Festivals and cultural events Midi-Toulousain

From April to November cultural season of street theatre, dance, storytelling on several towns and villages on the Upper Garonne.

Open doors for several mills in the department, together with small heritage day. Information: Les Amis des Moulins des Pyrénées Centrales - 31350 PEGUILHAN. Mr Jean-Marc Teulé - (tel) 05 61 88 21 56 or Mrs Régine Fourment, current President of the Association: 05 61 89 46 92.

The birthplace of Déodat de Séverac (1872-1921), Saint-Felix-Lauragais hosts an annual festival in honour of this original and committed composer. Created in 1989 by the artist's grandson, it is now directed by the opera singer Jean-Jacques Cubaynes. Inheriting the spirit of Déodat de Séverac, the programme of concerts, courses, conferences and exhibitions is based on popular art to celebrate the richness of Occitan culture.

For the past thirty years, the Circa association has been promoting original creations around the circus arts. Each year, it organizes a festival of the current circus in the fall. The best circus troupes from France and the world perform under the big top. In addition to this festival, CIRCA welcomes circus artists in residence throughout the year. The centre provides a place for artists to rehearse, create and produce.

What is Total Festum? Total Festum is Occitanie's festival of Catalan and Occitan languages and cultures. Around the summer solstice and Sant Joan, music rubs shoulders with traditional dances, totemic animals mingle with shows, literature takes center stage and fire shows light up hearts. Between conviviality, sharing and discoveries, this event is an ode to tradition and memory, a resolutely forward-looking look and an anchoring in the present. A festival where the richness comes from the world and its diversity.

La Nuit du Trad' brings together lovers of traditional dances for an evening featuring 4 bands. Dance and music workshops are organized in the afternoon, on-site catering with local produce is provided, and at 7pm the Grand Bal Trad' opens! Whether you're a dancer, a music lover or an epicurean, the Biroussans invite you to enjoy a festive and convivial evening! And if you're a late-night musician, bring your instruments for an all-night musical jam session!

The centre for Choreographic Development of Toulouse-Midi-Pyrénées organizes this event featuring contemporary dance performances from France and elsewhere.

Active since 2001, the Toulouse-based association Les Vidéophages is a leading figure in the distribution of short films and image education. A genuine alternative in the audiovisual landscape, its programming is atypical, friendly and associative. Favoring partnerships with local authorities, cultural centers and educational structures, Vidéophages plays an active role in democratizing access to short films. The Faites de l'Image festival, launched in 2002, is emblematic of this desire to take images out of their context and reach out to all audiences.

Present in Toulouse for over 30 years, the Séquence Court-Métrage festival has become a not-to-be-missed event for lovers of short films. Every year, over 1,300 short films, ranging from fiction to animation to documentary, are screened during the festival. From the four corners of the globe, these little audiovisual nuggets offer a rich and varied panorama of contemporary short films. Whether you're a seasoned film buff or simply curious, Séquence Court-Métrage is sure to satisfy with its rich and exciting program.

The association Toulouse Polars du Sud was born from the meeting of book professionals and readers. It organizes evenings, meetings and exhibitions to promote detective literature and to encourage people who are far away from it to read. Its most important event takes place on the second weekend of October with its annual festival: during three days, the noir novel falls on the pink city! Mainly centered in the Mirail district, it also takes place in libraries, media libraries and bookstores in the city center and the surrounding area.

Far less famous than the Mirande festival, and also more recent, the Vic-Fezensac Western Country Festival nonetheless attracts enthusiasts of this line dance straight from the United States of America. The dancers don their boots and stetsons, and step to the rhythm of the banjo and fiddle. Far West-inspired entertainment and free concerts are also organized in the town center, which is redecorated in the colors of the American flag for the occasion. The festival will celebrate its ^6th edition in 2024.

For a quarter of a century, this unique festival has been a sailing stage on the Canal du Midi. The Convivencia cultural association, located on the southern outskirts of Toulouse in Ramonville, programs concerts on a traveling barge. A variety of world music is represented as the barge travels from Toulouse to the Mediterranean. Each port of call has its own program. Concerts are accompanied by tastings, river heritage events and exhibitions... Great festive and convivial moments along the water.

Organized by the Binaros association, the Salon du Livre Pyrénéen is a literary event promoting books about the Pyrenees. Initiated by two enthusiasts, it showcases the richness and diversity of Pyrenean culture through meetings with authors, conferences, exhibitions and events. For two days, novels and essays on heritage, history and the environment take center stage, with the award of the Prix du Livre Pyrénéen. In addition to French and Spanish, Basque, Occitan and Catalan are also spoken... It's a wonderful event that brings people together in a warm and instructive atmosphere.

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...).

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.

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.