Samba Résille

Samba Résille is an artistic, civic, and popular laboratory based in Toulouse, France, since 1992 — at the crossroads of world music, popular education, and cultural rights.

Recognised as a non-formal education and youth organisation, Samba Résille develops deeply rooted local actions while radiating internationally through cultural cooperation projects, artistic residencies, collective creations, and mobility pathways for artists, youth workers and communities.

The organisation draws inspiration from thinkers such as Paulo Freire (critical pedagogy), Amartya Sen (cultural capabilities), and Édouard Glissant (creolisation and archipelagic thought) to shape inclusive, empowering and transformative initiatives, where audiences are co-creators of the artistic process.

For over 30 years, Samba Résille has embodied a transversal vision of cultural diversity, grounded in cultural rights and the enhancement of each individual’s capacity to act. Its activities target a wide range of publics: young adults, emerging artists, people with disabilities, grassroots communities, and underrepresented voices in institutional cultural spaces.

What we do:
-Workshops in Brazilian and world music, singing, percussion, and co-creation
-ybrid artistic residencies combining creation, transmission, and local anchoring
-Participatory festivals, youth-led stages, exhibitions, and civic events
-European training courses on funding access, intercultural mediation, and international cooperation
-Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps projects, including mobility, mentoring, and transnational co-creation
-A Cultural and Civic Initiative Centre in Toulouse — a dynamic, accessible, and open space for collective empowerment

Why we’re at WOMEX
As a committed player in popular education and social innovation through the arts, our presence at WOMEX is driven by the desire to:
-Share fair, reciprocal and decolonial cooperation models
-Build new cultural and artistic partnerships, especially around hybrid music emerging from Brazil – Southern Africa – Mediterranean – diasporas
-Present the collective artistic productions stemming from immersive projects in territories undergoing transition
-Meet with festivals, venues, curators, and networks interested in intercultural, anchored, and socially engaged creations
-Promote Erasmus+ as a powerful lever for artistic and civic transformation, involving youth and emerging creators

Why contact us?
-You are looking for partners for co-created artistic projects involving youth, inclusion, and intercultural dialogue?
-You wish to host a residency mixing popular expression, co-creation and territorial storytelling?
-You are interested in innovative EU projects connected to world music, transmission, and cultural rights?
-You’re looking to program or showcase rooted, engaged, and hybrid music creations?
-You want to explore artistic practices with social impact, led by an independent and activist structure?

We’ll be happy to meet you at WOMEX to imagine desirable futures through music, cooperation, and the multiple voices of the world.