The 74th edition of the Avignon festival will take place, as planned, from July 3 to 23, 2020. Olivier Py said it at the microphone of the morning show of France Inter Wednesday, saying "worried but not completely pessimistic", little reassuring understatement . "As of April 8, we can still hope," added the director of the demonstration, deferring to the advice of the health authorities.
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While the Printemps des Comédiens in Montpellier, the first major theater festival of the summer which was to start on May 29, and the Fringe in Edinburgh scheduled for the end of August, had to give up, the cancellation of Avignon is not yet on today's agenda. "Edinburgh is a big market, Avignon is a public service", justified Olivier Py, recalling that the Nuits de Fourvière, the Festival d'Aix or that of Radio France in Montpellier, taking place in July, are to this day maintained. If the containment measures are still applied in mid-May, the chances would become almost zero - Py spoke of "compromised feasibility". For technical reasons (the assembly of the bleachers and the stage of the Court of Honor of the Palace of the Popes must start at this time to be finished at the beginning of July) and artistic (repeating the telework shows has its limits). Emergency scenarios are being studied. A postponement to August, closing certain places or reducing certain gauges are possible.
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The cancellation of the festival (13 million euros budget) would be a disaster for the artists, already damaged by the closings of the theater, deprived of an irreplaceable window and market. But it is the entire economy of a city and a region that would be impacted (100 million euros in economic spinoffs). "We saw it in 2003," said Py, referring to the strike of intermittent workers who had interrupted the festival that year. "It would be irresponsible not to do the festival for lack of courage today", explains Olivier Py, specifying that no artist of this 74th edition had withdrawn.
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He must therefore announce, as scheduled Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m., the program at a virtual press conference. With this crazy hope that we can in July "come together to celebrate the beauty of the world and intelligence". This is not an understatement.
