I am the managing director and artistic director of the Manège agency. It's a very young agency, publicly launched in 2021, but it's been around a little longer.
Why did you create this agency?
Before creating the agency, I had a cultural events collective called Helios which specialises in electronic music. Within this association, we started to have an agency activity, for example organising events that were not ours and selling services.
We didn't want the collective to become an agency. We wanted to separate the two activities: to have the collective as an association on the one hand and to create an agency to manage the events on the other.
My partner Maxime Le Gendre and I embarked on this great project: creating the Manège agency.
Our objective is to produce events. We offer various services to clients: technical services, creation of brand identities, event communication... There is a whole range of activities that we are taking great pleasure in carrying out via this new project.
What studies did you follow?
After my Bachelor's degree at EM Normandie on the Le Havre campus, I did my Master's degree as a work-study student at the Hurricane agency, which specialises in urban sports. It owns Fise Event which organises board sports festivals around the world.
I had the chance to work for five years in this agency, with my work-study Master's degree and then three years of permanent employment.
This experience at Hurricane allowed me to understand the subject of festivals and big events.
I was then in charge of events for a year at EM Normandie on the Paris campus. I approached events from a much more corporate point of view and discovered facets of the profession that I knew little about.
What is the daily routine of an Art Director?
My daily routine is quite varied from one day to the next. My partner and I work full-time in the agency. We each have different teams.
Today, I do a lot of artistic booking for the artists who come to perform at our events.
At the same time, I work on the development of the agency by looking for commercial opportunities in Le Havre or in the region. I go out to canvass new venues that are opening up. I also offer our services to the city of Le Havre according to the highlights of the year and the city's events.
In addition, I also sometimes do event organisation, logistics, etc. It's rewarding to be so versatile.
Whether you are in the early days of an agency or not, you have to be a Swiss Army knife to work in the events industry.
Tell us about FISE, the reference festival for extreme sports
It's a nice anecdote. We were at FISE Montpellier and the weather was very nice. It's an event that receives 80,000 spectators per day spread over three or four different parks with BMX, skateboarding, etc...
On the first day of the festival, I attended the first live standing ovation of an athlete who had done a trick. It was 50,000 people shouting with one voice!
That's when I realised that the happiness of the people and the moments we manage to create through our work are unparalleled.
Why did you choose the event industry?
When I entered EM Normandie, I was very attracted by communication but didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do later. I found many of the courses really enriching.
Moreover, we had half of our course in English, which was very useful for me later on.
When I worked at Fise and travelled around the world for four years, I was grateful that I had a good level of English.
I am really happy with my experience at EM Normandie. We have good teachers and a good atmosphere. It's really great! I just regret not having known the new campus in Le Havre.
