Missions

The Pôle International de la Marionnette – Jacques Félix aims :

To animate, administer and promote a course of higher professional education within the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette, leading to a state diploma, and to set up procedures for the professional integration of graduates, as well as a continuing education program.
To support the creation and production of works by puppeteers with varied aesthetics, languages and addresses.
To participate in the dissemination of works in this field by organizing the FMTM (biennial) and any other event contributing to a form of artistic continuity in the region.
Implement an ambitious program of artistic and cultural action, promoting the development of sensitive, creative and critical citizens through exposure to the puppet arts and participation in the creative process.
To run and enrich a resource center (physical and digital) and puppet collections (educational and heritage) serving students, artists, researchers and the general public, and to implement a research support program, closely linked to the international academic world, based on the notions of hospitality and accompaniment.

The Pôle’s corporate purpose is broken down into complementary missions. The linkage between each of them is fundamental to the coherence and international influence of the project. In implementing these missions, the Pôle pays particular attention to diversity (in terms of works, techniques, aesthetics, languages and addresses) and gender parity (obligation of means).

Pedagogical mission

The Pôle is home to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette (ESNAM), dedicated to the initial professional training of puppeteer-actors recruited by competitive examination every 3 years.
At ESNAM, the Pôle implements a pedagogical program in line with the State-defined diploma referential, based on the notions of collaboration and openness to the world (the Diplôme National Supérieur Professionnel de Comédien specializing in actor-puppeteers).
Given the school’s uniqueness in France and the world, the Pôle guarantees the possibility of international recruitment for its graduating classes.
The Pôle also designs a continuing professional development program.

Artistic mission

The Pôle actively supports the production of puppet shows, ensuring a variety of techniques, languages, formats and addresses.
It supports professional artistic teams at various stages of development and at different levels of advancement of their projects by any means it deems appropriate.
It produces the FMTM (biennial event), an international highlight for puppet creation, and Temps d’M (inter-festival event).
The Pôle organizes a permanent artistic presence in the region by any means it deems appropriate.

Cultural, territorial and civic mission

The Pôle seeks to establish collaborations with distribution structures to improve the dissemination of puppet shows and the deployment of series.
The Pôle encourages encounters and confrontations between people, artists and works of art.
It is strongly committed to artistic education in schools, and designs a program of artistic and cultural education projects aimed at all remote or disadvantaged audiences in its territory.
It develops cultural engineering for innovative projects that encourage encounters and in-depth sharing.

Professional mission

As a lighthouse for the international industry and faithful to the values of “friendship and mutual aid” cherished by Jacques Félix, the Pôle’s actions are rooted in collaboration, consultation and loyalty.
It takes a long-term approach to welcoming and supporting artists.
It actively participates in the professional and scholarly networks of the puppetry arts, of which it is a strong link, while promoting exchange and consultation.
It maintains active, reciprocal partnerships with educational, artistic and promotional structures worldwide.
It works to share resources.