La Villette and the Ministry of Culture opened “Freestyle Villette” in early autumn 2025, a permanent space in the Parc de la Villette designed to promote all practices (dance, music, street art, urban sports) that make up these cultures, and to serve as a hub for initiatives from across France.
To celebrate its opening, La Villette invited the Centre Chorégraphique National de Rennes et de Bretagne, Buzz Booster, and artist FUZI to create a multidisciplinary and festive inaugural program. Hip-hop dance, music, battles, DJ sets, and street art were on the agenda. Audiences of all ages were invited to explore the newly renovated Pavillon Villette through the disciplines that animate it year-round. Dance workshops, concerts, artistic performances, participatory experiences, and DJ sets punctuated the day and evening.
A house open to all popular cultures
“Freestyle Villette” is permanently located in the northern part of Parc de la Villette in a dedicated space open to everyone: the former Pavillon Villette, a 1,000 m² venue fully renovated for the occasion.
Serving as a space for programming, creation, and transmission, Freestyle Villette’s mission is to promote all practices of popular cultures : rap, hip-hop, graffiti, and urban sports.
© Joseph Banderet
A national hub for popular cultures
Initiated by the Ministry of Culture and supported by La Villette, this major project relies on networks of public institutions as well as independent actors across the country to ensure that popular cultures are better recognized and supported.
Each season includes:
- multidisciplinary events produced by La Villette or developed in collaboration with invited partner venues.
- carte blanche opportunities open to all actors without a fixed venue (dance companies, battle organizers, party promoters, street artists, sports event organizers, etc.), aiming to open Freestyle Villette to a wider range of contributors, identify emerging trends and top talents, and give greater visibility to initiatives outside Île-de-France. Selected through a large call for projects launched in May, the winners gain access to the space as well as technical, human, and financial resources to organize large-scale events or carry out residencies under optimal conditions.
© François Guichard
With a national mission, Freestyle Villette aims to achieve several objectives:
- Support actors across the country: Through carte blanche opportunities and invitations to public institutions, Freestyle Villette supports and accompanies contributors who are active nationwide and help promote numerous artists.
- Foster the emergence of new artists: Following the legacy of the Initiatives d’Artistes en Danses Urbaines (I.A.D.U.), launched in 1998 by the Fondation de France and La Villette as the first incubator fully dedicated to hip-hop dance, Freestyle Villette develops additional residency formats (dance, music) and enables more opportunities for artistic presentations.
- Offer multidisciplinary highlights accessible to all: Dance battles, music programming (showcases, listening sessions, freestyle events), street art (murals, commissioned works), hosting major festivals linked to popular cultures, and outputs from music and dance residencies mark the seasonal calendar.
- Encourage and support spontaneous practices in the park: Following the 2020 inauguration of the Jardin des Voltiges—one of France’s largest street workout spaces—and a 3×3 basketball court designed by artist Jordan Saget (2024), new outdoor facilities have been added, including dance floors for public use.
© Résidence IADU – Cie Madoki – © Jody Carter
Call for projects
As hip-hop has developed in France for over 40 years, Freestyle Villette seeks to promote greater and fair recognition of the disciplines and aesthetics that have emerged from this movement nationwide, and to support new generations of artists. To achieve this, Freestyle Villette—a renovated 1,000 m² building in the Parc de la Villette in Paris’ 19th arrondissement—will host, starting in October 2025, a cultural and festive program showcasing all the practices that make up these cultures (dance, music, street art, urban sports).
The call for projects is now closed. Winners will be notified in the coming weeks.
© Axel Tshilo
Freestyle Villette is supported by
© Moovance – Florent Zarka
© Moovance – Florent Zarka
© Moovance – Florent Zarka
© Moovance – Florent Zarka
© Moovance – Florent Zarka
© Moovance – Florent Zarka
