La Cité Fertile

La Cité Fertile is an open-air venue at 14 avenue Edouard Vaillant in Pantin, near Paris, France. It occupies part of a former SNCF goods station, which opened in 1864 and connected Paris with eastern France and Europe. Freight traffic fell between 1970 and 1980, after which warehouses and logistics businesses used the site. Sinny&Ooko took over the one-hectare plot for a temporary urban-planning project, and La Cité Fertile opened there in August 2018.

The venue’s two modular event halls are the 600-square-metre Halle Prairie and the 500-square-metre Halle Canopée. The larger hall has standing capacity for 1,800 and basic sound and lighting control equipment; the other seats 400 for plenary events. Outside the halls, the grounds include 5,500 square metres of planted space, a teaching garden and a greenhouse. Permanent residents include Paname Brewing Company, restaurant La Source, the Coop de Pantin cooperative grocery and Campus des Tiers-Lieux.

Its programme spans concerts, DJ sets, parties and festivals, with techno, house and bass music among the styles played. Festivals have accommodated up to 3,000 people, alongside workshops, conferences and civic activities. Promoters running events there include FLIRT, minuteuf and Attraction Corp, as well as La Cité Fertile itself. Artists who have played at the venue include eiyie, Saligo, Yasmin Regisford and Gillielove.