Applications for Hosted Companies
Alongside its programme of invited companies (programmed by the festival with the support of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation), Namur en Mai offers each year a programme of hosted companies performing in the streets and public squares of Namur. This project is made possible thanks to the support of the City of Namur, the Province of Namur, the Walloon Region and the National Lottery.
Committed to offering the best possible conditions to the hosted companies, this project takes place in the heart of the city and provides artists with outstanding performance spaces that have contributed to the reputation of Namur en Mai and of the artists who have performed there over the years. Namur en Mai aims to create spaces for artistic and cultural encounters, where children and adults, festival-goers and professionals, regular audiences and passers-by can come together in a vibrant city that comes alive and is transformed for three days by international artistic performances selected through an open call.
By presenting this programme alongside its official programme, Namur en Mai addresses three distinct objectives. Firstly, it responds to the ever-growing demand from an increasingly large audience. Secondly, it addresses the needs of a vibrant and culturally active city by hosting an internationally renowned street and fairground arts festival. Finally, it responds to the need to provide artists with street performance spaces suited to their work, within a festival environment that also offers them strong professional visibility.
Proposed Performance Spaces
for Hosted Companies
Pied de l’enjambée
Place de l'Ange
Place St Aubain
Place Maurice Servais
Place d’Arme
Le Hallage
The different performance areas can accommodate audiences of several hundred people. All of these performance spaces are freely accessible within the public space.
If a company is present for several days, its allocated performance space will remain the same throughout the festival.
By completing this form, you agree to comply with the conditions defined above.
Conditions and Information
Proposed Technical Conditions:
- A performance space that complies with the company’s technical requirements and is arranged, with the support of the festival’s technical management team, so that it can coexist with the other companies performing in the same area.
- Technical equipment adapted to the festival’s audience capacities, in consultation with the company.
- Audience arrangements designed to ensure good visibility according to the performance space, such as seating stands or audience placement coordinated by our venue managers.
Proposed Financial Conditions:
It is important to Namur en Mai that all hosted companies are welcomed equally and under conditions that respect everyone’s commitment. For this reason, the following conditions have been established:
Grant:
A grant of €220 excluding VAT per day is provided for each artist performing on stage. This is a fixed amount offered to all artists from hosted companies.
Travel Expenses:
A flat-rate amount of €100 is provided to all hosted Belgian companies.
An amount of €250 is provided to companies coming from neighbouring countries and for “small-scale productions”.
An amount of €500 is provided to companies coming from non-neighbouring foreign countries or for “large-scale productions” requiring a larger transport convoy.
Pay-what-you-want System:
The practice of voluntary audience contributions through “the hat” is permitted and encouraged within the performance space.
Namur en Mai audiences have been familiar with this principle for many years, and the festival will continue to raise public awareness of it.
Hosting Conditions:
- All hosted companies based more than 100 km from Namur may be accommodated by the organisation for the entire duration of their stay in Namur.
- Lunch and evening catering is provided by the organisation when justified by the performance schedule.
- A shared dressing-room and backstage area is available in the heart of the festival for all invited and hosted companies. This space has been designed to meet everyone’s needs and ensure their comfort, with training areas, rest areas, preparation spaces, changing rooms, sanitary facilities and light refreshments.
Performance Frequency:
Each hosted company is asked to perform its show twice per day.
Companies may perform up to three times per day if they request this when submitting their application.
Performance times will be determined by the organisation, while ensuring a fair rotation of the proposed performance slots.
Companies are not required to be available for all three days of the festival, although this is preferable.
Communication:
The performance times and descriptions of the hosted companies’ shows will be included in the official Namur en Mai programme.
More than 20,000 printed copies of the programme will be distributed in Namur and throughout the region. It will also be available for download directly from the festival website.
A digital version will be sent to each hosted company so that they can share it through their own networks.
The content included in the programme must comply with requirements based on the organiser’s experience, and the organiser reserves final editorial discretion over this content.
Audience and Professionals:
Namur en Mai attracts a very broad audience. It includes regular theatre and performing arts audiences, as well as a large number of passers-by who are happy to discover a high-quality cultural programme while moving through the city.
Several tens of thousands of people attend the festival every year (2024 estimate: more than 200,000 people).
Namur en Mai also serves as a showcase for participating artists thanks to the large number of industry professionals attending the festival each year.
In 2024, nearly 200 professionals attended, including approximately one-third international programmers and presenters.
A networking event between professionals and artists is also organised to encourage discussions about future collaborations.
A list of registered professionals is made available to artists wishing to arrange meetings during the festival, and a dedicated space is provided for these meetings.
Commitments:
Hosted companies are asked to commit to:
performing the agreed number of shows;
following the instructions of the festival’s technical management team in order to ensure that the various projects sharing a performance space can coexist successfully;
actively participating in the promotion of their show;
working with a booking or touring representative to ensure that industry professionals can receive any follow-up information they may require.
Artistic Programming Line:
Namur en Mai’s programme aims to be ambitious, pluralistic, diverse and thematic.
It forms a genuine patchwork of moments and experiences, woven together within a shared time and space, reflecting society through a diversity of genres and origins.
It also reflects the richness of the sector through a diversity of artistic forms and perspectives.
The programme is the result of a balance between various internal and external considerations and constraints. It is inherently subjective, reflecting the perspective of our programming committee at a particular moment in time.
The programme of invited companies will be announced in early 2027.
The programme of hosted companies will be announced in spring 2027.
Application Procedure:
- Complete the application form above.
- Applications will be accepted from 5 October to 5 November 2026.
- Selected companies will be contacted once applications have closed.
- Companies that are not selected will be informed by email during January 2027.
