The 2023 edition will remain the last in the history of the Imaginarium Festival.
Those responsible for the student festival at the University of Technology of Compiègne (UTC), created in 2014, announced this Monday evening, on their social networks, the liquidation of the organizing association.
The economic difficulties had been known for several months.
After the 10th edition, which took place last June at the Tigre in Margny-lès-Compiègne, the Imaginarium volunteers had already announced their placement in receivership, due to poor financial health.
Insufficient attendance in 2023
The last few years had been difficult for the small festival, which went from 6,000 to 10,000 spectators in around ten years.
After the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 editions due to the health crisis, the 2022 vintage was severely disrupted by weather conditions, which notably caused the cancellation of the headliner, Skip the Use.
📣 Press release on the situation of the Imaginarium Festival It is with a heavy heart that we announce the placement of...
Published by Imaginarium Festival on Monday February 12, 2024
“The stakes for the tenth edition were therefore high,” explain those responsible in their press release.
Despite all our efforts, the attendance was not sufficient to achieve the balance that would have allowed the association to continue.
» After the receivership, the association tried to develop different scenarios to get the festival out of the crisis, without success.
“This is why we requested the placement of the association in compulsory liquidation, which was pronounced by the Compiègne Judicial Court last December.
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With a “heavy heart” and in a message full of nostalgia, before a long list of thanks, the association congratulates itself on having succeeded in imposing “an independent student festival from the first to the last edition”.