Presentation of the 76th edition of the Festival d’Avignon: Mairie d’Avignon
An edition with the subject “Once upon a time”, focused on the presence of women, resilience, ecological awareness.
This year, the Avignon Festival will be, from July 7 to 26, 20 days of programming, 46 shows, 2 exhibitions, 30 conferences, 70 debates and meetings, 32 screenings. The poster is signed by Afghan artist Kubra Khademi.
Beautiful moments of reflection, discovery and sharing not to be missed!
find here Ia program for this 76th edition.
Find Cécile Helle’s speech delivered for the occasion.
Only the speech delivered is authentic
Once upon a time…
This is the theme of the editorial by Olivier Py, who has participated with Paul Rondin in the history of the Festival since 2014, the date of their 1before programming.
What a long way since then, with events that have marked all these years.
During their mandate, Olivier and Paul endeavored to reveal artists from all regions of the world, of all generations, to work in the service of a public policy of culture, to diversify the public, to maintain, while making familiar, the Avignon myth, Festival with a unique international reputation, hospitable to all.
They were able to establish new milestones such as the “Theatrical Serial” in the Garden of the Ceccano Library offered in free access at noon, every day of the Festival, where artists, students, professionals and the general public seized on great texts such as the Odyssey or the Republic of Plato or even societal issues that are the subject of debate.
This soap opera is a huge success and thus reconnects with the Vilarian dream of a popular theater inscribed in the present.
But their mandate was not a long calm river either and we called together the 2014 Edition, marked by the conflict of the intermittent workers, but also the cancellation of the 2020 edition due to the health crisis.
Together, faced with this ordeal, we mobilized both to offer a cultural offer in the summer of 2020, but above all entered into resistance and worked collectively to ensure that the 75th Edition was held in 2021, and we succeeded. the bet to see Avignon vibrate again and enter the festival in July 2021.
This year again, the international situation is complicated and serious with both the ongoing health crisis, but also the war in Ukraine following the invasion of Russian troops in defiance of all rules of law and all humanity.
Culture more than ever should be a tool for combat and resistance against all forms of obscurantism, fundamentalism and violence.
I have no doubt that the 2022 program proposed by Olivier and Paul will bear witness to this because there is no democracy or freedom without education and culture.
I wish us all a very beautiful 2022 Edition of the Festival d’Avignon.
Cecile Helle
Mayor of Avignon
Return