Crossroads Festival : Musical Discovery Festival

THE FESTIVAL

The Crossroads Festival was launched in 2016 to promote the modern music sector of the Hauts-de-France region to professionals from other regions and countries, and to set up inter-regional and international artistic and professional exchanges.

The festival offers every year, mid-September, in Roubaix to discover around thirty artists, in a « showcase » format, as well as professional meetings. The strategic location in the heart of the Paris-London-Brussels triangle was one of the main considerations that gave impetus to the project. The cross-border and European dimension must therefore important for the development of the Crossroads festival.

PROGRAM

The actors of the sector in the Hauts-de-France work in synergy to program emerging artists from their territory. The festival also welcomes groups proposed by various partners (export offices abroad, venues and professional networks in France), and chosen by la BIC’s board.

PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS

The professional meetings are co-organized with the Haute Fidélité regional cluster and the Pôle Emploi Spectacles et Audiovisuel Hauts-de-France. Workshops, speedmeetings, conferences, shared work spaces… are offered to invited professionals (more than 400 accredited in 2019) in order to make contacts and exchange on current events in the sector. Musicians and project developers in the region are also invited to participate in these meetings or to take advantage of individual meetings during dedicated times.

A UNIFYING EVENT IN THE HAUTS-DE-FRANCE REGION

The Crossroads Festival is supported by the Hauts-de-France Region, the European Metropolis of Lille (MEL), the City of Roubaix, the Centre National de la Musique, the french Ministry of Culture, the SACEM, and coordinated by La Brigade d’Intervention Culturelle (La BIC). It takes place in Roubaix in mid-September, in close partnership with local actors and several identified venues.

The Crossroads Festival is the culmination of the in-depth work carried out by La BIC and its partners for the past 20 years on the export of music talents from the Hauts-de-France region. It is a federating element of the regional music industry and a tool for professionalization for artists, and also a mean for exchanges with our partners from other regions and countries. It is intended to become a major event of the beginning of the cultural and especially musical season, in France and in the cross-border region.

HISTORY

A few stats and infos

  • More than 150 bands programmed since 2016
  • About 30 emerging bands programmed, coming from the Hauts-de-France region, from France and from abroad (Luxembourg, Canada, Belgium)
  • 30 minutes per band
  • A professional audience (programm planners, music labels, publishers, media…) from France and abroad, and a wide audienc
  • Heart of the festival in Roubaix (in places like la Condition Publique, la Cave aux Poètes, l’ARA, Pierre de Roubaix Theater…).
  • Professional meetings : conferences, workshops, keynotes, speed-meetings and slow-datings…
  • A media platform : nationwide broadcasting in France through the associative radio stations Campus and Ferarock
  • A national communication strategy in France (print, web, public relations…).
  • 400 accredited professionnals on the previous edition
  • More than 4000 festival visitors on the showcases since 5 years

They came to Crossroads Festival

Ladaniva, Cheap House, Eesah Yasuke, Gargäntua, Junon, Louis Jucker, Nerlov, Niteroy, Thérèse, The Breakfast Club, Lombre, Paprika Kinski, SUN, Sôra, Ravage Club, YN, Yudimah, Maastø, Kimberose, Yolande Bashing, Bekar, Glauque, It It Anita, Thé Vanille, You Man, Després, Fragments, Juicy, Black Bones, Structures, La Jungle, Azur, Edgär, Napoleon Gold, Bumpkin Island, Bison Bisou, Bakel, Weekend Affair, Awir Leon, The 1969 Club, Louis Aguilar, Eleanor Shine, Ina Ich, Tample, Mélanie Isaac…