Nearly 1,600 performances and 33,000 curtain raises, 138 theaters animated from morning to night for three weeks, 300,000 people (at least) passing through the streets of Avignon, hundreds of thousands of posters hung so wildly and hundreds of thousands of flyers distributed, hundreds of of companies from all over the world with their sets, and scorching temperatures… The equation of the ecological transition is not simple for the Avignon “off” Festival.
Harold David and Laurent Domingos, the co-presidents of the Avignon Festival & Compagnies (AF & C) association are aware of this. Especially since their role is limited: the “outside” of Avignon is a deregulated market for live performances and no supervision oversees the venue directors. To date, no carbon footprint has been established for the festival. But the two men say they are ready to take things forward. “The theaters of the” off “are in an individual logic, so we have chosen to work, in conjunction with the city hall of Avignon, on the issues that are within our reach: mobility, waste management, digitization of communication tools and displays, which is the most symbolic, even if it is not necessarily the most problematic in terms of emission “they explain.
On mobility, discussions are underway with the SNCF to try to convince it of an extension of the evening train timetables for the Southern region, as the Occitania region has managed to impose. “We have studies that show that there is a real demand, and that it would not be absurd”, claims Laurent Domingos. The “off” office is also working, advised by Samuel Valensi, of the Shift Project, on the organization of a pooled rail freight system for company sets. “The Lille-Paris-Lyon-Avignon axis brings together almost two thirds of the companies, this would make sense. “
60 tons of paper
On the display, an argument that crystallizes the criticism, the two men are also evaluating alternatives. “It’s not about removing it entirely, but about fighting uncontrolled detachment and rethinking it. Folklore is something that is renewed. The performance can be thought of as a set, like the one they did at the Edinburgh Festival (Scotland), which is very successful. ” It would seem that the city of Avignon is very much in favor of such a solution, and for good reason: at the end of the festival, 60 tons of paper have to be processed. This task occupies the one hundred maintenance workers of the town hall throughout the month of August.
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