HYPE OCC: circulating works, connecting territories, standing up for culture
In 2023, camin aktion conceived and created HYPE OCC in Montpellier with one ambition: to turn the richness of dances rooted in hiphop culture and its related aesthetics into a regional dynamic. Three years later, the festival spans seven cities in Occitanie. This growth reflects the commitment of our partners and the need to circulate artists, works and ideas beyond geographical, institutional and cultural boundaries.
But this vitality must not hide a reality: the festival’s development is running up against the weakening of its public funding.
Building a network to build culture
HYPE OCC brings together cultural organisations with complementary profiles: a non-profit production office, a dance company, local venues, national stages, choreographic institutions, an independent cinema and other players in creation and touring. This diversity is a strength. It brings into dialogue practices, audiences and territories that do not always meet.
In 2026, the festival connects Montpellier, Perpignan, Foix, Tarbes, Saverdun, Bessèges and Castelnau-le-Lez. From cities to mid-sized towns and rural areas, HYPE OCC helps sustain a cultural offer in Occitanie, a region marked by strong social and territorial inequalities.
The network allows works to circulate between partners, artists to meet new audiences and organisations to pool their resources. Eight shows from the dance programme tour within the network. Organising these tours together avoids redundant travel and creates both financial and environmental savings.
This cooperation is not just a practical arrangement. It builds lasting ties between cultural players, fosters diverse audiences, widens touring opportunities and gives visibility to artistic approaches that still have few spaces for recognition.
Breaking down barriers between cultures and institutions
Dances rooted in hiphop and related aesthetics do not form a homogeneous whole. They draw on many histories, communities and social contexts. Their roots are notably African, Latin and diasporic; other practices, such as waacking or voguing, are tied to minoritised communities. These cultures are alive: they are passed on, transformed, cross-pollinated, constantly inventing new forms.
Long developed outside academic frameworks, they carry perspectives on the world, identities and demands. Fully recognising them as artistic expressions also means recognising the people and communities who keep them alive.
HYPE OCC seeks to create spaces of encounter between these practices and cultural institutions, between artists and audiences, between generations and territories. Opening the festival at the Opéra Comédie in Montpellier, bringing krump and new communities into that setting, illustrates this will to build bridges rather than maintain borders.
The diversity of artistic proposals reflects this ambition: bringing dance into dialogue with music, cinema, the visual arts and social issues; welcoming emerging artists as well as established choreographers; giving space to singular voices that are still under-represented in institutional programming.
Culture, a question of democracy
We see culture as a public service mission. It should not be reserved for those who already master its codes, have the necessary resources or live close to major venues. Everyone should be able to discover works, practise, meet artists and take part in cultural life.
Cultural democracy requires a real possibility of participation. It takes time, means, venues, paid artists and teams, and organisations able to work over the long term. It cannot be decreed: it is built through projects, encounters and cooperation.
Accessibility is part of this approach. It concerns how people are welcomed, the diversity of audiences, and the possibility of enjoying a night out without isolation, distance or institutional habits standing in the way. This year in Montpellier, we are trying out a matchmaking scheme for people who would like to share an outing to a show.
Building a network also means taking the practical conditions of encounter seriously.
Growth weakened by the withdrawal of public funding
In 2024, HYPE OCC programmed events in three cities. In 2025, it expanded to five. In 2026, it brings together seven; two new partners had to withdraw following subsidy cuts.
This growth relies on the partners’ work and on funding that supported the festival’s regional dimension. In 2025, the Festivals Fund of the DRAC Occitanie (the State’s regional cultural office) provided essential support to this regional dynamic, recognising HYPE OCC’s momentum and place, alongside the support of the Région Occitanie. The Ministry of Culture decided to withdraw the Festivals Fund support entirely in 2026.
The Région Occitanie is maintaining the same contribution in 2026, as are the City of Montpellier and other local authorities in the region. This support from local authorities matters, but it does not make up for the loss of DRAC funding.
The figures show the gap between territorial development and available resources. The Region’s contribution per participating city has fallen by nearly 29% in one year.
These ratios give a measure of the growing strain.
In 2026, philanthropic support from the Caisse des Dépôts, SACD and Onda through the TRIO(S) emerging artists programme also supports the network touring of one show between Montpellier and Tarbes: a recognition of the importance of touring, made possible by our collaborative network structure.
The programme is growing and cooperation is deepening, but public resources are not following the same path. This weakens not just one edition, but also the work of the organisations that make this regional dynamic possible.
Standing up for a sustainable cultural model
Cultural funding is not spending without return. It pays artists, technicians, administrative staff and service providers; it funds the social security system and supports the activity of venues, accommodation, restaurants and shops. It helps sustain cultural and economic ecosystems across territories.
But its importance is not limited to economic benefits. Culture makes it possible to encounter other imaginations, fuels debate, opens perspectives and lets people who do not usually cross paths share an experience. It contributes to social cohesion and to a society’s ability to imagine its future differently.
Ticket sales matter, as does the commitment of partners and audiences. But they cannot on their own make up for the withdrawal of public funding. A model that relies ever more on volunteering and private funding also risks narrowing artistic freedom and making access to culture more unequal.
We want to defend a model that allows artists to create and tour their work in good conditions, organisations to cooperate over the long term, and audiences to encounter diverse creation, without that encounter depending solely on each person’s means.
HYPE OCC needs you
The festival is a collective adventure. Its presence in seven cities is the result of shared work, a common conviction and a will to bring dance to the territories.
Your presence at the shows counts. By buying a ticket, you support the artists and partners who bring this programme to life. You can also contribute with a one-off or regular donation, or through corporate sponsorship, whether financial, in kind or in skills.
camin aktion is authorised to issue tax receipts for eligible donations. For example, under French tax rules a €100 donation may cost €34 after tax reduction, subject to applicable conditions.
Supporting HYPE OCC means helping keep alive a culture that is both popular and demanding, connecting territories and defending everyone’s opportunity to discover and share creation.
When the State steps back, solidarity becomes essential.
Together, let’s keep culture alive!