The Ministry of Culture announced on Monday that it had created a fund to support the theaters of the Festival Off d'Avignon, one of the largest in the world to host independent companies weakened by the health crisis.
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This fund " is intended to support, on an exceptional and temporary basis, the theaters of the OFF Festival in Avignon, weakened by the cancellation of the festival in 2020, due to the Covid-19 crisis ", underlines the ministry in a communicated.
It is aimed at " sustainable non-subsidized theaters , deprived of activity in July, and having reimbursed the companies for the deposits paid ".
Its funding is provided by the State, for an amount of 800,000 euros, the local authorities providing support to subsidized theaters or companies in the Avignon area.
Largest live performance market
With nearly 1,500 shows, more than 1,000 companies and thousands of professionals, the festival is the largest live performance market in France: nearly 20% of purchases of plays in France are made there. A kind of " hub " like the Edinburgh festival " fringe ", also canceled.
To offer artists visibility, a solidarity project, “ Avignon Online ”, was created to try to virtually revive the festival, to offer promotional videos for shows and to show the theaters' programming.
Read also: Avignon Online, the solidarity project that recreates the online festival
And as a meager consolation, until July 23, a cycle of readings of about fifteen unpublished contemporary texts is organized in the cloister of the Palais des Papes, a Mecca of Avignon.