Festival Avignon

The most visited festival of the arts in France

The greatest and most visited festival of the arts in France is Festival Avignon, which is held every year since its creation by Jean Vilar in 1947; the festival represents the oldest extant festival and an essential summer stopover. Avignon festival boasts more than 50 productions and more art works, which is why this festival is considered as one of the greatest in the world.

The history of Avignon

The history of Avignon is brief; it started when the play Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot of Jean Vilar was presented in the Popes Palace. It was a coincidence that an exhibition of paintings and sculptures was realized at the same moment and at the same time. Vilar proposed the creation of three plays: Shakespeare’s Richard II, Paul Claudel’s Tobie et Sara (Tobie and Sara), La Terrasse de Midi (The Midday Terrace).

Some of them were little known at the time in France. The first festival was held in September 1947 with the presentation of those plays. Since the very first presentation, the Festival d’Avignon passes different stages of evolution such as the change of the objectives; since 2004 the project aims to promote the meeting between artistic creation and the audience.

The Avignon Festival

The Avignon Festival is composed by two parts:

• The In Festival: Which is organized by a non-profit organization and it’s administered by a group composed by The French state, the city, the county department, the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and 7 important representatives of theater. It’s held in the “Cour d’Honneur” mainly, and other places. 
• The Off Festival: It’s organized by a non-profit organization completely separate from the Avignon Festival, which is made up of theater companies and it’s performed in different places; from schools to streets.

Due to the popularity of this event it’s a hard task to find Cheap Flights to France in July but if you program a travel to another city of France, such as Paris, you can contact with people in Avignon, and if it’s possible you may arrive to Avignon at the time of the festival.

The benefits of art 

The Avignon Festival generates great benefits for the city; it’s easy to notice the financial impact of this kind of event; and the benefits of art are notable also; because of the creation of many companies that present their works.

Avignon boasts many other festivals and it’s one of the most visited cities, almost as Paris, the capital of France