Artjoyette

Artjoyette: Twenty Years of Live Arts in the Streets of Saint-Varent

Since 2002, the village of Saint-Varent, a small commune of 2,500 inhabitants in the Thouarsais region, north of the Deux-Sèvres department, has hosted a live performance festival each June with rare ambition for a rural area. Artjoyette—a joyful contraction of art and joy—is an international meeting of street arts that attracts about fifteen professional companies from all over France and sometimes beyond each year.

A Multidisciplinary Festival

Artjoyette's programming covers the entire spectrum of live arts: gestural theater, contemporary circus, dance, mime, live music, song, poetry, and street arts. Performances follow one another over three days, from Friday to Sunday, taking over the village streets, the church square, parks, and surrounding natural spaces. This diversity makes Artjoyette a unique event in the cultural landscape of the Deux-Sèvres.

The Adillons Leisure Base: A Natural Setting

For some editions, the festival extends its programming to the Adillons Leisure Base in Luché-Thouarsais, offering an exceptional natural setting for outdoor performances. The bodies of water, wooded paths, and meadows then become improvised stages, where companies play with the environment to create immersive artistic experiences.

Free Entry and Voluntary Contribution

True to the spirit of street arts, Artjoyette is a festival with free entry and voluntary contribution. This access policy, driven by a strong conviction that culture must be accessible to all, allows it to reach a broad and diverse audience, from families with children to seasoned live performance enthusiasts.

Over Twenty Years of Associative Commitment

The festival is driven by a team of passionate volunteers, united around a dedicated association. In over twenty years of existence, Artjoyette has hosted hundreds of companies, offered thousands of performances, and helped make Saint-Varent a recognized venue in the national network of street arts festivals. The festival has notably hosted companies such as Cie Bravache, Chicken Street, Cirque Kilombo, and the French Quarter Trio.

A Festival that Shines in the Thouarsais Region

Beyond Saint-Varent, Artjoyette enriches the Thouarsais region, a rural territory in the north of the Deux-Sèvres department. The festival contributes to the cultural and tourist animation of this area, attracting visitors from a wide radius and promoting the charms of a often-overlooked region.