The Tale of Two Cities and two festivals: Avignon

1
The Tale of Two Citiesand two festivals
Avignon Dubrovnik

• Dr Dragan Klaic
• Leiden University
• European Festival Research Project
• Le Mans research workshop
• 18 November 2006

2
GenesisAvignon Dubrovnik

• accidental
• 1947 Jean Vilar ?TNP
• medieval Papal city, Court dhoneur and other
  locations
• only own productions till mid 1960s
• classical rep, high culture
• international promo of the French culture
• Paris tutelage

• imitative (Avignon)
• 1950 Dr Marko Fotez
• medieval city state
• various directors, festival ensemble and guest
  productions classical music/international
  artists
• Greeks, Dric, Krleza, Shakespeare, Vojnovic
• internatl promo of the YU culture
• Zagreb dominance

3
EvolutionAvignon Dubrovnik

• other French directors
• slowly an internatl component
• Provence, a tourist mecca highways, TGV
• 1968 upheaval
• OFF program
• Other South of France festivals
• Decentralization, multiple
• public financing

• Croat, YU foreign directors
• 40 urban sites deployed
• Adriatic tourism growth, airport, charters,
  yachts
• no political controversies
• occasional off program
• Split festival competition
• YU federalism ZGB/DBK tensions

4
Crisis continuityAvignon
Dubrovnik

• Intensive internationalization
• extra-European programs
• 2003 strike and cancellation
• new leadership formula central artist
• programmatic coherence
• OFF explosion discursive escalation
• 2005 polemics re J Fabre
• internatl media attention

• Ltd. internationalization
• 1991 bombing and prolonged DBK isolation
• after 2000, tourism grows, core audience lost
• 2 festival ensemble productions and classic
  music
• business as usual/context radically altered
• tourism marginalizes the festival
• internationly insignificant

5
Indicators comparedAvignon
Dubrovnik

• 120.000 inhabitants
• university, continuous theater productions
• 3 weeks in July
• 30 productions
• 130.000 ticket sold
• 800 shows in OFF
• comb. subsidy 4mln
• econ impact 35 mln(?)
• festival IS the primary tourist magnet

• 40.000 inhabitants
• nascent university, contin. theater production
• 45 days July-Aug
• 2 new productions, 2 old
• 24.000 tickets sold
• no off program
• 1 million subsidy 1 million sponsors own
  income
• econ impact very limited
• Fstl NOT a tourist magnet

6
Critical sustainability factors

• Historic sites, site specific challenge
• Attractive tourist zone
• Connected to national cultural infrastructure
  its development
• Prominence gained through internationalization
• Major public resources invested
• Programming renewal, conceptual change
• Strong autonomous leadership
• Reflection, discourse, polemic, media exposure
• Partnerships, communication, sponsorship
• Tourist industry not allowed to usurp the
  festival, festival determines the tourist appeal
• Audience diversification

7
Possible further comparisonsneeded in order to
check the key sustainability factors

• Quality festivals in historic places, high
  tourist exposure
• Salzburg
• Aix en Provence
• Spoletto
• Rimini
• Maggio Fiorentino
• Granada
• Athens
• Epidaurus
• (c) D. Klaic 2006