The Avignon “off” Festival, a magnet for more than a thousand companies

For the 2022 edition of the “off”, of the 1,570 shows on the bill, more than 1,000 are creations. Here, a performance on the esplanade in front of the Palais des Papes in Avignon, in July 2021. THOMAS O’BRIEN

The Avignon “off” Festival is back with its gigantism. Thirty-three thousand curtain raisers, 1,570 shows, 6,000 artists, 138 venues, the figures for this 56^e edition, which will take place from July 7 to 30, put an end to two years disrupted by the Covid-19. Canceled in 2020organized in degraded mode under sanitary constraints in 2021this largest theatrical gathering, on the sidelines of the “in”, attracts more than a thousand companies this summer.

For them, the “off” acts like a magnet, an unparalleled meeting place to show their creations and hope for essential distribution. Because professionals and site managers from all over France come here to do their shopping. “25% of national programming comes from “off””, recalls Harold David, the new co-president, alongside Laurent Domingos, of the association Avignon Festival & Compagnies (AF&C). This duo – the first is co-director of three Avignon theaters (Atypik, Archipel and Le Rouge Gorge), the second is an actor, director and artistic director of the company Minuit44 – was elected in mid-April, replacing of Sébastien Benedettoin a poisonous atmosphere.

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The health crisis not only disrupted the festival but also triggered a war of clans and egos within AF&C, an association which accompanies and supervises the “off”, in particular by editing the catalog of shows offered. Bailiff, summons to court for non-compliance with the statutes, “the Board of Directors has lived through six months of nightmare”testifies Véronique Boutonnet, of the company Les Ames Libres, and led to resignations.

Vast market

This internal war has several origins. First the emergency fund granted, in the summer of 2020, by the Ministry of Culture to the “off” of Avignon, to mitigate the consequences of its cancellation. Denouncing the lack of consultation of the AF&C and the criteria for allocating aid (only 49 places were able to benefit from it), dozens of non-permanent Avignon theaters have come together within a new Federation of Independent Theaters of Avignon (FTIA), co-chaired by Harold David.

The new presidents of AF&C, Harold David and Laurent Domingos, do not question the projects launched before them

Then, the declared will of Sébastien Benedetto and his team to propose a festival “more peaceful and more reasonable”, in particular by limiting the number of time slots per room, has finished crystallizing the opposition on the way to control this vast live performance market. “Regulating the festival, rebalancing the financial risks between venues and companies, was a way of ensuring the future”defends Sébastien Benedetto.

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