Live entertainment
The Institut français plays a strategic role in the international promotion and support of French and francophone performing arts.
Within the Direction de la création artistique et des industries culturelles, the Music and Performing Arts department provides the Institution with expertise for all projects in the following sectors: Circus, Street and Puppet Arts, Dance, Theater, Current Music, Classical and Contemporary Music.
Thanks to artist support schemes, cultural cooperation programs and initiatives promoting the visibility of works, over 500 artists are supported worldwide every year.
Our missions in the performing arts
The Institut français promotes the international dissemination of French creations in the fields of theater, dance, circus, street arts and puppetry, with an emphasis on diversity of form and artistic innovation. It advises and supports performing artists in developing their international careers. It puts them in touch with programmers and artists abroad, drawing on the French cultural network in each territory. It dialogues with French operators in the sector to contribute to the deployment of cooperative ventures with their counterparts abroad. It calls on French expertise to meet the demands expressed by the sector's foreign partners. In this way, it promotes the French cultural model and participates in the advocacy of public policies in favor of the sector worldwide. It contributes to the structuring of performing arts industries on all continents and fosters dialogue between cultures.
The Institut français supports the international mobility of French artists and companies. It helps put them in touch with the French cultural network abroad and its partners, programmers in each territory. It identifies and advises emerging talent in mainland France and the French overseas territories, working with them to devise international development strategies.
The Institut français promotes the discovery of works by programmers from all over the world, on the occasion of major events in France and abroad. It provides financial support for international tours by major artists on the French scene, in key venues and festivals. It also offers foreign programmers the opportunity to discover new trends in contemporary creation. It also contributes to international artistic collaborations between artists based in France and those working abroad. Finally, it supports artistic creation and research, notably through residency programs abroad.
The Institut français works with French operators and the cultural network to create artistic highlights that welcome foreign programmers and decision-makers. Professional meetings, organized as part of Focus events or artistic discovery tours, bring together professionals and facilitate the sharing of experience and projects. It thus contributes to the emergence of new collaborative projects and international co-productions.
In dialogue with the French cultural network, the Institut français identifies the needs expressed by foreign institutions for French expertise in the performing arts sector. To meet these needs, it calls on the expertise of French cultural operators and players in each sector. It also supports the training of foreign artists and operators. At the crossroads of the French and foreign sectors, it helps promote the French model of financing culture and contributes to the structuring of stages around the world.
Our partners
The Institut français relies on specialized performing arts relays in different parts of the world. They facilitate professional exchanges, support artists in their international development, and accompany distribution and co-production projects. They benefit from their own annual calls for projects and produce specific mappings.
Theatre and Dance Office in Berlin (Germany)
Teatroskop : for South-East Europe and the Balkans, based in Belgrade
Specialized Performing Arts liaison in the USA, based in New York
Relais specializing in performing arts in Spanish-speaking Latin America, based in Buenos Aires
Relais specializing in performing arts in China, based in Beijing.
The Institut français represents France on the CITF, a multilateral commission that supports the production and dissemination of French-language theater worldwide. This commission promotes co-production between French-speaking artists, facilitating exchanges between Europe, Africa, North America and the Caribbean. It offers French-speaking companies access to funding for the creation and touring of shows. Benin's recent entry into the CITF illustrates the expansion of opportunities for West African artists. Each year, 20 projects are selected.
The Institut français is a partner of the Prix RFI Théâtre, an international competition that spotlights emerging talent on the French-language theater scene. The prize, organized by RFI (Radio France Internationale), is awarded each year to an original play written by a playwright under the age of 35, from an African, Caribbean or Indian Ocean country. Through this partnership, the Institut français supports French-language dramatic creation and promotes the distribution of winning works on international stages.
