This text has been written by Claudia Moscovici on the 22nd of June 2022

"Panodyssey.com, the cultural networking platform initiated by French entrepreneur and media executive Alexandre Leforestier, is an intercultural and international forum that is on the brink of igniting a cultural revolution. Panodyssey offers a way for artists, writers, photographers, journalists, film directors, editors, architects, business professionals and technology innovators to collaborate on joint creative projects. As Claudia Ferrazzi, the President of Viarte and a former counselor to French President Emmanuel Macron indicated in a recent article in Challenges.fr, today’s business leaders will also help pave the way.

As a scholar of the French Enlightenment and fan of the philosophes and salonnieres of the eighteenth century--brilliant minds that broached and expanded every field  in the arts and sciences--I find such a project particularly exciting. Despite the increased specialization of disciplines during the past few centuries, interdisciplinary culture salons are back, only this time using the technologies and social networks at our disposal in the 21st century.  In addition, just as enlightened monarchs and religious leaders were the patrons of the arts during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, so government agencies and industry leaders today are the current patrons of the arts. Business visionaries anticipate the needs and technologies of the future. They fund innovation and support cultural projects that, without their patronage, may never see the light of day.

I believe that few cultural projects are as necessary as those founded upon the Enlightenment spirit of interdisciplinary and international collaboration. Artists and writers find inspirations in other fields. They need each other. They also depend upon computer-savvy professionals to bring their visions to the public via modern technologies. For instance, thanks to relatively new technologies, such as the Google Art Project, we can admire artworks from the world’s premier museums from the comfort of our homes. This is particularly necessary nowadays, given the restrictions on our mobility imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Panodyssey uses an innovative and inherently interdisciplinary platform to make our own cultural and technological interactions possible. It provides an ideal forum of international artistic collaboration and creation. And like all artistic enterprises, it depends upon the support and patronage of our governments and of the international business community: leaders who see that, in every society and nation, culture is our best legacy for the future. To this effect, Panodyssey recently launched CREA: Creative Room European Alliance, which has been endorsed and has the financial support of the European Commission. Today, as during the Enlightenment, creative pursuits cross national borders and flourish thanks to the collaborations within and among the numerous fields in the arts and humanities."

Claudia Moscovici, Panodyssey U.S. advisor