Espace Pro

What is "Espace Pro" at Rousselonge

Since 2015, this place has received a wide variety of specialists for various research or creations concerning the evolution of life: naturalists, scientists, landscape architects, gardeners, agronomists, architects, artists and craftsmen of all kinds. RMV remains a place of welcome, not a program in itself. Public actions are often prepared to be carried out elsewhere: books (one already published, three in progress); Shows, meetings...

During these years, the residency has received representatives of many local organisations: Terre de liens, the PNRMA, the LPO, the CENRA, Labeaume en musique, the Sentier des Lauzes, the local itinerant dry stone school and more recently, Réserves de nature and Marcher depuis la nuit des temps. Other groups have held their General Assemblies here or set up other sorts of meetings: Vieilles racines jeunes pousses (directed by the herbalist Thierry Thévenin) or the Bivouac agency (landscape gardeners). The meeting of professionals from various backgrounds for exchanges that are not available elsewhere has become a main activity of this place.

At the same time, this hill located halfway up the mountain, where two climate zones meet, encourages some residents to make inventories of species in their specialties, including herbalists Thierry Thevenin and Cédric Perreaudeau, and more recently entomologists André Miquet and Anna Nikolenko. CENRA has made others. I myself have kept lists, like a gardener, of species planted over the last forty years.

In 2005, we experimented with a series of small meetings with a view to establishing such  a scientific advisory committee. But we found that our "mycelia" carried us beyond the strict limits of the sciences, and that the participants, professionals in various fields, were above all looking for a transversality that included the arts, philosophy, and pushed to various "fertile digressions."

The result is, so far:

• this participatory web space.

• the Rencontres Pro: a project of themed meetings that will allow interdisciplinary exchanges and shared discoveries. It is an ecosystem that thrives on diversity and interdependencies. If we choose topics for each meeting among ourselves, nothing is imposed in advance.

As of 2026: Rencontres Pro

Three seasonal workshops, open from Thursday to Sunday. All participation is voluntary, but accommodation and hospitality are offered by the house. Each member chooses to come according to the proposed themes and their availability. Friday's session allows professionals to stay within the framework of their work, while Saturday's session allows freelancers to participate as well. During the meetings,  each member will be able to present his or her work, but external specialists are also invited to enrich the debate. Outdoors, joint projects concerning various evolving ecosystems are continuing. On this website,  exchanges and debates continue. Some activities directly concern and affect the hill of Rousselonge; others can lead to projects carried out elsewhere. Any inventory will be published here on our website.

Advisory Board Functions

As I was able to observe them during the first two meetings in February and June 2025 (pouring rain for the first, heat wave for the second!): 

• To allow specialists from various backgrounds to discover and exchange ideas. Also invite them to present their work to colleagues who would otherwise not have ready access to it. 

• Scientific-"naturalistic" exploration of the hill, inventories to be established and shared to better understand ecosystems and their interdependencies.

 • Specific advice on the management and maintenance of the hill to protect and encourage the living: pond care, mowing time, etc.

• On-site and long-term interdisciplinary projects such as the study of the life in dry stone walls, etc.