The French Touch: How did L'éloge come about?

Constance Arnoult: Partly thanks to the lockdown! This project to launch a vlog, podcast, or blog format to share cultural favorites had been germinating in my mind for some time. In 2020, when the lockdown arrived, I had just learned how to edit videos. I used the available time to film myself on my windowsill making book recommendations. I then published them on my own Instagram account, which already had a certain following. Anaëlle's feedback was invaluable in building the concept from its inception and refining it!

Anaëlle Malka: The lockdown period was ideal for using Instagram; the number of views quickly skyrocketed. It gave many people the opportunity to start or rediscover reading. As a result, we quickly realized our impact! Posting a video about a book was correlated with stock shortages at some online retailers—it was quite incredible! We received thank-you messages for some of our recommendations… this strengthened our desire to become more professional, and that's how we created the dedicated Instagram account. After several months of work to solidify the project, L'éloge was born!

“We praise what we love”

FT: Initially, you only made literary recommendations. Today, what can we find on L'éloge?

AM: Many things make up the DNA of L'éloge, and we have many ideas for enriching it. One of the main ones lies in the name: we praise what we love! Constance and I aren't really into criticism; we leave that to others. Simply put, if we don't like something, we don't talk about it. And when we do talk about it, we do so in the form of reports, interviews, on-camera segments… We also offer guides, mostly in written format.

CA: Cross-disciplinary approaches are very important to us! We want L'éloge to truly reflect our cultural consumption. We certainly have a preference for dance and opera. But very quickly, we partnered with institutions to strengthen our legitimacy and also extend our expertise to other areas. This allows us to talk about ballet, theater, literature, and sometimes exhibitions, film…

“Our objective is also to dust off the image of live performance”

FT: To whom is the praise addressed?

AM: There's something very visceral about L'éloge that we want to share with as many people as possible. Going to a show makes us so happy that we want everyone to go. Our goal is also to refresh the image of live performance and, with that in mind, to reach young people. Instagram works wonderfully for that! The common thread running through our platform, to achieve this, is our relaxed tone, which makes people want to learn about the stage and culture in general. We want to learn things too!

FT: In parallel with the media, why did you create the Prix des Eloges, the first edition of which was held on October 16th?

CA: The praise, as a media platform, addresses the challenges faced by the cultural institutions we've partnered with. They, too, often seek ways to attract young people, raise their profile, and broaden their audience. That's why we organized the Prix des Eloges (Prize of Praise), an event that celebrates classical live performance in a way that complements the media. Our intention with this event was to break down barriers between these complementary worlds and bring together those who create live performance. At the inaugural event, held on October 16th, we were able to shine a spotlight on performers, creative artists, and craftspeople who, in our opinion, deserve to be much better known by the general public. Here again, we wanted a diverse, cross-disciplinary jury of people who share our philosophy, understand our approach, and are passionate about what they do.