International folklore festival

• Humanitarian actions

The festival has got involved in economic or structural actions on many occasions, in Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Lebanon, Poland, Rumania, and on Chekeba Hachemi’s side in Afghanistan. When Rigoberta Menchu (Guatemala) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the festival participated in a sale of handmade broaches organized in 1992 in all French festivals. Jean-François Proux was thus able to hand over a 7250 francs (about 1100 euros) check, result of the sales. The festival also presented a motorized cultivator to the Indian community of Pucahuallca, in the north of Ecuador, and got involved in the construction of a school in the underprivileged area of Cajamarca, Peru.

• The CIOFF membership

The Montoire festival belongs to the International Council of Organizations for Folklore Festivals and Folk Art (CIOFF), international NGO in formal consultative relations with the UNESCO which gathers 250 folklore festivals worldwide. Created in 1970 by Henry Coursaget, initiator of the Confolens festival, the CIOFF focuses on several missions :

1. To establish close links between festivals for a better technical organization;

2. To develop collaborations between festivals for a strict selection of the groups proposed to the audiences;

3. To go further than the mere role of show organizer. The festivals must have a real role in the diffusion of popular and traditional culture.

4. To create real cultural events on a regional, national and international basis;

5. Along with the UNESCO, to defend the peace in the world, the intangible cultural heritage and the rights of indigenous people.

In a nutshell, the CIOFF label guaranties the audiences a quality festival in terms of welcome, organization as well as artistic choices.