Education, training and trades
Interactive map of artistic creation higher education institutions
Discover the 91 establishments of the performing arts.
Special education
Higher education institutions train pupils with an established vocation who have received initial education in music, dance and drama schools, but also in circus schools, street and puppetry arts and performing arts. These establishments provide training in the performing arts, particularly as interpreters and teachers.
The initial teaching of music, dance and drama - the primary objective of which is to train amateurs - has developed considerably over the past thirty years. France has more than 1,000 public arts schools, more than 25,000 teachers and 280,000 students in all classes. The Charter of Specialized Arts Education for the Initial Teaching of Music, Dance and Drama, setting out the guidelines for this teaching:
> Diversification of disciplines within conservatories (dances, theatre, amplified contemporary music, ...).
> Development of partnership with national education to promote access to arts and cultural education for more students;
> Strengthening links between educational institutions and local amateur practice.
Article 101 of the Law of 13 August 2004 on local freedoms and responsibilities and its implementing texts completed this building:
- specifying the respective role of the State and the local authorities responsible for initial education: in the municipalities initial education and arts education, to the departments the balanced planning of the territory by the realization of development schemes of the teaching of the arts, to the regions the organization and the financing of the cycle of initial vocational education and the national diploma which concludes it. The State, for its part, defines the qualifications of teachers and the standards of the classification of schools and ensures their pedagogical functioning.
- defining the missions of public education institutions for music, dance and drama, taking into account, in addition to the traditional missions of initial teaching of music, dance and drama organized or not in curriculum - the development of links with the National Education in arts and cultural education and with amateur practice and the realization of a project of establishment and the registration of the conservatory in a network of institutions, ...
>> Légifrance: Article 216-2 of the Education Code
Conservatories (CRR, CRD, CRC/CRI)
The classification of arts education establishments specialising in conservatories with communal, intercommunal, departmental or regional radiation aims to strengthen the national network of public education in music, dance and drama. It attests to a qualitative and professional foundation that is identical everywhere and for everyone, enabling a wide variety of profiles to be fostered by both amateurs and students integrating the higher education of artistic creation.
>> download the list of conservatories
Vocational guidance
The law also provides that public educational institutions in music, dance and drama may offer an initial vocational education cycle (CEPI). This cycle is primarily aimed at specially motivated students with recognised artistic potential. It is being implemented in favour of pooling resources and operating as a network of institutions.
These various texts are complemented by the national educational guidelines for music, dance and drama, whose purpose is to provide educational institutions with common educational benchmarks that can adapt to their history and particular contexts.
> Common introduction to pedagogical guidance schemes for music, dance and drama
> Theatre pedagogical orientation scheme (2005)
> Cross-Cutting Provisions: The Establishment Project and Consultation and Annexes
Interactive map of state-approved establishments for the preparation for entry into higher artistic institutions
Conditions of access to higher education and diplomas
The conditions of access and the courses vary considerably according to the schools and the specialties. If university diplomas are rarely required, it is necessary, in order to have access to training, to pass an entrance examination in which the practical tests are predominant. Studies are usually followed by an examination leading to the award of a diploma at the end of the course. Students intending to teach must first obtain a certificate of aptitude for the duties of music teacher or dance teacher or drama teacher or a state diploma of music teacher or dance teacher or of theatre teaching, which gives them access to competitions for teachers from the territorial cultural sector.
Public higher education institutions
The higher education of the living performance is carried by 33 institutions offering diplomas in the fields of music, dance, theatre, puppetry and circus arts. They welcome nearly 3,500 graduate students.
You will find in the attached document a description of the related training provision for the national diplomas of the Ministry of Culture, as well as the diplomas of institutions conferring a university degree.
- Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique de Paris - www.cnsad.fr 2bis, rue du Conservatoire - 75 009 Paris - Tel. 01 42 46 12 91 Admission requirements Admission is by competition. Applicants must be 18 years of age or older and 24 years of age or older. No diploma is required but candidates must have completed at least one year of theatre training under the responsibility of a professional guaranteeing their application.Curriculum The studies last three years. Each class counts about thirty students and some foreign trainees are admitted each year. Interpretation classes are, at the heart of the school, the place to explore the repertoire. Four departments enrich their work: history of theatre, study and practice of language, history of dramatic literature; music and voice and diction; body and space; cinema. The establishment also provides continuous training for actors and directors.
- Higher School of Drama of the National Theatre of Strasbourg - www.tns.fr About forty-five students, divided into two classes, are simultaneously present in the school. The school has a game section of about a dozen students, and three other sections of governance, scenography, directing/dramaturgy. It trains within a same promotion of pupils, actors, stage managers and scenographers, directors, playwrights. Admission requirements A competition is held two out of three years.Curriculum Schooling lasts three years. It alternates or combines weekly classes and intensive periods of facilitator-led workshops. The students stage designers, stage managers, directors and playwrights also take part in courses outside the school, on shows created at the Strasbourg National Theatre or in other venues.
- National School of Theatre Arts and Techniques - www.ensatt.fr 2, rue Soeur-Bouvier - 69 005 Lyon - Tel. 04 78 15 05 05 She trains actors, set designers, costume designers, light directors, sound directors and administrators of live performance. Each course is a department of the school and brings together a very limited number of students. Also technical direction, staging and writing for the stage. The school is supervised by the Ministry of Education.
Other schools
In addition to the public institutions presented above, higher education and vocational training in music, dance, theatre and performing arts is supported by a network of regional and specific schools.
> Theatre
The Ministry of Culture and Communication has signed with ten theatre schools, the platform of higher education for the training of the actor. This platform brings together signatories around common principles of quality: it places interpretation at the heart of teaching, recalls the importance of fundamentals and technical acquisitions, general and theatrical culture open to other arts and preparation for the trade.
Eight theatre schools alongside the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, the École du théâtre national de Strasbourg and the École nationale supérieure des arts et techniques du théâtre.
- Éstba - École supérieure de théâtre Bordeaux Aquitaine Square Jean Vauthier – BP7 - 33031 Bordeaux Cedex - Tel: 05 56 33 36 60 - www.tnba.org/estba/presentation
- École Nationale Supérieure d'Art Dramatique de Montpellier/ Maison Louis Jouvet19 rue Lallemand - 34000 Montpellier - Tel: 04 67 60 05 40 - www.ensad-montpellier.fr/
- Eschool of the Théâtre national de Bretagne 1, rue Saint-Hélier - 35000 Rennes - Tel. 02 99 31 55 33 - www.t-n-b.en/ecole_tnb/index.php
- Eschool of the Comédie de Saint-Eyours - National Drama Centre 7, avenue Emile Loubet - 42000 Saint-Etienne - Tel. 04 77 25 01 24 - www.lacomedie.fr/index.php/en/l-ecole-de-la-comedie/
- Eregional school of actors of Cannes 68 avenue du Petit-Juas - 06400 Cannes - Tel. 04 93 38 73 30 - www.erac-cannes.fr
- École du Nord, École professionnelle d'Art dramatique des Hauts de France 23-25 rue de Bergues - 59000 Lille - Tel. 03 20 00 72 64 - www.theatredunord.fr/lecole
- The Academy of the Union - ECole Superior Professional Limousin Theatre Le Mazeau - 87480 Saint-Priest-Taurion - Tel.: 05 55 37 93 93 - www.academietheatrelimoges.com
- EHigher School of Drama (ESAD) Forum des Halles 12, Place Carrée - 75001 Paris - Tel. 01 40 13 86 25 - esadparis.fr
Other higher education institutions
- Pôle d'enseignement supérieur Paris Boulogne-Billancourt (PSPBB)14, rue de Madrid - 75008 Paris - Tel. 01 44 70 64 37 - contact@pspbb.fr
- Pôle d'enseignement supérieur spectacle vivant Bretagne/Pays de la Loire «Le Pont Supérieur»74E, rue de Paris - 35000 Rennes - Tel. 02 30 96 20 10 - www.thetop.eu
- Studio d'Asnières – Asnières-sur-Seine 3, rue Edmond Fantin - 92600 Asnières-sur-Seine - Tel: 01 47 90 95 33 - www.studio-asnieres.com/
> Puppets
Every three years, the École supérieure nationale des arts de la marionnette in Charleville-Mézières prepares about 15 students for a diploma in puppetry and provides ongoing training in this field.
