What is the Olympic ?

The former movie theatre Olympic cinéma was built in 1927. It is known as the cinema where French movie director Jacques Demy (who produced Une chambre en ville and Les parapluies de Cherbourg) discovered the 7^th art and held his preview of Lola. At the beginning of the 70s, the Olympic was turned into a supermarket, then disused for almost ten years.

In 1987, young entrepreneurs reopened it and organized concerts. In 1990, the Nantes municipality bought the cinema and, from 1993 to 1995, fully renovated it. The Olympic in its current form opened in September 1995. The Nantes City council entrusted the Olympic- facilities and artistic and cultural project- to a non-lucrative association, Songo.

Since 2000, the Olympic has widened its range of activities to include multimedia and its ties with the world of live shows.. -->, and notably to the interaction between sound and sight.

Our artistic and cultural objectives :

• Promote new talents

• Support artistic creation

• Accompany and support the development of peoples' artistic and cultural practices, be they professional or amateur

• Raise awareness about arts and artistic practices (music and multimedia), notably among children and teenagers

• Promote cultural diversity

• Follow a local-focused development process based on closeness with the cultural, social and economic fabric of society

• programs a season of concerts opened to all styles of music (e.g. M, Daft Punk, Tricky, The Jon Spencer B.X., Maceo Parker, Louise Attaque, Keziah Jones, Ben Harper, Femi Kuti, Moby, Sonic Youth, Assassin, Placebo, Sergent Garcia, Dolly, Pavement, Fugazi, Ska-P, Air, Israël Vibration, Dionysos, Amon Tobin, Jeff Mills, Lofofora, Burning Spear, Le Peuple de l'Herbe…) with 200 artists each year.

• organises a festival (Scopitone) devoted to electronic culture and digital arts (music/image concert, multimedia show, performance and digital arts installation, video and new images, e.g. Franck II Louise, Lab[au], Serge de Laubier, Pleix, Matali Crasset, Antoine Schmitt, Cie Adrien M, Douglas Edric Stanley, Servovalve, etc.) 

• presents digital art installations and new show forms using new technologies (Res Publica, Adrien M, Klaus Obermaier, Carolyn Carlson, Miniature).

• puts the hall at the disposal of associations or local firms (25 shows a year)

• welcomes artists during creation periods (e.g. Zenzile, Mix City, Mino[taure], Man, Troublemakers, Little Rabbits, Orange Blossom, Smooth, Gong Gong, etc.)

• puts the hall at the disposal of artists for rehearsals (70 days a year)

• collaborates with other local initiatives (radios, labels and local associations,...)

• carries out awareness-raising operations, concerts and workshops in schools (on amplified musics and multimedia) for children aged 7 to 15 (20 concerts and 100 workshop sessions per year)

• organises meetings and debates on artistic and cultural topics

The Olympic tomorrow : the « La Fabrique » project, a new place

Early 2010, the Olympic will move to the Ile of Nantes with new facilities: La Fabrique. With its two halls and multimedia room, it will work alongside other associations (music rehearsal and dance studios, association offices, exhibition halls, etc.)