Mille Fontaines - Putting Art and Artists in Conversation

Aix-en-Provence, The City of a Thousand Fountains or la ville aux mille fontaines.

A literary magazine can represent multitudes. Each person who interacts with it has a different experience or takeaway. At its inception, Mille Fontaines was intended to facilitate an inclusive space of belonging for the artist communities at ACM-IAU. The magazine takes its name from the history of the city in which it is based. Aix was founded by Romans to take advantage of the natural springs in the area. They constructed fountains on almost every street corner. Because of these fountains, Aix-en-Provence is called The City of a Thousand Fountains or la ville aux mille fontaines in French.

Rose Letsinger (ACM Alumni Fellow 2022-2023) created this inclusive space from nothing, with her First Edition being printed in Manning Hall, manually hole-punched, and tied together with pieces of string. The upstart experiment having been proven a resounding success, subsequent editions were able to build upon Rose’s foundation, improving with each passing semester.

Rose Letsinger (ACM Alumni Fellow 2022-2023).

Mille Fontaines provides a platform for artistic expression regardless of media, genre, or language. It highlights the work of creatives, giving them the opportunity to be heard and recognized. More than that, it puts art and artists in conversation, pairing visual art with the written word, enhancing it all with excursions into the audio and video spheres. Centered on ACM-IAU in Aix-en-Provence, Mille Fontaines is often an important space for students to share their experience of living and learning in Southern France.

 Building upon what Rose left me, as editor, I see myself and all Mille Fontaines staff as stewards of this artistic space. We attempt to highlight the work of creatives, giving them the opportunity to be heard and recognized. At Mille Fontaines, we believe each contributor’s work is valuable, and we strive to bring out the latent potential in each work. This means, not only are creatives given a space to be published and share their work with the public as a whole, but those that desire it are critiqued in a constructive way, as we attempt to push their creative abilities forward. My desire is that as you sift through Mille Fontaines, you find not only a recognition of your own daily perseverance but a new appreciation for the joy and beauty that can be found in the ordinary.

The first edition of Mille Fontaines.

 Here, we promote autonomy in a strange land. Though we may find ourselves far from the comforts we knew, a home is built wherever we bare our heart. Discomfort can be attributed to strangeness, and commonality is easier to find than we might think. Stories build bridges, both telling our own and listening to those of others. What we share often finds its way back. This is a place to relate through our differences, and to see just how similar we really are. Our contributors reveal their visions of the world and their place in it. They show us the images that flit across the undelved caverns of their minds, the thoughts that span the depths of their characters. Creativity is left to shine within unusual genres, fantastic landscapes, and fever dreams.

Bringing our diverse population together, each Edition of Mille Fontaines becomes a time capsule of particular semesters here at ACM-IAU. People from various backgrounds are given the opportunity to gather and share their stories. Drawn from all over the world, coming together to study in a foreign country, we form our community around art, finding connection and sharing the heart of what makes this space special.