ASSITEJ ARTISTIC GATHERING 2025
“BRIGHT GENERATIONS”
Marseille, March 23 -29, 2025
ASSITEJ International is the International Association of Theatre and Performing Arts for Children and Young People, bringing together members from more than 75 countries. The ASSITEJ Artistic Gatherings (AAG) are unique moments of exchange and international professional networking in the field of theatre and performing arts for young audiences. Each year, between the ASSITEJ World Congress an Artistic Gathering will take place in a different part of the world.
Scènes d’enfance – ASSITEJ France has the honour of hosting the next ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering in Marseille in 2025, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the association with the entire performing arts community for young audiences. Scènes d’enfance – ASSITEJ France is the French National Center of ASSITEJ. It brings together institutions, artistic companies, cultural venues, independent artists, practitioners and partners to promote and develop the performing arts among children and young people.
Scènes d’enfance – ASSITEJ France is launching a call for productions/shows from all countries for the ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering 2025. The application deadline is 1 March 2024.
———-
Let’s celebrate our connections and our exchanges with children and young people! For several years, performing arts for children and youth in France have been considering new issues concerning their audiences. The ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering 2025 will reflect these concerns.
In view of societal developments and systemic and environmental crises, the young audience creation sector wants to give a real place to young generations in the development of artistic and cultural proposals that concern them. From cultural rights to cooperation, including the most diverse interactions, numerous operational concepts are at work.
Creation for young audiences in France has been multidisciplinary for a long time, and the aesthetic diversity of forms continues to develop. Today, these strictly artistic developments are joined by a desire to develop exchanges and sharing with young people at different stages of the creative process. That’s why we hope that the 2025 Artistic Gathering reflects this double characteristic: the diversity of aesthetic forms and the dialogue with young audiences in the development of these.
The gathering will take place in Marseille and will spread throughout the city, mobilizing the main cultural venues to host performances, workshops, conferences, etc. It will take place from 24 – 29 March 2025. It will also be an opportunity to celebrate the 60th anniversary of ASSITEJ International, founded in Paris in 1965, and its present vitality, maintained by the commitment of its members.
The 2025 international artistic gathering will therefore, be an opportunity to highlight the values, commitments and achievements of the young audience creation community and ASSITEJ. It must also reflect the ethical concerns of Scènes d’enfance – ASSITEJ France; its concern for inclusion, accessibility, and ecological concerns.
One of the priorities of this gathering will be the meeting between French and international professionals with the public, whether classes of children and young people, families, or groups from social centres… In performance halls, in certain workshops or conferences, professionals and audiences will sit side by side or face to face, meet and discuss.
Courses combining shows and other activities will also be offered to artists and other professionals to allow real encounters. The number of shows and other offerings will be deliberately limited in order to avoid the dispersion of members of the young audience community and to encourage common experiences.
This ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering aims to promote international exchanges and cooperation, but it must also give rise to new pleas in favour of the creation of children and youth and their cultural rights. It will highlight the richness of French and international artistic production, particularly French-speaking.
Call for show proposals
The call for proposals is open to productions and shows from all countries (excluding France), with particular attention to French-speaking countries underrepresented in international meetings and bodies.
The jury will favour shows which have children or young people involved at some point in their creative process, whether in the writing phase, in the process during creation, in participation at the time of presentation, etc. The association or consideration of children and young people to develop the show must be detailed in the application.
The jury will constitute a selection of shows reflecting the diversity of genres and identities of creators from young audiences. It will compose a multidisciplinary programme taking into account all ages of the public.
The shows should be available from 10 March to 10 April, if possible, in order to enable extended presentations in other places in France before or after the Artistic Gathering.
The shows will be presented in Marseille. Furthermore, any video recordings will be appreciated for online broadcast, during the event only and aimed at professionals only. This possibility will be a complement but is not part of the criteria for assessing the proposal.
Budget conditions
At the time this call is launched, we cannot confirm the budget for the event. Our aim is that for each show chosen, if the team does not have mobility assistance in its country, travel and accommodation costs will be covered, and compensation will be given for meal costs. If the budget of the event ultimately allows it, the selected shows will be sold.
In addition, participants will have free access to the shows and other offerings of the Artistic Gathering, subject to the availability of places. Artists and other team members will be invited to the ASSITEJ Anniversary Ceremony.
Accessibility
Teams with specific needs are invited to make them known in their application. We will do our best to accommodate their needs as well as we can for the selected projects. We will work with the ASSITEJ Access Committee to identify access challenges and solutions for the event well in advance.
Application conditions
Application deadline: 1 March 2024.
Requests for information should be sent to Talulah Huyghens, talulah@scenesdenfance-assitej.fr
Projects will be submitted via the dedicated form
The selection will take place in March and April, and decisions will be communicated on May 20, 2024 June 20, 2024.
The ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering 2025 is organized as part of two projects co-financed by the European Union entitled “Theatre and performing arts for children and young people (TYA): Building Collective Resilience” and ‘Babel or The Art of Listening in Theatre for Young Audiences’. The meeting is supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur Region and the City of Marseille
