Igloo Festival

A festival designed for toddlers

The Igloo Festival is a remarkable initiative in the Norman cultural landscape: a festival entirely dedicated to children aged 0 to 6 and their families. Every January, for several days, the Pont-Audemer Val de Risle territory hosts live performances, awakening workshops, and artistic encounters specially designed for toddlers.

L'Éclat, a stage of excellence for childhood

The festival is supported by L'Éclat, a national conventioned stage for Art, Childhood, and Youth, located in Pont-Audemer. This prestigious accreditation recognizes L'Éclat's commitment to artistic creation for young audiences and early childhood. Throughout the year, the theater develops a demanding and innovative program for children, of which the Igloo Festival is the winter highlight.

A gentle and poetic program

The Igloo Festival program is designed with particular attention to the sensory and emotional needs of toddlers. The proposed performances explore various adapted artistic forms:

• Theater performances in short and immersive formats, where children sometimes become actors in an ephemeral work
• Gentle and participatory musical performances, with nursery rhymes, finger games, and invitations to dance together
• Contemporary dance performances adapted for young audiences
• Micro-cinema screenings followed by creative workshops, such as coloring around artists' sculptures
• Artistic awakening workshops led by early childhood professionals and artists

A traveling festival across the territory

The Igloo Festival is not limited to Pont-Audemer: it reaches the entire territory of the Pont-Audemer Val de Risle community of communes, with performances in Pont-Audemer, Routot, Saint-Philbert-sur-Risle, and other towns. This traveling dimension brings art closer to families and democratizes access to culture from the earliest age.

A moment of family sharing

Beyond the performances, the Igloo Festival is a privileged moment of sharing between children and parents. The shows are designed to be experienced together, in closeness and complicity that strengthen family bonds. Encounters with artists after the shows allow for extending the experience and discussing the emotions felt. The festival thus contributes to awakening the artistic curiosity of toddlers and instilling a taste for live performance from their earliest years.