Quai d’Angers

PUBLIC INSTITUTION OF CULTURAL COOPERATION - LE QUAI
Management Christian Mousseau-Fernandez

EPCC-Le Quai was born from a common will of the City and the State to offer to the people of Angers a new artistic and cultural project for performing arts.
It is based upon the artistic programming of the NTA and the CNDC but also upon the will to motivate the development of other forms in the city, including the circus.
EPCC-Le Quai also supports new dynamics into cultural mediation and cooperation, included within a sustainable development process.

• For this sixth season, we wanted to increase the possibility given to children and parents to live performances together. The season T-OK is built on a purpose of "discovery" for children, hence the diversity of genres offered and the plurality of ages our shows are intended for.
• Le Quai is a space for contemporary creation "par excellence", the circus shows are part and parcel of this process of renewal and questioning, regarding both its form and what makes its history, namely its roaming. Throughout this season, you will be revealed the rich variety of the circus arts and their perpetual reinvention.
• Le Quai is the Forum for Performing Arts of Angers; it is in this spirit that we offer concerts each year that invite meetings and intercultural exchanges. Jazz and world music are mingling and sometimes melting while trad music flirts with electro... Seven major musical events are programmed this season.
• Lastly, this 2012-2013 season will also be punctuated with three events supported by EPCC-Le Quai
- Pas[s]age, for those who do not like to read - The Forum Writings for the youth Forum will widen its scope and renew its literary and dramatic offers.
- The Festival Cirque[S] has many surprises in store, thanks to artists who will be returning to Angers with new creations.
- The hosting of the company les Colporteurs (The Hawkers NdT) with their show Le Bal des Intouchables (The Untouchables Ball NdT) will be the high point not to be missed at the end of the season!

THE 4 MISSIONS OF EPCC-LE QUAI

Distribution and support for creation
The EPCC-Le Quai offers a programming where the variety of aesthetics is a priority. The joint subscription we offer is proof of the possible and multiple crossings between theatre (NTA), dance (CNDC), music, circus, performances for children, exhibitions and other unruly or unclassifiable forms...
Besides this offer, EPCC-Le Quai supports the creation of artistic projects, hosting artists like the Compagnie à and Rachid Ouramdane, coproducing shows like Le bal des intouchables by the Colporteurs, or programming shows while their creation is in progress like Loop by the company Tro-Héol and J’avance et j’efface by the company Théâtre à Cru.

Mediation
EPCC-Le Quai develops a policy of cultural mediation towards the young audiences, working with relay structures in the city areas (leisure centres, community centres, neighbourhood centres ...) and with the school community.
A thorough work of artistic and cultural education is done with the latter, through courses, twinning and other partnerships including discovery of the site, attending the shows, artistic workshops, teacher training, thematic visits to museums, etc. Devices, such as T-OK Sheets are specifically designed to help anticipate the show or to follow it. Our T-OK-website (www.t-ok.eu) is open to all, including adults, who can share their discoveries with family and friends, interactively.
EPCC-Le Quai is involved in the PREAC performing arts Pays-de-la-Loire.

Cooperation
EPCC-Le Quai matches the artistic dynamic of the territory by working closely with local cultural actors and by opening the Quai’s doors to many events:
The Rendez-vous du Forum, Cartographies, Les Ateliers du Goût (Taste Workshop)
These rendezvous are designed as opportunities of opening to forms of cultural expression other than shows and leave condiserable place for meeting, exchanging and knowledge sharing.
In this spirit, les Cartographies, new forms of theatrical conferences designed by Frédéric Ferrer of the company Vertical Détour, are offered this year in partnership with the association Terre des sciences.
Building on the success of the Impromptus by the LiMA, the Ateliers du goût, the Class’jazz and other free concerts, our partnerships with the improvisation league of Angers, the association Slow Food international, the Regional Conservatory of Angers, the Bar of the Forum, etc. continue and flourish.
PAS[S]AGE, Writings for the youth
This annual rendezvous, both entertaining and educational, allowing the 9-13 years old to meet the authors and other professionals of the book industry, benefit from the cooperation with about ten cultural actors from Angers and the department.
Partnerships with other cultural actors
EPCC-Le Quai enables the achievement in the Quai of artistic and cultural projects in the Quai, in the context of major events such as Les Accroche-Coeurs, the Festival Premiers Plans, and in collaboration with the museums of Angers, the Fontevraud Abbey, etc.

Sustainable development
Since the construction of the building, the architectural project is part of a High Quality Environment process, ecology and sustainable development are at the heart of concerns for EPCC-Le Quai.
The entire team is involved in a long term perspective about the implementation of a sustainable cultural and artistic development at Le Quai. Among the initiatives, implemented actions and results include:
Communication
- high volume printings done on FSC or PEFC certified paper, using vegetal inks without solvent,
- Optimized distribution of communications materials and limitation of printing volumes according to the actual needs (e.g.: 25% reduction of the number of copies for the 12/13 brochure),
- Subscription to the EcoFolio contract: eco-contribution to help further progress in paper recycling.
Reception of the artists
Awareness-raising through a ecological charter integrated in the contracts and catering based on products from organic agriculture.
Mobility Commitment to a process of Corporate Travel Plan to improve the accessibility to the site and to reduce the use of private cars.
Office supplies 46 % come from a range of "green" products.
Purchasing policy priority selection of suppliers having a clear approach to sustainable development. (e.g.: choice for the hosts and hostesses 12/13 season’s outfits of "fair trade shirts" made in France).
Sorting A contract has been signed in January 2012 with an "Establishment of Service and Support for Work" (ESAT La Gibaudière) employing disabled workers and ensures sorting, recycling and recovering our waste cardboard, paper, plastic.
Energy / electricity 21 % of the energy consumed by the building in the year 2012 is produced by a power plant of renewable electricity (EDF "Equilibre" contract). Certification by the organisation Observ’er (Observatory for Renewable Energies).
Biodiversity installation of two bee hives on the roof of the Quai.

IMAGINE 2020- ART AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Beyond this functional approach, the EPCC-Le Quai is involved in a process of European cultural cooperation through the project iMAGiNE 2020 - Art and Climate Change, supported by the European Union.

What role can the cultural sector play in the transition process to stabilize the climate and ensure a sustainable future? Can art generate an aspiration and a collective hope, a dynamic change? These are the questions the eleven cultural structures* that constitute the network are trying to answer.

They share a sense of responsibility towards these challenges and are aiming to encourage the world of art and the cultural sector in Europe to get involved and use their creative potential to involve the public at marge both as a spectator and an actor.

Several artistic and cultural projects are led by the EPCC-Le Quai in this context, including:
for the 12/13 season: Le bal des intouchables by the company the Colporteurs and the cycle of Cartographies by Frédéric Ferrer with the Company Vertical Détour,
and in the longer term: the assistance in the creation of Sfumato by Rachid Ouramdane’s Compagnie à and the support to the I.C.E. project by Phia Ménard with the company Non Nova.

* Kaaitheater, Bruxelles ; EPCC-Le Quai, Angers ; Bunker, Ljubljana ; Domaine d’O, Montpellier ; Artsadmin, Londres ; LIFT, Londres ; Domino, Zagreb ; Latvijas jaunà teàtra institùts, riga ; Transforma, Torres vedras (Portugal) ; rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdam ; Kampnagel, Hambourg.

For more information on the project iMAGiNE 2020 - Art and Climate Change: www.imagine2020.eu