LA VERRERIE D'ALÈS

What LA VERRERIE D'ALÈS does

La Verrerie d'Alès, operating as the Pôle National Cirque Occitanie, is a French national circus creation and diffusion center located in Alès, Gard (Occitanie). Founded in 2010 with a permanent staff of 7, it is designated by the French Ministry of Culture as the national circus pole for the Occitanie region. The organization delivers a year-round program of contemporary circus performances, two major annual festivals (Temps de Cirques in autumn and inCIRCus in summer, now in its 10th edition), seasonal events, family and youth programming (Café des enfants, Terrain d'aventures, colorCIRCus), workshops and masterclasses, and a school mediation program. It also supports professional circus companies and artists through artist residencies, a writing support program (Soutien à l'écriture), associated-artist relationships, and the Cirque Portatif creation funding program with an annual laureate cycle.

The business model is a publicly funded cultural institution rather than a commercial enterprise. The dominant revenue stream is multi-tier public subsidies received from the Ministry of Culture, DRAC Occitanie, Région Occitanie, Département du Gard, Alès Agglomération, Ville d'Alès, and ANCT. A secondary revenue stream comes from ticket sales for performances and festivals, distributed through an external ticketing platform (Mapado) rather than a proprietary system. The customer base is two-sided: professional circus artists and companies seeking creation resources and performance venues, and the general public/school groups accessing programming through the regional diffusion role. No pricing is centrally disclosed on the website; per-event ticket prices vary by show and are managed via the Mapado platform.

Name

LA VERRERIE D'ALÈS

Legal name

La Verrerie d'Alès

Website

https://polecirqueverrerie.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

La Verrerie d'Alès is a French Pôle National Cirque in Alès, Occitanie, that creates and diffuses contemporary circus programming, hosts two annual festivals, and supports circus artists through residencies and creation funding, funded by multiple tiers of French public authorities and supplemented by ticket sales via Mapado.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Performing Arts Venue / Circus Arts

NAICS

Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events with Facilities (71131), Other Performing Arts Companies (711190)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990), Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Performing Arts & Cultural Event Venues (Theaters, Museums) (THAHAAAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cultural & Community Festivals (Ticketed) (THAJAFAI), Event Operations & Venue Services (Box Office, FOH/BOH, Concessions) (MPAIAFAL)

Keywords

• Contemporary circus performances
• Circus arts festivals
• Artist residencies
• Performing arts venue
• Cultural education programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Alès

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Public funding and subsidies: The center receives institutional support from multiple government bodies including the Ministry of Culture, DRAC Occitanie, Région Occitanie, Département du Gard, Alès Agglomération, and Ville d'Alès, as well as ANCT.
2. Ticket sales: Revenue generated through ticket sales for performances, festivals, and events. Tickets are sold through an external platform (Mapado billetterie).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

La Verrerie d'Alès is a national circus arts center (Pôle National Cirque Occitanie) that produces and hosts contemporary circus performances, two annual festivals (Temps de Cirques and inCIRCus), artist residencies and creation support programs, educational workshops for children and schools, and seasonal outdoor events. The venue sells tickets directly through the Mapado platform and operates as a publicly-funded cultural institution serving both the general public and professional circus companies.

