The 13th edition of Rencontres will take place  from July 15 to September 30, 2022, in 12 municipalities, towns and host parks in the Gaspé Peninsula on the theme “Radical hope.” According to Rencontres’ executive and artistic director, Claude Goulet, “this theme rose up as a cry of hope to express in a loud and clear way the urgency and the need to create, as an assertion of the necessity to act with regard to the environment, to living together, to inequalities, when confronted with a global cynicism.”

Here, in greater detail, is what inspired “Radical hope,” in the shape of a manifesto on the subject of creation.

Creating is the best of ways for affirming that the arts are well and truly alive.
Creating is the best of ways for confirmer that culture and art are essential objects.
Creating is the best of ways for celebrating the presence of art in our lives.
Creating is the best of ways for resisting.

Creating is the best of ways for conveying news of ourselves.
Creating is the best of ways for claiming the infinite horizon as one’s own.
Creating is the best of ways for breaking the silence, solitude.
Creating is the best of ways for fighting human stupidity, racism and injustices.

Creating is the best of ways for reminding ourselves of the fragility of the planet.
Creating is the best of ways for bringing out the light.
Creating is the best of ways for calming our minds and helping us live better together.
Creating is the best of ways for celebrating poetry!

Photo: Fiona Annis & Véronique La Perrière M., courtesy of The Society of Affective Archives