Festivals and cultural events Midi-Pyrénées

Every summer, between Causses and Quercy, the heart of Lalbenque in the Lot department beats to the rhythm of Occitan culture. It's a time to stop and enjoy a drink or a balèti (traditional dance) with friends. Experience four days of festival in this living Occitan culture, spread across the territory and open to the world! Exhibitions, film screenings, workshops in Occitan song and traditional dance, a gourmet night market, a grand ball with a fire-eater and illuminations... A festive event not to be missed!

This association organizes the summer festival of the Douctouyre valley. This multicultural festival proposes each year local theater, projections of reports and documentaries, concerts, meetings with the producers of the valley, various workshops... The goal is to encourage meetings and sharing between all generations. But the small and nice association has become with time a big and dynamic association, and presents throughout the year artists in different places...

The Mise Au Point festival, known as MAP, is a cultural event entirely free of charge dedicated to amateur photography. Created in 2009, it has grown in size and is held every year in the city centre. Its ambition is to make the general public discover the practice, while serving as a showcase for budding talents. It is a bridge between the inner worlds of the exhibitors and the eyes of the visitors. As a nomadic festival, every year it invests different emblematic sites of Toulouse's cultural heritage, which it transforms into giant galleries. To be looked at with a wide open mind! A beautiful encounter with visual creation and why not, the opportunity to exhibit your own works?

For twenty-five years, the 31 Notes d'été festival has combined culture, heritage and tourism by offering free concerts, shows, fifty or so tourist and cultural visits and exhibitions throughout the Haute-Garonne. The objective being to create links, no less than 36,000 people gathered in 2022 for the whole festival throughout the department to experience moments of shared emotion. Find online the numerous dates in Toulouse, Grenade, Paulhac, L'Isle-en-Dodon or Montréjeau.

Since 1991, the Confluences association has organized the Lettres d'automne literary festival every year at the end of November in Montauban and throughout the department. During two weeks, the program offers meetings, readings, shows, literary concerts, exhibitions, workshops, the festival bookstore, as well as bridges from literature to various artistic disciplines (cinema, sculpture, dance...).

The dance association Traces Contemporaines celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2023. For the occasion, its annual festival will celebrate the joy transmitted by the energy of dance and the entire event will be turned towards the enchantment and the thirst to vibrate high and strong. For four days, dance will resonate in the heart of Cahors with the presence of the Humanhood Dance Company. You can find all the programming and the ticketing of the festival on the website of the association.

For over ten years, l'Européenne de cirques has been THE festival dedicated entirely to contemporary circus. Toulouse's venues welcome circus artists and companies from all over Europe, to introduce Toulousans and fans from all over the region to shows that multiply influences and effects. Young and old alike will appreciate the unique worlds of each artist. We look forward to seeing you at La Grainerie in autumn, to discover a new program every year!

Founded in 1991 by a group of traditional Occitan dancers, the Trad'envie festival is dedicated to showcasing the diversity of popular Occitan culture through dance, song, music and, of course, the Occitan language... The festival also hosts a stringed-instrument fair, and every year, it's a bold and eclectic affair. With no fewer than twenty concerts and dances, there's no doubt that everyone will be able to enjoy some fine musical discoveries, as well as fine Gascon meals!

How to relive the best songs evoking Paris, the city of love and beauty? It is by coming to listen to young talented artists who will interpret for you the best compositions of these last decades.

Mid-September: Concerts, museums and free entertainment planned at historic sites on the occasion of heritage days.

First week of August. On the National Square, this project initiated by Alain Martyn de l'Opéra de Paris, and artistic director of the Théâtre Olympe de Cutters opens to the great national dancers.

From 20 to 24 May 2009. Jazz in Comminges Parc des Expositions and downtown Saint-Gaudens. Four days of free concerts in the city centre, music courses, class courses, exhibitions, films, tour proposals and commercial animation…

A guest writer offers a selection of films.

For forty-five years, Sylvanès Abbey has been setting the stage each year with its International Festival of Sacred Music and World Music. This not-to-be-missed event features internationally-renowned artists working on a specific theme, and offers the chance to hear choirs, solo singers and organists perform sacred, liturgical, classical and traditional works. Performances take place in the former ^12th-century Cistercian abbey.

Jousting on the Garonne! Fiesta Garona renews with tradition to offer, at the beginning of September, a festive, family and free weekend. Fiesta Garona is the result of a partnership between various yacht clubs in Toulouse (rowing, canoeing, jet skiing, water skiing...) and other structures such as Toulouse à Table or the Pêcheurs de Sable refreshment bar. Each edition brings together nearly 20,000 people! So you can watch jousting on characteristic traditional boats, but you can also try an introductory session to water sports, or even go for a swim across the Garonne! At dusk, it's time for torchlight night shows.

Building on its success with the Toulouse Game Show, the organizer TGS Événements has been offering a free event dedicated to Japanese culture since 2018. Make no mistake, this is not a "TGS light"! Pop culture certainly finds its place there, but the ambition of this show is to exchange around Japan and all its forms of cultural expression. You will attend martial arts demonstrations, you will be able to discover an amazing collection of bonsai, you will be amazed by an exhibition of kimonos, you will be able to take cooking classes, listen to lectures on tea, learn calligraphy, go game... A beautiful immersion in the land of the Rising Sun.

