The Café des idées is a luminous café. It’s a multi-faceted and, above all, welcoming place where people can speak out, discuss ideas, share their thoughts or unveil their criticisms. Launched by the new management of the Festival d’Avignon, it is one of the beating hearts of the summer event, and is now resonating in Hauts-de-France, at the invitation of the Region.
For its first stopover in Valenciennes, in partnership with the NEXT Festival, the Café des idées will invite Tiago Rodrigues (writer, director and director of the Avignon Festival), artists, leading figures from civil society and the political sphere, and members of the public, to discuss how artists can help us to think about and understand the crises that are shaking our democracies today.