La Friche, Cultural center in Belle de Mai district, Marseille, France

La Friche is a cultural center housed in a former industrial building with theaters, exhibition spaces, and performance venues. The site also features public areas including a playground, sports field, skatepark, restaurant, and a café with a bookshop.

The site is the former tobacco factory of the Belle de Mai, where the Seita closed 120,000 m2 of production. In 1990 the city's culture official Christian Poitevin asked Philippe Foulquié and Alain Fourneau to occupy Marseille's industrial wastelands; their association Système Friche Théâtre signed precarious occupation agreements with the Seita in 1992 and took over 45,000 m2. Founded on theatre and dance projects, it soon opened to music, visual arts and urban cultures.

The name comes from the Belle de Mai neighbourhood and the word friche, French for wasteland or fallow land. The site calls itself a "pole of authors", centred on creating and producing works rather than only showing them. Around sixty resident structures work here, including Radio Grenouille and Radio Galère, the Théâtre Massalia and Triangle-Astérides.

The public areas are open daily from 11:00 to 19:00 and free to access without any reservation needed. Check ahead about special events or exhibitions that might have different conditions or require advance planning.

The 8,000 m2 roof terrace opened with the 2013 European Capital of Culture works, which also created the Panorama Tower, a 4,000 m2 contemporary art exhibition space. The same period saw 7,500 m2 of the Les Magasins building renovated into offices and studios. The site drew 500,000 visitors in 2013.