La Rurale

La Rurale: Street Arts in the Heart of Trièves

La Rurale is a street arts festival that takes place in the streets of Mens, a small emblematic town in Trièves, south of the Isère department, between Vercors and Dévoluy. This festival was created in 2020 on the initiative of Stéphanie Bailly and Mathieu Cohin, actors from the Compagnie l'Accord des On, who are based in Trièves and driven by the desire to create a cultural event accessible to all in this rural mountain territory.

A Festive Weekend in the Streets of Mens

For a weekend, the streets, squares, and alleys of Mens are transformed into an open-air stage. La Rurale's program combines carnival, street performances, concerts, artistic walks, a pétanque tournament, and an open stage. Each edition invites several companies and artists to take over public spaces to offer a variety of artistic forms: street theater, dance, circus, music, and performances.

A Social Connection Project

Beyond its artistic dimension, La Rurale is a social connection project rooted in the Trièves territory. The festival was designed to reach the entire population: new rural residents, long-time inhabitants, children, teenagers, the elderly, people with reduced mobility, and tourists. This desire for inclusion makes La Rurale a unifying event, where culture serves as a vector for meeting and cohesion in a sometimes isolated rural area.

From Company to Association

The first two editions were supported by the Compagnie l'Accord des On. From the third edition onwards, a dedicated association, La Rurale, was created to take over the organization. This structuring reflects the festival's integration into the local cultural landscape and the founders' desire to perpetuate the event beyond the initial artistic initiative.

A Festival Under Construction

The festival experiences the ups and downs typical of associative events in rural areas. The 2024 edition did not take place due to a lack of sufficient volunteers, and the 2025 edition has been postponed to 2026. This fragility reminds us that festivals in rural areas depend heavily on volunteer commitment and support from local authorities. The organizing team hopes to find the necessary strength to offer a new edition in 2026.