Viva Villa! 2025 at Gaîté Lyrique

Created in 2016, ¡Viva Villa! is a network of French artistic residencies around the world, founded by Casa de Velázquez (Madrid), Villa Kujoyama (Kyoto), and Villa Medici (Rome), and joined in 2023 by Villa Albertine (United States).

In 2023, ¡Viva Villa! evolved from a festival format into a platform supporting contemporary creation through two initiatives: a call for applications to support former residents and a professional event. ¡Viva Villa! promotes throughout France the work of artists, researchers, and creators who have passed through its network of residencies.

Returning to the Gaîté Lyrique, ¡Viva Villa!’s annual major event will bring together resident artists, researchers, and writers along with numerous guests for a multidisciplinary program of talks, workshops, performances, and screenings.

For its 2025 edition, ¡Viva Villa! is inviting two residencies to join its programming: Villa Hegra and Villa Swagatam. Villa Hegra is the first Franco-Saudi cultural institution. Located in AlUla, it has been developing since 2023 a program focused on intercultural dialogue, reflecting the dynamism of artistic exchanges between France and Saudi Arabia. In fall 2025, Villa Hegra opens in the heart of AlUla a temporary site intended to become a place for encounter and creation. Villa Swagatam is a network of residencies founded in 2023 to foster exchanges between French and Indian creators, hosted within 30 partner institutions in France, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. What makes Villa Swagatam unique is the reciprocity of exchanges and its focus on two fields: books and artistic crafts.

Stay tuned for more information on registering and the full lineup of events.

2:30 PM – 7 PM: Professional forum, workshops, meetings, projections, performances, and much more. (Open and free until 7 PM. Workshops by reservation only).
9 PM – Midnight: Evening concert, performances, and dancing. (Free with reservation from 7PM).

¡Viva Villa! is supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the Institut français, the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller, the Fondation Roederer, and Ardian.