Throughout their studies in theatre and dance, these 31 artists received financial support from the Foundation through the Artists in the Community bursary scheme, enabling them to devote themselves fully to their training. Now that they are ready to begin their careers in earnest, the Foundation is further extending its support by inviting them to take part in a new collective creation to be performed under professional conditions.
The Foundation and the MC93 - Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis in Bobigny have called on three seasoned artists: radio presenter and director Aurélie Charon, choreographer Régine Chopinot and director and performer Phia Ménard, to accompany this fourth cohort. Together, the three artists have devised the project Avant toute chose (First and Foremost).
On September 10 and 11, 2025, after two weeks of experimental work combining the challenges of creation and transmission, 31 young talents will present their piece to the public in the Oleg Efremov Hall at MC93. The presentation will show how they have all worked in the same direction, whilst each using different tools and resources: the stage and the set under the direction of Phia Ménard, storytelling, sound and video with Aurélie Charon and bodywork with Régine Chopinot. Connected by a common curiosity about the world, these artists also share, first and foremost, a desire to transmit the value of observation, practice, gathering and craftmanship. Régine Chopinot will focus on the present, while Phia Ménard will look to the future to prepare these recent graduates for their entry into the professional arena, and Aurélie Charon will explore the origins of their practices: “what led them to stand here today in the face of what lies ahead – what drives them,” the co-directors explain. Together, the trio and the young artists under their direction will take up "the challenge of recounting what was once a promise, of telling the story of the people or things that gave us the power to believe in what did not yet exist.”
Following PANORAMA in 2022, directed by Cyril Teste at the Théâtre de la Cité Internationale in Paris; Sweat, Glitter and Moolah in 2023, directed by Marlène Saldana and Jonathan Drillet at Les SUBS in Lyon; and Transmission Impossible in 2024, directed by Mathilde Monnier and presented at the Festival d’Avignon; Avant toute chose will become the fourth collective post-graduation piece commissioned by the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès for students awarded the Artists in the Community bursary.
