operate through cooperative or association-based structures that prioritize horizontal and participatory governance, involving a wide range of stakeholders including artists, citizens, local authorities, and private partners. These hybrid or non-hierarchical frameworks foster a strong sense of shared ownership and accountability and allow for agile decision-making and responsiveness.

French cultural third places, while not directly replicable in the US, offer a compelling framework for reimagining how we work, govern, and engage our communities. One relevant insight was the emphasis on economic hybridity—balancing public funding, private partnerships, and self-generated revenue—which fosters resilience, while maintaining accessibility. These spaces often function more as evolving ecosystems than fixed institutions. This porousness and adaptability, especially in programming that remains responsive to local needs, could inform new approaches to sustainability and collaboration for organizations like Bakehouse that exist at the intersection of culture and community.

It was also interesting to see how cultural third places in France built and cultivated interdisciplinary alliances with education, environmental justice, and social services sectors that expand the role of cultural spaces into broader civic life. These alliances underscore the potential for cultural institutions to serve not only as creative hubs, but also as catalysts for systemic change. For US-based organizations, this could encourage experimentation with collaborative governance and co-designed programming, perhaps through mechanisms like rotating advisory groups that include artists, staff, and local residents. These kinds of approaches can help cultural spaces remain grounded in community, while embracing innovation and experimentation.

• Two years after the beginning of Bakehouse’s partnership with Cité internationale des arts, you took part in a new form of collaboration through an expert exchange. Can you tell us what your stay there consisted of, and in what way this initiative marks a new stage in the development of the partnership between the two institutions?

I participated in an expert exchange that marked a deepening of the partnership between Bakehouse and Cité, exploring the possibility of moving beyond a traditional residency model into a more embedded institutional collaboration. Over the course of two weeks, I worked alongside the Cité team and resident artists to support the planning and execution of a public-facing open studios event. This involved artist engagement, logistical coordination, and curatorial input, offering me a firsthand look at how a large-scale international residency operates. I also delivered a public presentation on Bakehouse—its history, mission, and future campus plans—which introduced the organization’s work to new audiences. The experience offered insight into how Cité manages transnational artist mobility, site-specific programming, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. It also gave me space to reflect on curatorial and organizational frameworks through the lens of international exchange.

This phase of the collaboration lays the groundwork for more reciprocal modes of institutional learning—not only between artists, but also between the organizations that advocate for them. Looking ahead, Bakehouse and Cité are exploring ways to deepen their partnership by creating shared platforms to support artists—with a particular focus on practitioners from the Caribbean and its Diaspora. I hope those ideas continue to develop and that both institutions find ways to scale this model by sending more Miami-based artists to Paris and welcoming international artists into the Bakehouse community through a future visiting artist program. This evolving collaboration between Bakehouse and Cité reflects a shared commitment to supporting and elevating artist-centered, community-responsive exchange and dialogue.

• How will these two experiences influence the way Bakehouse operates and evolves? In what ways might they help shape its future activities and development?

Both experiences reinforced the importance of adaptability, relational governance, and mission-driven collaboration within cultural institutions. At Bakehouse, these insights are informing how space could be reconceptualized. They underscore the need to cultivate flexible frameworks that allow for shared authorship and responsiveness to the community’s evolving needs. These experiences expanded my vision for what Bakehouse can become—not only as an artist studio complex, but as a platform for experimentation, exchange, and collaboration. They affirmed the value of artist- and community-led programming and emphasized the importance of structures that reflect and consider the diverse needs of their stakeholders.

In the near term, this could translate into several initiatives: piloting co-created programs, establishing governance models that include artists and community members, and fostering interdisciplinary partnerships that address social issues through culture. I was particularly inspired by how French third places build multi-sector coalitions without compromising their values, and Bakehouse is aiming to diversify its partnerships in a similar spirit. As Bakehouse continues to grow and evolve, I hope it positions itself as both a local cultural anchor and a global node for artistic and civic collaboration. Strategic insights from the Courants du Monde program and the Cité internationale des arts exchange can serve as valuable reference points as Bakehouse develops its future campus and long-term programming—helping to imagine a space that is locally rooted and globally connected. In the long term, I envision Bakehouse taking a more active role in international cultural exchange—amplifying artists’ voices abroad, while enriching Miami’s local ecosystem through visiting artists and curators. Ultimately, this work affirms a set of values—collaboration, adaptability, inclusion—that will guide its evolution in the years ahead.