Confronted an umpteenth time with the silence of the executive, the world of theater takes to the streets of Avignon.
According to the police, some three hundred people demonstrated on Saturday in front of the Palais des Papes, an emblematic place of the international festival.
The crowd demanded the reopening of cultural places in France, for which a manifesto has just been launched.
Read also: Despite the Covid, the Off d'Avignon hopes to "relaunch" in 2021
"
Here in Avignon, we want to reaffirm that culture is vital, essential to our lives, to our balance
", proclaims the petition launched by the socialist mayor of the city, Cécile Helle, and the association of Scènes d'Avignon bringing together most of the city's historic theaters.
Olivier Py, the director of the Avignon festival, one of the most important in Europe, and the new president of the Off festival, Sébastien Benedetto, are among the first signatories.
“
Let's deconfin minds.
Let us be prudent and responsible, inventive and creative.
We want to return to the spectacle, in our museums, our heritage places without endangering ourselves, with absolute respect for barrier gestures and health protocols
”, say the petitioners for whom the city of the Popes“ a
city of cultural exception, must to embody (...) resistance
”.
"
By mobilizing everyone, let's ensure that in 2021, Avignon will once again be a land of cultures and festivals
", they proclaim.
They announce that the shows of the 2021 edition of Fest'hiver, with the Scènes d'Avignon, which highlights creators from the region, will be well performed and visible to the public live digitally.
Roselyne Bachelot indicated, before the Cultural Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, to work with the different sectors "
to develop a model of gradual reopening according to more adaptable methods so that we are not confronted with each inflection of the situation to a binary choice: leave the establishment open or closed
”.
However, the minister refused to set a date for the reopening of cultural places now.
The economic impact of the two Avignon festivals (On and Off) on the City of the Popes, visited each July by 150,000 people, are estimated at around 100 million euros.
