Festi'45

A festival born from a passion for words

Festi'45, officially the Festival of Oral Arts, was born in 2012 from the initiative of the association Espace Culturel Marico, founded in Fleury-les-Aubrais in 2010. Its creators, convinced that storytelling and speech are powerful vectors of social connection and intercultural dialogue, imagined a traveling festival where stories from all corners of the world meet, cross paths, and enrich each other. Presided over by Fabrice Duboc, the association holds the conviction that "we carry this heritage and have a duty to share it, by word of mouth, from generation to generation, and from culture to culture.".

The arts of orality in all their forms

Festi'45 embraces a remarkably wide range of spoken word arts: traditional and contemporary tales, epic stories, slam, proverbs, riddles, popular legends, and founding myths. Professional storytellers, from France and internationally, share the stage to take the audience on a journey through world cultures. Stories from Africa, Latin America, Europe, and Asia mingle with legends from the Loire Valley, creating a fertile dialogue between the oral traditions of all horizons.

Over the years, the festival has hosted renowned artists such as Nézha Chevé, Kristof Le Garff, Dorient Kaly, Aurélie Mest, Fred Pougeard, Michel Hindenoch, Isabelle Genlis, Muriel Bloch, Rahila Hassane, Michèle Nguyen, Halima Hamdane, Mercedes Alfonso, and Magda Lena Gorska.

A traveling festival rooted in the Loiret

A key feature of Festi'45 is its traveling nature. Each edition takes place in several towns within the Loiret department, with Fleury-les-Aubrais as the main hub. The performances take over various emblematic venues: the Centre Culturel La Passerelle and its Boris Vian Auditorium, the Bibliothèque Les Jacobins, the Parc Princesse de Lamballe in Fleury-les-Aubrais, as well as spaces in Orléans, Olivet, Montargis, Courtenay, and Nibelle. This itinerant approach brings the arts of orality closer to the residents and revitalizes the region.

A program for all audiences

The festival offers a program carefully tailored to each age group. Toddlers from 1 year old discover sensory and poetic shows, while children aged 3 and up are captivated by interactive tales mixing puppets, music, and dance. Schoolchildren benefit from dedicated performances integrated into their educational curriculum. Adults can enjoy storytelling evenings, longer narratives, and hybrid formats where narration meets music, calligraphy, or percussion.

Festi'45 places great importance on convivial moments: shared meals with artists, meetings between storytellers and word enthusiasts, calligraphy workshops, and processions of giant puppets. The "Storytelling at Home" concept invites stories into people's homes, strengthening the bond between artists and the audience.

Free and accessible

True to its values of sharing and solidarity, Festi'45 offers the vast majority of its events for free admission, making the arts of orality accessible to everyone. Only a few closing shows or special events have a modest ticket price. This strong choice reflects the festival's founding mission: to strengthen social bonds through the exchange of stories heard, read, transmitted, and retransmitted.