Africlap is an annual festival organized by the cultural association of the same name. Its ambition is to use cinema to forge social links and create interaction with others. In local neighborhoods, the association organizes workshops designed to popularize the practice of filmmaking. Throughout the year, Africlap also organizes meetings around film screenings. Its annual festival is an opportunity to discover different works produced across Africa, and to encounter their diversity. In Occitanie, it's the most important event for African cinema. Screenings are accompanied by a cultural village, a meeting place for artists and spectators.

If the town of Cordes-sur-Ciel is already by nature a must-see in the Tarn's heritage, here is a festival that could reinforce your desire to discover this singular city. This event has the particularity of being centred around chamber music. Each year, the chosen compositions cross all periods, from the Middle Ages to the present day, and, rarely, a composer is invited to compose live. In addition to the concerts, workshops and master classes are organised.

Since 1991, the association Generation organises its festival. For two weeks in the middle of autumn, in November, literature is at the party. Each year, the work of a new author is chosen and is at the centre of the debate. In the program during these days, high-voice readings, meetings, concerts, workshops, exhibitions, cinema sessions and shows…

Three days of African culture in the heart of the Lot, and it's been going on for twenty-three years! The Africajarc festival is a benchmark in its field, and for so many years it has enabled the various players involved in the festival to meet and exchange ideas. Festival-goers are not only regulars. The enchanting setting creates a beautiful parallel with the cultural wealth on offer through concerts, dances, workshops, craft stalls and literary encounters. A not-to-be-missed event for 25 years!

For two days, Gourdon is transformed into a medieval village. The companions of the Chêne Ardent set up the tents of the medieval camp, complete with wooden games, weapons room and candy catapult, while nearby, knights' fights, a chivalry tournament and an equestrian acrobatics show take place. As you stroll along, you'll come across artisan stalls, poetic and comic performances, and end your journey back in time with a festive hard folk concert!

Situated one hour from Agen and one and a half hours from Toulouse, Fleurance is a charming Gascon bastide town which covers 43.32 km² and has 6,419 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest town in the Gers department in terms of population (behind Auch, Condom and L'Isle Jourdain). Member of the Community of Communes of the Lomagne Gersoise and Pays Portes de Gascogne, the town is also the capital of the canton. It is a particularly dynamic city, with many festivities that make the richness and dynamism of the town: the carnival in April, the cuivros foliz in July, the Fleurance astronomy festival in August, not forgetting the very beautiful programme of the cultural season. Fleurance has also developed a remarkable economic and commercial life.

On the first Sunday in August, and even from Saturday onwards, the city of Eauze lives to the rhythm of comics through a festival that welcomes many renowned French and foreign authors every year. A key meeting place for lovers of quality bubbles, it attracts around 5,000 people and has become an essential event. In 2019, for the 28th anniversary of the festival, many confirmed artists and emerging talents will once again be present. The Festival will pay tribute to Tintin, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year.

The city of Toulouse has been a leader in the art of animation for many years now. The region's studios are proof of this, with series and feature-length films that have been successful both in France and abroad! Established in Toulouse since 2012, Cartoon Forum is the co-production and pitching event that brings together European animation TV series professionals in the Pink City. It's an opportunity for project developers to present their projects to a wide range of potential partners from all over the world. Around 80 series in development are presented each year, and over 1,000 professionals from some 40 countries attend the event.

The Festival Electro Alternativ, founded in 2005, is held in Toulouse in September. It hosts nearly people every year. It is taking place in many of Toulouse's fashionable places: Bikini, Dynamo, Dune, Cultural Bellegarde Center, Multiprise… In the programme: contemporary music. International artists, hip hop, electro-jazz or techno techno come for the occasion in Toulouse. Go online to know the programming and to buy your tickets online!

The "Le Printemps fait son Jazz" festival is a much-anticipated cultural event in Muret. This year's program promises to be exceptional, with talented artists such as Eleanor 5tet. The festival takes place at the Théâtre Municipal Marc Sebbah in Muret.

Cinélatino, Rencontres de Toulouse - Cinémas d'Amérique Latine is a film festival held in Toulouse. It features a varied program of Latin American films, including feature-length fiction, documentaries and shorts. The festival showcases the diversity and richness of Latin American cinema, presenting recent films and previews. The films tackle political, social and cultural themes specific to Latin America. The festival also features meetings with directors, literary events, concerts and exhibitions. Screenings take place in partner cinemas in Toulouse, as well as in other cities in the Occitanie and Nouvelle Aquitaine regions.

The association was founded in 1981 by musician and artistic director Claude Sicre. The aim was to encourage the emergence of new cultural activities in the neighborhood. The association's activities are numerous: musical activities for young and old, accompaniment and direction of artists, organization of events, participation in colloquia, meetings, conferences, interventions in schools and universities... Escambiar also produces Les Nouveaux Cantadors, an Occitan group with Brazilian influences.