LE ZEF – La Gare Franche

1 National Theater. 2 spaces! Bringing together an artists’ centre (La Gare Franche) and a designated theatre (Le Merlan), this National Theatre has created a dynamic, flexible and inventive cultural presence. These two distinctive organisations each have their own local identity, approach to supporting artists and commitment to cultural engagement. The partnership combines a performance venue with a space for residencies, pooling resources and expertise. LE ZEF also draws on the diversity of the two sites and their unique facilities, including a kitchen and gardens. Its wide-ranging programme embraces ecology, collaboration, diversity of use, gastronomy and cross-disciplinary exchange, offering new ways to address the challenge of making culture accessible to all.

LE ZEF – Gare Franche is an artists’ centre in the heart of Marseille’s 15th arrondissement. Suspended between the Plan d’Aou housing estate and the village centre of Saint-Antoine, it acts as a link between the two neighbourhoods. A country house, a creative factory, collective gardens, a patch of land; a piece of countryside in the middle of the city that welcomes artists, schoolchildren, gardeners, and local residents, and constitutes a public space that everyone can explore and experience in their daily lives.