Initially scheduled from 16 March to 4 April 2020, and cancelled due to the health situation, the European Biennial of Val-d’Oise and Seine-et-Marne presented a programme of more than 80 performances of 10 French and foreign shows in 15 towns of Ile-de-France over 3 weeks. Due to the instability of the health situation during the months following the first containment, we did not have the opportunity to put in place the circulation of the ten shows initially proposed in the partner cities because their programmes were, at that time, already full. In fact, the first lockdown began the very week the festival was due to start: the logistics required at the end of the festival required months of reorganisation in order to find common calendars between the 15 territories. We therefore had to cancel the event as it had been held in the previous eight editions in order to work first on the guaranteed rescheduling of the shows in the slots available in each of the cities for the rest of the season.
As for the European Forum, initially scheduled for 18 and 19 March 2020 in the heart of the festival, we were able to postpone these two days of conferences, debates and project presentations to 7 and 8 October, at the Espace Marcel Pagnol in Villiers-le-Bel with the entire programme and speakers (physically or by videoconference for the German, Scottish and Canadian speakers). The number of performances during these two days was reduced. This is the result of a joint effort between ACTA, our public partners, the town of Villiers-le-Bel, the speakers and the artists involved.
Despite the constraints of the audience (30 people per venue, in two spaces), ACTA made sure to broadcast the content of the forum online via live videos of the conference-debates.
Festival : Originally from 16th March to 4th April 2020 (cancelled)
European Forum : Originally 18th – 19th March 2020 / delayed to 7th – 8th October 2020
Initially 80 performances, of which 12 were maintained during the Forum and 43 postponed in total
- 10 European companies
- 10 creations
- Initially 15 partner towns in the 95 and 77 regions, 10 of which were able to postpone the shows
- Initially 25 partner cultural and early childhood venues
- 19 international speakers at the forum
- 4 conferences
- 4 project presentations
- 1 exhibition
- 1 training session and 1 conference-debate
- 1 creation supported by the Val d’Oise Departmental Council
15 partner towns in the Val-d’Oise, Seine-et-Marne, and Normandy counties
The programme
Shows (cancelled)
European Forum (maintained and pushed forward)
To dig deeper…
Some videos of the highlights of the 2020 European Forum (in French)
European Forum 2020: Participants interviews
Find some filmed interviews of the speakers in the European Forum 2020 (in French)
Detailed report of the two days written by the journalist Naly Gérard (in French)
2020 PREMIÈRES RENCONTRES Festival Report
Report of this slightly different edition of the PREMIÈRES RENCONTRES festival
Shows presented at the European Forum
Shows and future creations presented during the European Forum
Our partners
ACTA, conventioned company: Conseil départemental du Val d’Oise, City of Villiers-le-Bel. ACTA is subsidised by the DRAC Île-de-France through a territory convention, and by the Île-de-France Regional Council through an artistic permanence convention.
Supporters of the 2020 PREMIÈRES RENCONTRES festival : Ministry of Culture DRAC Île-de-France, the Conseil départemental du Val d’Oise, the Communauté d’Agglomération Roissy Pays de France, Fonds Génération Belle Saison, the Val-d’Oise CAF, the Embassy of The Netherlands, The Goethe Institute, RAJA