Les Accroche-Cœurs

Les Accroche-Cœurs: The Street Celebration in Angers

Since 1999, the Les Accroche-Cœurs festival has transformed the city center of Angers into a huge open-air theater every year. Organized by the City of Angers, this street arts festival has become one of the major cultural events in the Pays de la Loire region, attracting tens of thousands of spectators over three days in September.

From Humble Beginnings to a Major Festival

The first edition, in 1999, featured twenty shows with eight companies and forty fanfare performances. The following year, in 2000, the festival grew with forty-five shows and seventeen companies. Since then, Les Accroche-Cœurs has continued to grow to become a must-attend event on the Angers cultural calendar. Each edition is built around a unifying theme that inspires the entire program and invites spectators to dress up.

A Rich and Free Program

The Accroche-Cœurs program offers over 125 performances each year: large parades and processions through the streets, XXL shows in the squares, interactive artistic installations, circus performances, popular balls, concerts, and events for younger audiences. The festival is entirely free and accessible to all audiences, making culture a shared asset.

The 25th Edition: A Journey Through Time

In 2025, Les Accroche-Cœurs celebrated their 25th anniversary with a resolutely festive theme: a journey through the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Parties, fairs, amusement parks, pop culture, and cult TV shows inspired a program focused on happiness and joyful nostalgia. The "colorful and flashy" dress code invited the public to revisit these legendary decades.

A Festival Rooted in the City

Les Accroche-Cœurs takes over the historic heart of Angers: the Place du Ralliement, the starting point of the festivities, but also the pedestrian streets, squares, gardens, and the banks of the Maine river. This spread throughout the city center makes Les Accroche-Cœurs a truly urban and popular festival, where the entire city becomes a stage.