About la malterie

la malterieLocated in Lille, France, la malterie is a place for the experimentation of arts, focused on the place of the artist as the heart of the projects and of the experiments, and his presence on a social environnement.
It has been created by some artists, for the artists, considering that it's the better way to observe, find, and answer their specific needs.
It's a non-profit organisation, with a democratic organisation : a board composed of artists and users, make proposals to a general assembly.

History


In 1995, a group of young artists from france and belgium exhibited their works in a gallery. Some works have been damaged by the maintenance staff of the gallery.
With the money they get from the insurance, they decided that, instead of sharing this money, it would be better to gather as a non profit organisation, so as to work collectively on their needs : finding some spaces to work in, considering their low income.
They found this out of activity industrial building, which was the malting house of a beer brewery (The malt was laid on the floor to be dried, that's why the windows are small and the ceilings low), and rent it from it's owner.
As the activity developed itself, a need to show works from young artists, musicians etc. became bigger and they started to organise gigs and exhibitions, so the place started to be known and recognised localy and over.
But in 1999, the place has to be closed because of non respect of the security standards.
So as to convince the public authorities to support the project, the artistic and social project has been developped and structured.
With the help of the town of Lille, the Région Nord-Pas de Calais, and the government's Ministry of Culture, the funds were raised to pay for the security works, and in 2001, la malterie re-opened and got enough support to develop new activities...

Today, la malterie is founded by the Ville de Lille, the Région Nord-Pas de Calais, The Ministry of Culture / DRAC Nord-Pas de Calais, the Département du Nord (North district), and the Ministry of Jeunesse et sports (young people and sports).

Convinced that the artists can offer a different look on some different worlds, la malterie has already worked with some private businesses for sponsoring / funding, and is looking for new partners to invent new forms of collaborations between the corporate culture and the artists' creativity.

la malterie today :


More than 120 creative people work daily in the building :
- 28 individual ARTISTS STUDIOS,
- 4 OFFICES for cultural non-profit organisations,
- 5 REHEARSAL ROOMS for musicians,

On top of that, la malterie has developped some activities :

- EXHIBITIONS : 2 times a year, la malterie offers it's exhibition room or some other places in town to some young artists, so as for them to show their new works. Our knowledge of contemporary art leds us to offer some really up to date artistic proposals.

- CONCERTS : La malterie co-produces with 5 non-profit organisations experts in comptemporary musical creation. From experimental jazz to rock'n'roll, through electronic music or acoustic stuff, la malterie offers a wide range of the music that's not played on major medias or clubs. Our small club (120+) offers an intimate relation between the audience and the musicians. There's 10 to 15 shows every month.

- The ARTIST RESOURCE CENTER
provides information, guidance and support for creative practitioners, with the aim to develop a strong network of artists and encourage the sharing of informations and ideas. The first and only one in france about visual arts.
Every year, the ressource center welcomes about 250 people on some individual meetings and some collective professional/vocational trainings.

- LE PLATEAU, on the 5th floor, is a space dedicated to artistic residencies for researches on newborn projects. We welcome there some artistic teams who need some time, space and technical support to work on some new ideas, to try things, without expecting a result.
Artists apply from all over europe and the chosen ones are then invited for a session of 2/3 weeks work on le plateau.

- EVENTS :
La malterie opens the doors of the studios one week end a year, for some Open Studios. People are invited to meet the artists in their own studio.
La malterie also shows the work of it's artists on some art fairs and events all around the year.

- PROJECTS :
La malterie takes part in some collaboration projects with it's peers abroad.
We took part of the Landscape, Cities People project (part-funded by the EU, program Interreg IVA - 2seas) lead by FABRICA, a contemporary art gallery in Brighton, the project gathered 6 arts organisations in France, Belgium, and England. To know more on this project and it's achievements, please check : http://www.lcpeurope.eu