Led by volunteers Sophie Dhallewin, guide-lecturer, and Béatrice Dedécourne, president of the ARA, these visits retrace the eventful life of the mansion Prouvost-Lepoutre, built at the end of the 19th century for a large family of textile Roubaix.
From a bourgeois residence "between courtyard and garden", with its ornate living rooms, woodwork and remarkable staircase, to Kommandantur during the Second World War and then central police station in Roubaix until 1990, the place bears traces of a strong social history.
Threatened with demolition in a context of urban changes, the site was saved thanks to its inscription on the supplementary inventory of Historical Monuments in 1999, then rehabilitated. It now embodies a living heritage, reinvented for the musical and artistic practices of its occupants: the ARA and the Live Bar, on the other side of the courtyard.
During the visit, in the old music room, known as "la rotonde", a musical impromptu featuring a duo of artists accompanied by the ARA as part of the Tour de Chauffe 2025 project: "Amadè & Tarik".
Throughout the visit, sound creations from ARA projects and archives come to resonate the spaces, between memory of the place and current uses.
In addition: an exhibition dedicated to contemporary musicians and a small graphic workshop around female figures of music, free visit.