Multitude is more than just a cultural event

Seine-Saint-Denis is a territory where cultures from around the world meet, blend, and enrich one another, shaping a unique and dynamic identity. This narrative is championed by the Department and found a special resonance during the second edition of the Biennale Multitude, taking place on July 4th, 5th, and 6th, 2025. Through this event, Seine-Saint-Denis reaffirms its ability to foster connections by celebrating the diversity of its stories and cultures.

Multitude is more than just a cultural event — the 2025 Biennale aims to showcase initiatives that embody interculturality in action across the territory. It offers a dynamic space for dialogue, discovery, and connection, inviting everyone to explore and gain a deeper understanding of the cultural richness of Seine-Saint-Denis.

For this edition, the proposal is to open Multitude fully to Europe, building on existing European networks and programs. By firmly anchoring Multitude in a European approach, Seine-Saint-Denis positions itself as a territory of experimentation, innovation, and cooperation—where interculturality emerges as a key societal issue, capable of addressing current political challenges on our continent: conservatism, discrimination, populism, and misinformation.

In this context, the presence of the Sound of Diversity (SoD) project enriched the Biennale in a unique way. By bringing the SoD Stage to Multitude, the festival offered not only artistic performances but also a vibrant space for direct dialogue with local residents, youth, activists, minority representatives, and experts. This European perspective deepened Multitude’s role as a platform for exchange and allowed Seine-Saint-Denis to connect its local intercultural initiatives with similar experiences across Europe.

As part of the SoD network, the host of the Multitude Festival demonstrated how cultural events can transcend artistic celebration to become arenas of social innovation, contributing to EU-wide discussions on diversity and inclusion. The SoD presence amplified the festival’s impact, positioning it as both a celebration of cultural richness and a concrete step toward building a more inclusive European public sphere.

For the SoD participants—representing local authorities from across Europe—attending Multitude offered an invaluable opportunity to experience firsthand how a territory like Seine-Saint-Denis lives and promotes interculturality on a daily basis. It allowed them to exchange with peers, discover innovative practices, and reflect on how these approaches could be adapted within their own local contexts. In this way, the festival became not only a showcase of diversity but also a living laboratory of ideas and strategies that will feed into the shared work of the Sound of Diversity network.

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