Festive, popular, intergenerational, the third edition of the Marseille Summer once again brought together hundreds of thousands of Marseille men and women. With this initiative, the City of Marseille has offered breathing space and leisure spaces accessible to everyone in all neighborhoods of their city.
This edition was marked by several highlights: a grand opening show, the pedestrianization of the Old Port all summer long, cultural, sporting and educational events in all districts, the opening of the Porte d’ Aix and free swimming pools.
“The third edition of the Marseille Summer was a success. The people of Marseille have asked us to go further, so next year we will be offering more cultural and sports activities, cooking workshops and shows.
The Marseille Summer is an important event and it will be recurrent. Every year for two months, our city opens up to the world, it offers Marseillaises and Marseillais things they had never done before.” Benoît Payan, Mayor of Marseilles.
Sharing culture: bet won!
After the opening show “Rouge!” presented by the Center de création Lieux publics on July 8 in the Vieux-Port in front of more than 5,000 people, the City of Marseille organized events “outside the walls” throughout the summer in order to bring culture to the closer to the inhabitants. This ambitious policy has enabled people from Marseilles in neighborhoods sometimes far from traditional cultural establishments to enjoy theatrical performances, open-air cinema screenings, shows and free concerts near their homes.
The pedestrianization of the Old Port throughout the summer season has made it possible to calm this heart of the city and the development of several relaxation and activity areas,
in particular a bowling alley which allowed the Marseillaises and Marseillais to practice petanque.
The twenty open-air film screenings have been widely acclaimed, particularly in the new Porte d’Aix park, a veritable island of greenery and freshness in the heart of the city.
The love story of “Roméo & Juliette” by the Agence de Voyages Imaginaires brought together more than 1,000 people during the eight performances organized at Parc Borély (8th), Parc Billoux (15th), Plateau sportif Bellevue ( 3rd), on the Parvis de l’Opéra de Marseille (1st), in the Parc de la Magalone (9th), in the Parc de la Moline (12th), on the Place des Héros (13th) and in the Parc Longchamp (4th).
As for the performance of the Chorus of the Opera and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Marseille organized on July 13 on the forecourt of the Municipal Opera, more than 500 spectators enjoyed free classical music.
The “Giant Karaoke”, joyful and quirky, saw nearly 6,000 people give their voices during the big closing party organized at Parc Longchamp on August 26th.
Acclaimed cultural establishments
The cultural establishments of the City of Marseille have also recorded record attendance rates.
Nearly 90,000 people pushed through the doors of municipal museums and their free permanent collections.
The libraries, thanks to their rich summer and free programming, totaled a 10% higher attendance rate compared to 2021, with 88,000 entries between July and August 2022.
The City of Marseille, first partner of the cultural world
First support of the cultural world and main partner of many festivals, the City of Marseille has allowed them to punctuate the Marseille Summer.
By reaffirming its commitment to the actors of these events and by focusing on culture for all, the municipality has kept its bet and salutes the beautiful results of all these gatherings. Among them, “Oh good days !” PAC – The Spring Festival of Contemporary Art, Marsatac, the Marseille Festival – Dance and multiple arts, the Five Continents Jazz Festival, Partir en Livre, Ciné Plein air…
For the first time, the itinerant literary amusement park the Livrodrome has settled in Marseille on the final leg of his national tour. The Marseillais were able to take part in around fifteen fun and multimedia activities: virtual reality comics, digital salon, Molière tattoos, book recorder, reading confessional, literary karaoke, live radio, creative workshops and discovery of book trades…
In parallel, thanks to the Ideas box, families and groups in social centers benefited from access to a veritable mobile digital library : reading aloud in the shade of a park, kamishibai, games around the book, creative activities…
Whether it’s about sharing and making known the joys of reading, getting the crowd dancing by carefully mixing confirmed talents and cutting-edge discoveries, or even bringing together the best dance companies in the world, the City of Marseille welcomes all projects that facilitate access to culture.
Sport for all
To respond to heat records, the City took an exceptional measure by making its swimming pools free this summer: more than 60,000 Marseille men and women took advantage of the coolness of the city’s pools for free.
The free “Tremplin sport” sports activities organized in all the neighborhoods enabled children aged 6 to 14 to discover – among other things – rock climbing, rollerblading, archery or even educational boxing. The free iodized baptisms saw more than 1,500 children frolic at the nautical bases of Train des Sables (Plage du Grand Roucas-Prado Nord) and Corbière (Plage de l’Estaque).
The “Wellness Coach” program organized in all areas of the city, from the Town Hall (2nd) to the Espace Mistral (16th), via the Parc de la Moline (12th) and the Parc Athéna (13th) gathered more than a thousand people this summer.
The City of Marseille – in partnership with MCES* – also organized the first edition of the challenge E-sport, free and open to all young people aged 12 to 17. Nearly 400 young people competed at the Palais des Sports and at the Villeneuve-Bargemon space!
Popular education at the heart of the Marseille Summer
The City of Marseille has continued its commitment to the youngest and in favor of the right to holidays for all, by offering stays with fun and sporting activities during this summer season. 1,500 children from working-class neighborhoods therefore went on vacation.
In order to ensure in particular the reception of children, the maintenance of local municipal public services, the municipality has decided to open 27 houses for all during the summer, 35 social centers in July and 18 for three to four weeks in August, compared to 10 in 2021.
1,200 children were able to read books in the “Ideas box” mobile library which stopped at Parc de la Porte d’Aix (1st), Parc Longchamp (4th) and Parc de la Maison Blanche (9th) .
In the eco-citizen village located at the foot of the Daviel Pavilion (2nd), 3,149 children were made aware of the environment while nearly 800 took part in road safety activities provided by certified facilitators from the City of Marseille.
Finally, to promote the commitment of young people from Marseille, the City of Marseille launched the second edition of “Citizens of tomorrow” in 2022 on the theme of access to information.
Marseille summer nights
The opening of the Plage des Catalans at night and the extended hours in the evening in the city’s parks and gardens (until 9 p.m. instead of 8 p.m.) were again this year acclaimed by the people of Marseille. The late-night openings in the parks and gardens have notably made it possible to record a 20% increase in attendance compared to the rest of the year.
The Porte d’Aix has found its audience
Opened to the public at the beginning of July, the Parc de la Porte d’Aix received, all summer long, families and walkers in search of fresh air in this highly urbanized district. This 11,000 m² park, including 8,000 m² of green spaces, has welcomed thousands of men and women from Marseille around a program rich in cultural and sporting events.
Exhibitions, guided tours, gardening workshops, introduction to climbing, archery, boxing, singing, reading and theatre… there’s something for everyone!
Unprecedented security and mediation support
Teams of mediators from the City of Marseille have criss-crossed the beaches all summer long in order to make residents aware of the preservation of the coastline and respect for the rules in force in the public domain.
The municipality has also reinforced the staff of the municipal police and deployed, for the first time, a reception and awareness chalet in the Old Port. This “ephemeral police station” also served as a relay for the recruitment campaign launched at the beginning of the summer. 350 positions were to be filled.
A new device to fight against harassment on the beaches
Throughout the month of August, on the Prado Sud beach, the City tested an unprecedented system to fight against sexist and sexual violence on the beaches with the Safer application and the presence of associations.
Thanks to the Safer Plage application available for free download, people who are victims or witnesses of harassment can give the alert by geolocation and anonymously via the platform directly connected to the first aid station, thus allowing the national police and the police local authorities to be able to react quickly.
*MCES: French esports club based in Marseille with professional teams on games like Fortnite, League of Legends and Clash of Clans.
