Les Rencontres de Monthelon

Les Rencontres de Monthelon: When the Workshop Opens to the Public

Every summer since 2005, the Château de Monthelon steps out of its daily artistic laboratory routine to invite the general public into its world. The Rencontres de Monthelon is the flagship event of this International Artistic Creation Workshop recognized by the Ministry of Culture: for three days, resident artists and invited companies present their creations in an exceptional setting, combining a tented stage, indoor spaces, and outdoor areas in the heart of a 5-hectare Burgundian estate.

An Extraordinary Place in the Heart of Burgundy

Perched on a hill overlooking the Serein valley in the Terre Plaine region, the Château de Monthelon is a 17th-century rural manor house rehabilitated in 1989 by Swiss circus artists Eva and Ueli Hirzel. What was once an abandoned holiday camp has become one of the most original artistic residency venues in France. The association, managed by artists since 2009, now hosts around 150 artists per year, from over 15 nationalities, for residencies ranging from a few days to several months. Contemporary circus plays a predominant role here, but all disciplines find their space: theatre, dance, music, visual arts, cinema, literature.

Three families of artists live permanently on the site, ensuring the reception, management, and artistic dynamism of the venue. This original operating model gives the Rencontres an incomparable atmosphere: spectators do not visit an ordinary festival; they enter a living and creative space inhabited all year round.

Three Days of Multidisciplinary Live Performance

The programming of Les Rencontres de Monthelon reflects the richness and eclecticism of the château's artistic project. Each edition offers about twenty artistic proposals spread over the three evenings:

• Contemporary Circus: acrobatics, aerial arts, juggling, balancing — technical disciplines serving poetic and narrative universes
• Object Theatre and Puppetry: materials and forms come to life to tell intimate or universal stories
• Artistic Installations: in situ, robotic, visual, sound — works that transform the château's spaces into territories of exploration
• Performances and Dance: hybrid forms that blur the boundaries between disciplines
• Concerts and Music: closing the evening, musical performances of all kinds extend the celebration into the night

The shows are repeated over the three days of the festival, allowing spectators to build their own itinerary and not miss anything. The installations and exhibitions, on the other hand, are freely accessible throughout the event.

A Festival of Residencies and Human Encounters

The essential peculiarity of Les Rencontres de Monthelon is its direct link to the residency work carried out at the château throughout the year. The artists presented are not just invited for the occasion; they have often worked for several weeks at the château, benefiting from its rehearsal spaces, accommodation, and the intellectual stimulation of an international artistic community. The festival is thus the visible culmination of an invisible creative process, a moment of sharing between artists and the territory.

This human dimension is felt in the festival's atmosphere: the artists are present, available, accessible. Informal exchanges after the shows, around the bar or the restaurant, are an integral part of the experience. It is a human-scale festival — with about 1,000 spectators per edition — where there is time to meet.

An Engaged and Contemporary Program

Les Rencontres de Monthelon does not hesitate to present works that question the world: migration, feminist struggles, childhood, authority, memory, the relationship with nature. The invited artists come from many countries — France, Denmark, Iran, Finland, Chile, Canada — bringing multiple perspectives and diverse sensibilities. This international openness is in the very DNA of the château, which hosts over 40% of foreign artists each year.

Young audiences are particularly catered for: shows specifically designed for children, participatory workshops, and giant wooden games allow families to fully experience the festival from the early afternoon.

Conviviality and Burgundian Art de Vivre

Les Rencontres de Monthelon is also, and above all, a moment of outdoor conviviality. A restaurant offers homemade cuisine, with particular attention to local products and vegetarian options. The bar features organic drinks and regional wines. Late in the evening, a dance floor comes alive to the rhythms of live concerts or DJ sets, extending the celebration well beyond the last show.

The exceptional natural setting of the estate — its lawns, ancient trees, and panoramic views of the Burgundian countryside — contributes to making each edition a suspended moment outside of ordinary time.