- National School of Puppetry Arts - www.marionnette.com 7, place Winston Churchill - 08000 Charleville-Mézières - Tel. 03 24 33 72 50 - Fax: 03 24 33 72 69
> Street Arts
The FAI AR, Formation avancée et itinérante des arts de la rue, offers training in Marseille in close collaboration with national and international creative and dissemination structures. This project is intended to accompany aspiring artists or creators wishing to question their practice, from all walks of life, who have chosen to inscribe their artistic word in the public space. FAI AR The City of Street Arts
- 225 avenue des Aygalades 13015 Marseille Tel. 04 91 69 74 67
> Cirque
Leading circus schools
- National Circus Arts Centre 1, rue du cirque - 51000 Châlons-en-Champagne - Tel. 03 26 21 80 44
- Rosny-sous-Bois National Circus School Jules Guesde Street - 93110 Rosny-sous-Bois - Tel. 01 56 63 05 40
- Annie Fratellini National Academy of Contemporary Circus Arts Avenue François Mitterrand - 93210 Saint-Denis - Tel. 01 49 46 00 00
- École Supérieure des Arts du Cirque Toulouse Occitanie 14, rue de Gaillac - 31500 Toulouse – Tel: 05 36 25 22 20
Preparatory schools
- Jules Verne Circus School 12 Albert Roze - 80000 Amiens - Tel: 03 22 72 11 68
- Arc-en-cirque 9 Rue du Genevois - 73000 Chambéry – Tel: 04 79 60 09 20
- Balthazar Circus Arts Centre 16 Rue Toiras - 34000 Montpellier – Tel: 04 67 42 28 36
- Centre des Arts du Cirque Piste d'Azur 1975, Avenue de la République - 06550 La Roquette-sur-Siagne – Tel: 04 93 47 42 42
- Lyon Circus School/MJC Ménival 29 Avenue de Ménival - 69005 Lyon – Phone: 04 72 38 81 61
- And you think it’s funny!! – Centre régional des arts du cirque de Lomme-Lille 16, rue du château d’Isenghien - 59160 - Lomme – Phone: 03 20 08 26 26
- École Nationale de Cirque de Châtellerault (ENCC) 2, allée de la laïcité - 86100 Châtellerault –Phone: 05 49 85 81 81
> Show techniques and trades
- Centre de formation professionnelle aux techniques du spectacle (CFPTS) 92, avenue Galliéni - 92170 Bagnolet - Tel. 01 48 97 25 16 Continuing training in the various performing arts (stage managers, decorators, etc.). The CFPTS and ISTS award professional degrees.
- Higher Institute for Performing Arts (ISTS) rue Portail-Bocquier - 84000 Avignon - Tel. 04 90 14 14 17 - Fax: 04 90 14 14 16 Provides training for managers and technical directors.
Financial aid to students
The Ministry of Culture allocates financial support to students of Higher Education Culture. Find here all the information about scholarships, FNAUAC, mobility...
Teacher training
The certificate of aptitude for the functions of music teacher and dance teacher as well as the state diploma of music teacher, The Ministry of Culture and Communication (Directorate-General for Artistic Creation) and regional cultural affairs directorates.
These diplomas make it possible to compete for jobs in the territorial public service.
Useful addresses
Ministry of Culture and Communication
Creative Arts Branch (BOD)
62, rue Beaubourg - 75003 Paris
ARTCENA
National Circus, Street and Theatre Arts Centre
68, rue de la Folie Méricourt - 75011 Paris
www.artcena.fr/