the essential
The CCC Arena is a unique place for artistic creation and dissemination located in the town of Coutures. The 2024 season was dense, and we hope to find this creative abundance again when performances resume on April 27.
Even if we have just come out of the vapors of a New Year’s Eve concocted at the Arène Coin de Culture en Campagne (CCC), the winter period, which puts the site’s programming on hold, is conducive to assessments and projections. The Arène Théâtre company is located on the first steps of Lomagne Tarn-et-Garonnaise, at the foot of the village of Coutures, where it organized the famous Décousues festival from 2006 to 2022. The company’s roots in Couture date back to the summer of 1994, with, in parallel, a prolific establishment in the town of Moissac from 2009. However, the change of municipality in the Uval city will abruptly end this adventure in 2020.
From now on, the Arena has become “CCC”, a rural bastion of culture in movement, refocused on the side of its Gascon hillside. And at the Arena, we’re not idle. Apart from the dozen professional actors and the amateur troupe of the Arène Théâtre workshop, the structure, labeled Artistic Fabrication Workshop by the DRAC (Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs) in 2023, is open to all companies wishing to complete in-depth residential work. It offers, in an exceptional natural setting, all the necessary technical infrastructure, as well as accommodation, complete stewardship and professional support.
The Arène’s artists also work in schools in the department and beyond, with schools, middle schools and high schools, particularly in the specialized theater sections of the high schools of Lectoure and Narbonne. Since 2021, the CCC Arena, a true sanctuary of artistic creation, has also become a lasting place for the presentation of live performances. The last season, which took place from April to October 2024, was particularly rich in events with a program of carefully selected artists, notably at prestigious festivals such as that of Avignon.
-“With 19 shows spread over 13 evenings open to the general public, 31 if we include school performances, and nearly 3,000 cumulative spectators (remember that the capacity of the big top is limited to 120 places), we can consider that the attendance was satisfactory and progressing”, explains Éric Sanjou, director, actor and scenographer, founder of the company. On the internal creation side, the company presented to the public in October the splendid Over the Rimbaud to close the season, as well as the collective creation of the amateur workshop, Yamabiko, in June.
But if the lights appear green, the sky could darken in the coming months. “Our actions are supported by the State and local authorities, but the current budgetary situation in France suggests the worst,” declares Christophe Champain, actor and also founding member of the company, who prefers to remain cautious.
For now, a few key dates are already planned for 2025: opening, on Sunday April 27, a brunch show hosted by the circus company Sacékripa; on June 14, the Marseillais du Bain Collectif with We manufacture, we sell, we pay ourselves; and, in September, vocalist Leïla Martial for Jubilä, a daring and “multi-strange” show.
