“Six years after U+’s “Founders’ Meeting” in Paris, it is time to take stock of what it has done (and not done), and imagine what happens next.
While we believe we have accomplished great things, we also feel the need to rediscover the meaning – and perhaps also the agility – of the initial project. We have succeeded in building a small but sustainable organization, capable of leading projects in France and internationally. However, like many other nonprofits, we are dependent on project-by-project funding. This forces us to focus most of our energy on the management and development of projects, perhaps to the detriment of our ability to experiment, do research, and nurture U+’s international community.
U+’s future development should aim to find the time and desire to carry out these tasks together.”
With this in mind, Violette Louis-Mathieu, a designer at U+ since April 2024, conducted a series of interviews with eight people who have been involved since U+’s beginning: members of the permanent team, the board, as well as active figures at U+. These included Petra Ardai, Rocio Berenguer, Daniel Kaplan, Juliette Lépineau, Chloé Luchs-Tassé, Yoan Ollivier, Ketty Steward and Brigitte Van der Sande.
Recorded and analysed, these conversations highlight tensions, new or renewed ambitions, and questions that remain or should be open. the resulting report aims to lay the foundations for a collective reflection on what U+ could become.
The interviews were conducted in French and English. The French summaries were translated using translation software, but the quotes were kept in their original language. The original and translated versions are all available online.
The same questions that we asked our 8 interviewees are also available on a shared document, should you want to answer them as well!
Therefore, we suggest you read this document less as a conclusion, than as an invitation to continue the dialogue!