Even if it is really "off" this year, the Avignon festival is not dead and the theater actors intend to give it a second wind for the next editions. " It is urgent to put things right, that the different protagonists put themselves around the table" called Éric Verdin, from the organization Writers associated with the theater, during a launch conference organized by videoconference on Zoom.
Read also: The Off of the Avignon Festival and its 1,500 canceled shows
"The Estates General must start from the principle that the festival is a common good" , that we must "build everything together rather than face everything alone" , he launched in his introductory speech, on the eve of the day which was to kick off the 2020 edition.
1500 shows each year
Two principles must dictate this reflection, which will run until 2022: "cultural diversity to fight against a certain standardization of shows" and integration "of the principles of the social, united and ecological economy" .
The goal is "to come up with concrete proposals, real reforms to reinvent the substance and form of the festival," he said. Usually 1,500 shows are played in this famous town in the Vaucluse.
A roadmap was launched with work around six thematic commissions from September, the creation of precursor devices for the 2021 edition and "a life-size test" for the 2022 festival.
The AF&C association, which oversees the Avignon Off, has also launched a consultation open to all, which ended on June 15, on the question "which festival for tomorrow?" . Nearly 850 responses were collected according to Pierre Beffeyte, president of AF & C. It will take a few months to admire the new finery of this post-Covid version festival.