Product overview

La Verrerie d'Alès is a cultural venue and not a technology product company. It operates as a single unified cultural center (Pôle National Cirque Occitanie) offering circus arts performances, festivals (Temps de Cirques, inCIRCus), educational programs (Rencontro Plato, Café des enfants, Terrain d'aventures, colorCIRCus), seasonal events (La Verrerie l'Été), artist residencies, and workshops. The venue provides ticketing services through an external Mapado platform. There are no software products, SaaS offerings, or technology platforms in the traditional sense.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Temps de Cirques Festival Annual autumn festival presenting contemporary circus performances and related programming for general audiences and circus professionals.
• inCIRCus Festival Summer circus festival featuring performances and gallery exhibitions of contemporary circus arts; the 10th edition has been held.
• La Verrerie l'Été Summer outdoor event series featuring foraine (fair) evenings and season closure events at the venue.
• Rencontro Plato Year-round circus performance programming offered as part of the regular season.
• Café des enfants Children-focused circus programming offered as part of the regular season.
• Terrain d'aventures Adventure-themed circus program for children offered as part of the season.
• colorCIRCus Color-themed circus program for children offered as part of the season.
• Cirque Portatif Portable circus creation support program, including annual calls for projects and a laureate (lauréat) creation award funding circus companies.
• Artist Residencies Residency programs for circus companies supporting artistic creation and development.
• Soutien à l'écriture Support program for circus writing and creation, funding artistic development.
• Stages & Masterclass Workshops and masterclasses offered as part of the season programming for skill development in circus arts.
• Billetterie (Mapado) Online ticketing service hosted on the Mapado platform for purchasing tickets to performances, festivals, and events.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Ministère de la Culture et de la CommunicationcoreOthersNational ministry providing institutional recognition and funding support to the center as the designated Pôle National Cirque Occitanie.
• DRAC Occitanie (Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles)coreOthersRegional cultural affairs directorate providing oversight and funding for cultural institutions in the Occitanie region.
• Région OccitaniecoreOthersRegional council providing institutional funding and support for cultural facilities and programming in the Occitanie region.
• Département du GardcoreOthersDepartmental council providing local government funding and support for the circus arts center serving Gard residents.
• Alès AgglomérationcoreOthersMetropolitan agglomeration community providing intercommunal funding and support for the cultural venue serving the Alès area.
• Ville d'AlèscoreOthersMunicipal government of Alès providing direct city-level funding and support for the local cultural institution.
• ANCT (Agence Nationale de la Cohésion des Territoires)minorOthersNational agency for territorial cohesion providing supplementary support for territorial development and rural/urban cohesion initiatives.

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• CIRCa: Pôle National Cirque based in Auch (Gers), also located in the Occitanie region. Operates an identical PNC designation with comparable contemporary-circus creation, residency, and festival programming model.
• Centre National des Arts du Cirque (CNAC): France's premier national circus training and creation center in Châlons-en-Champagne. Direct institutional peer operating with similar public-funding conventions and circus-artist development mission.
• La Cascade: Pôle National Cirque in Bourg-Saint-Andéol (Ardèche), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Shares the same PNC designation with parallel artist-residency, creation-support, and festival programming structures.
• ARCHAOS: Pôle National des Arts du Cirque Méditerranée in Marseille. Same national PNC designation with comparable artist residency, creation grants, and contemporary-circus performance programming.
• Le Cirque Jules Verne — Maison de la Culture d'Amiens: Cultural venue in Amiens with a long-standing circus-arts identity and PNC-linked programming. Comparable regional circus creation/diffusion role with similar public-funding model.
• Le Prato: Pôle National Cirque serving the Hauts-de-France region from the Lille area. Operates a near-identical PNC mandate of contemporary-circus creation, residencies, and public diffusion.

Others

• MC2 — Maison de la Culture de Grenoble: Publicly-funded multi-disciplinary cultural venue in Grenoble with similar residency, education, and community-mediation programs. Adjacent rather than direct competitor, sharing institutional conventions rather than artistic focus.

Broad incumbents

• Le Channel — Scène Nationale de Calais: Larger publicly-funded Scène Nationale with multi-disciplinary programming that includes circus. Shares the public-convention funding model and artist-residency practices but on a wider portfolio.
• Théâtre National de Chaillot: Major national theater in Paris with substantial dance and circus programming. Comparable public-funding dependency and artist-residency model, but operates on a much broader institutional portfolio.

Regional players

• Espace Catastrophe: Circus creation and artist-support center based in Brussels serving French-speaking Belgium. Comparable residency, training, and creation-support programs but operates in a different national context.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/la-verrerie-d'ales

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about LA VERRERIE D'ALÈS