Our dream city and society are not volatile concepts, but very concrete ambitions for L’Art Rue, and for the artists and teams of Dream City. The 2019 edition is aiming to be, all at once, a platform for creation, a shared human space, and a rotating hub between several territories and worlds. Artists from Tunisia, the arab world, and the african and european continents are all committed to the Medina and an in-depth stay and implication. They give voice, body and shape to this sanctuary urban space, with a history as profound and a territory as diverse as the entire country. Young people and adults, women and men, believers and non-believers, people of all sexual orientations : they all embody the festival, with the artists, and with L’Art Rue. Starting in the Medina, and digging into a reality that is first and foremost local, bridges and exchanges have been developed with the whole country. And beyond : with Johannesburg, Ramallah, Paris, Marrakech, Kinshasa, New York, Bobo-Dioulasso, Marseille, Beyrouth, Bamako, Athens, Bagdad, and Brussels. Taking a city and country seriously also means: recognizing its cosmopolitan dimension and potential, opening it up and connecting it.

How can we face the ever growing inequalities, save the planet, live with diversity and dfference, or quite simply, how can we make a city and society together : these questions are at the heart of this edition. And of all the projects of the artists and intellectuals, young and adult citizens of Tunis, who make up Dream City 2019. This is what a parliament should really be about : a public and protected space for debate and con¬ict when necessary. But first and foremost a space for listening, exchanging, and the development of a common vision, and a common and democratic city and society. Without artists and culture, such a parliament, and such a democracy, will never live. 

All Dream City creations have two things in common: you will see them here for the first time, and you will probably never see them again elsewhere. Dream City is a festival of contextual and unique creations, more than ever, and unlike any other. All artists have worked locally for the past two years. They are offering us empathy, transformation and poetry. We are creating and  ghting for a future Tunisia that cannot be built without any of these values. 

Jan GOOSSENS, Selma & Soiane OUISSI

Artistic directors

>> The 7th edition of Dream City in numbers 

10 days of festival and 2 weekends: performance, dance, theatre, music, cinema, exhibitions, meetings

14 contextual creations - 9 productions of L'Art Rue - 5 co-productions

33 artistic proposals - 201 performances - 138 sold out performances - 29 venues

19,900 spectators - 8,576 spectators for the 12 paying works - 1,124 spectators who attended the 11 free proposals

259 artists from 15 countries (Tunisia, Belgium, Morocco, Burkina Faso, South Africa, USA, France, Iraq, Palestine, Mali, Lebanon, Syria, Italy, Brazil, Congo) and 28 cities 

131 Tunisian artists, performers and artistic collaborators

170 volunteers

 270 children who participated in Kharbga City our youth programme

21 workshops, meetings, conferences and events around the programme