Marie Rouvillois’ life is a story of star-crossed meetings and connections, leading her down some unexpected career paths. In 2024, the most recent of these encounters saw her thrust to the helm of the Philanthropic ArsNova endowment fund, after crossing paths with Vitalie and Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger just as the pair were looking to elevate their charitable endeavours in the arts.
Tracing Marie Rouvillois’ career path is like trying to follow a butterfly, flitting freely from one flower to another and lingering wherever the nectar captures her imagination. Having spent several years at a communications agency specialising in the cinema industry, she was eager to step beyond promoting films and get closer to “the reactor core” by working alongside directors. The butterfly landed on the shoulder of Nicolas Vanier. For two decades, Marie accompanied Vanier, an adventurer with a passion for the Great North, in his many projects including sledding expeditions, documentaries, books and films. During this time she took a two-year pit stop to work with photographer-director Yann Arthus-Bertrand, overseeing communications for his GoodPlanet foundation to coincide with the release of the film Human.
Champagne!
Then one day the butterfly found its way to Champagne, once again alongside Nicolas Vanier, who had decided he wanted to make a film about friends reuniting in the region – with a few key stipulations. “We wanted to get close to the people who make champagne, and understand who they were; in a material sense we were looking for partners with a genuine sense of commitment.” When they met with Vitalie Taittinger and her father Pierre-Emmanuel, there was an instant rapport. “We could see that, like us, they were brimming with energy for something that would endure beyond our short time on this earth; the desire to give meaning to what they do. They’re also funny, joyful characters. These qualities were essential to our choice of partner.”
Speaking the same language
A link had been forged between Marie Rouvillois and the Maison Taittinger, and over the course of the film’s production the connection would grow stronger. “We were speaking the same language. I admired the various social commitments made by the family and the company, and I was surprised to learn that they hadn’t all been consolidated within a single structure.” As it happened, this topic was also on Vitalie’s mind, as she was seeking to amplify these public-interest initiatives by detaching them from any kind of business context. She tasked Marie with laying the groundwork for the project. “We spent two years working on the blueprint for the project, with the idea of integrating visual arts, performing arts and culinary arts.”
In for a penny…
This work resulted in the creation not of a business foundation, but instead an endowment fund open to other patrons tempted to lend their generosity in this way. Now fully absorbed in this inspiring initiative, Rouvillois agreed to come on board as the operational director of Philanthropic ArsNova, presided over by the highly involved Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger and working closely alongside Vitalie. The Fund’s goal is to share the Arts with as many people as possible. “To embrace these kinds of causes, you have to click 100% with the people behind them,” she stresses. So the butterfly landed in Champagne, knowing that her mission would be global in its scope.
A recurring motif
Marie Rouvillois has been steeped in the arts since childhood. “Music has always been a part of my life. My grandmother was a violist, and she gave all her grandchildren instruments and music classes.” Marie focused her efforts on the violin and piano. Her experience in cinema, and working relationships with Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Nicolas Vanier, led Rouvillois to develop her latent interest in the arts. “They are two highly committed personalities; they both feel that nature and mankind are works of art, and this is what they seek to uplift in their imagery, their cinema and photography, to help spread awareness of environmental issues. Through the prism of beauty, they make the viewer want to love and understand, and hence to value and cherish what they see.”
Positive philosophy
She considers the endowment Fund’s mission to be an extension of this positive philosophy – a mission to: “help show people all that is fine and beautiful in the world, to educate and share joy in a way that normalises access to Art, sparks wonder and lets us reconnect with our emotions, and find our own singularity and place in the world. If we’re sincere in our role as a go-between, we can help new artistic personalities to emerge.” Several tools have been brought together under the Fund’s banner, including the ArsNova International Signature Culinary Prize (formerly Le Taittinger), which showcases chefs’ excellence and creativity. The latest edition took place on 4 February at the Opéra Bastille.
Healthy and sustainable food
This prize has now been combined with charity galas taking place in participating countries, working to fundraise for local causes and associations, with the competitors asked to host workshops at the events to help share the basics of healthier and more sustainable food. The Cooking Talent prize for amateur chefs will also be absorbed and amplified by Philanthropic ArsNova, and in the summer of 2024 the fund launched a direct initiative for young people with its food truck program, visiting local neighbourhoods to help get kids into cooking and underlining the social importance of sharing meals together.
La Belle Enchantée
ArsNova is also taking on the Taittinger-Opéra de Paris charitable endeavour, whose funds are redistributed to associations, and the Flâneries Musicales de Reims charity, which will broaden its scope and reorient its focus toward cultural initiatives held throughout the year. Finally, the private mansion in Reims known as La Belle Enchantée, recently renovated by Taittinger, will become a showcase for the three fields in which the Fund is active (culinary arts, performing arts and visual arts), and an open space for curiosity and wonder, “where the everyday experience of art will be made accessible.” Assisted by Caroline de Chantérac and the skills and expertise shared by the Maison Taittinger teams, Marie Rouvillois is learning how to make a living from the joy of giving.
