Office National de Diffusion Artistique

Office National de Diffusion Artistique
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The Encounters

The Encounters are at the heart of Onda’s activities

They offer a space for professionals to discuss shows that they have seen, as well as to share experiences and reflections. This allows participants to inform themselves, find inspiration, take a step back, put their actions into perspective, and think about transformations in a spirit of conviviality and constructive criticism.

These Encounters take place throughout the season and bring together various disciplines (Dance, Theater, Music, Site Specific, Circus, Young Audiences, international), and innovative or experimental professional practices (collaborative approaches, relational practices, forms of mobility, social justice, etc.).

Onda's Encounters, regardless of their format, are traditionally open to performing arts programmers, whether they work in a venue or a festival. In recent years, other professionals from the cultural sector are also welcome (artists, production office managers, etc.), provided they approach these encounters as a space for discussion, reflection, and exchange. 

 

See below for the different types of Encounters ↙️

The Ad Hoc Encounters

They are co-constructed with one or more hosting partners around various themes. They generally take place in conjunction with a performance or a special event and can last one day or a day and a half.

They all include a dedicated time for Artistic discussions based on recently viewed performances. We strive to cover all disciplines of the performing arts by proposing a cross-disciplinary discussion topic each time, so as to bring together the participants’ diverse skills and perspectives. 

Designed as collaborative spaces, these sessions are primarily open to performing arts programmers, but also welcome other professionals from the cultural sector (artists, touring managers, production office managers, political decision-makers, etc.)

 

The Toolbox Encounters

They explore the transformations currently shaping the sector: the emergence of new models, models, the evolution of professional practices, and the adaptation to contemporary challenges.

Conceived as spaces for peer-to-peer exchange, they bring together professionals engaged with these issues in order to share experiences, methods, and on-the-ground feedback. Resolutely practice-oriented, these encounters offer concrete resources, operational tools, and actionable pathways.

 

Every season includes an International Meeting in which simultaneous French/English translation is provided. 

 

Check out the Encounters program for the season.

Onda Extranet Accueil5

Online meetings

Each month, an Online meeting is held with the aim of better coordinating upcoming show tours by sharing them with programmers. Before each invitation, programmers looking for new partners to host a show can contact Onda to register.

Some online meetings are translated into English to make them more accessible to international programmers.

The Online meetings take place on one Monday per month, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Check out the program to see all the online events for the season ↖️

Click HERE to read the recaps (in French) of past Online meetings.

The Roaming Encounters

These encounters allow participants to discover the context of a territory through meetings with its cultural actors and artistic projects over an extended period.  

Check out the program to discover the Roaming Encounters of the season ↖️

Sharing International Arts Watch

Sharing International Arts Watch is a new way to explore the discovery of artistic talent on an international scale, balancing the need to reduce the carbon footprint of travel with the recognition of the importance of having international artists present in French performance venues. The goal is to encourage information sharing and trust among peers. To this end, we offer mobility grants to French programmers to attend key international events identified this season where Onda advisors will not necessarily be present. The recipients of these grants will thus be contributors to L’Onda’s talent scouting efforts and, in a spirit of reciprocity, commit to:
     - writing a summary report of their scouting findings for the L’Onda team;
     - to share their scouting findings during a video conference with all contributors from the trusted group (those who participated in the scouting) and interested programmers.
 
For each highlight event, participants will be responsible for arranging their own travel. L’Onda will share the program (performances, meetings with local actors, etc.) developed by local partners. 
  

Check out the program to discover all the destinations for the season.

The Thematic Encounters

 

Between 2023 and 2026, Onda piloted two complementary series of meetings: “Pathfinder” and “Working in the Performing Arts.”

The “Pathfinder” encounters aimed to take a step back from the challenges facing the performing arts by examining them through the lens of ideas and practices from other fields. Researchers, philosophers, sociologists, and professionals from other sectors were invited to exchange perspectives with those from the cultural world.

Developed in collaboration with LAPAS and the production offices gathered under Think Prod, the “Working in the Performing Arts” series addressed more directly the realities and challenges of careers in the cultural sector, particularly the relationships between artistic, production, and distribution teams.

 

SAUT

SAUT

Numerous resources (in French) were produced as part of these series:

  • During the “Pathfinder#1” organised in November 2023, researcher and philosopher Antoine Chopot discussed in a podcast the connections between political ecology and relational ecology, the role of non-humans in collective transformations, and the distinction between “luxury emissions” and “subsistence emissions”;
  • In March 2024, the “Pathfinder#2” brought together some fifty performing arts professionals to discuss democratic issues in the sector. Barbara Stiegler, Christophe Pébarthe, Jean-Michel Lucas, and Samuel Hayat guided these discussions, drawing on both theoretical approaches and real-world experiences. A podcast with Samuel Hayat further explores these exchanges;
  • As part of the “Working in the Performing Arts” series, Véronique Felenbok, Victor Leclère, and Michaël Cros reflect in a podcast on the series’ highlights, its contributions, and the transformations it has sparked;
  • Finally, Carole Le Rendu, who also participated in the entire series “Working in the Performing Arts”, presented a summary focusing on the relationships and modes of collaboration between artistic teams and performing arts organizations, which was presented in Blois in November 2025 and later shared online.

 

Click HERE to view all resources produced by Onda.

→ See the full schedule of all Encounters for the season HERE (in English)

→ For more information on the Encounters and to register, you can contact:

            - Adélaïde Vrignon, for encounters in France
            - Clarisse Dupouy-Greteau, for international encounters