About TILT 2019
TILT Kids Festival returns for a fourth edition showcasing lyrical and thought-provoking multidisciplinary international projects and new commissions from musicians, theater makers, visual artists, and philosophers. This year’s festival engages leading French, Francophone, and American artists in presenting works that emphasize the theme of acceptance, and nurture both imagination and social consciousness as they speak to the next generation of engaged citizens.
TILT encourages a sense of freedom and adventure in the ways young people encounter art. Kids and adults alike discover new works by renowned artists that offer mind-opening experiences and celebrate diversity across cultures.
Described by The New York Times as “French in origin, fantastical in concept, and freewheeling in execution,” the festival is singular for its refusal to condescend to young people. In its four years, TILT has served as living proof that kids enjoy and can be deeply inspired by uncompromising, high-level artistry, work that addresses them on an intellectual and creatively stimulating level.
TILT is produced by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) in partnership with leading cultural institutions, which this year include Abrons Arts Center, The New Victory Theater, Harlem Stage, and Brooklyn Public Library.
This year’s festival is the first one co-curated by Laurent Clavel, Cultural Attaché of the French Embassy, and Courtney Geraghty, FIAF Artistic Director.
From the Curators
“Each year this festival aims to offer young audiences a selection of high-quality works by acclaimed artists. This year’s edition focuses on the idea of inclusivity, of acceptance of difference, and is a way for us to bring the generations of tomorrow into current social debates through the arts.”
— Laurent Clavel
Cultural Attaché at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and co-curator of TILT
“Today, in a world where everyone is discussing politics, it’s important to emphasize that this is where it all starts. This year’s festival provides mind-expanding content to children so that they can further develop their imagination and critical thinking about serious issues surrounding their daily lives. The arts can inspire a new generation of cultural thinkers, political leaders, and responsible citizens of the world.”
— Courtney Geraghty
Artistic Director at FIAF and co-curator of TILT
French Institute
Alliance Française
The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) is New York’s premiere French cultural and language center. FIAF’s mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas and promote cross cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression.
Discover more at fiaf.org.
Cultural Services
of the French Embassy
The Cultural Services of the French Embassy promotes the best of French arts, literature, cinema, digital innovation, language, and higher education across the US. Based in New York City, Washington D.C., and eight other cities across the country, the Cultural Services brings artists, authors, intellectuals, and innovators to cities nationwide. It also builds partnerships between French and American artists, institutions, and universities on both sides of the Atlantic. In New York, through its bookshop Albertine, it fosters French-American exchange around literature and the arts.
Learn more at frenchculture.org.
2019 Supporters
TILT 2019 is made possible by: Air France and Delta, the FACE Foundation, the Florence Gould Foundation, the French Ministry of Culture, the Howard Gilman Foundation, Institut français, La Roche-Posay, the MAP Fund, Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD)
The festival is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Press
2019 Festival Press Release (pdf)
For press inquiries, please contact:
Blake Zidell
blake@blakezidell.com / 718-643-9052
Amanda Angel at FIAF
aangel@fiaf.org / 646-388-6677
Camille Desprez at French Cultural Services
camille.desprez@diplomatie.gouv.fr / 212-439-1417