The Avignon festival 2012
The Avignon “In” Festival 2012 – Want to be in the “in” crowd this summer? Then head on down to Avignon and join in the cavalry.
From July 7 to July 28 for an entirety of three weeks, the city of Avignon will be pumping up the volume and putting on one of Europe’s biggest shows of contemporary performing arts. The festival’s biggest performances are held in Avignon’s legendary Honour Courtyard in the Palace of Popes, where the legendary French actor, Gerard Philipe once performed.
The “In” Festival is an annual arts festival held in Avignon each July. Founded in 1947 by the French actor and theatre director Jean Vilar, the In Festival, otherwise referred to as the Festival d’Avignon, is the oldest surviving festival in France and is one of the oldest in the world.
The festival is split into two halves, “In” and “Off”. The “In” part is organised by the Department du Vaucluse, the Region Provence-Alps-Cote d’Azur, and seven public figures competent in the world of French theatre. The “Off” part of the festival is also organised by a non-profit organisation composed mostly of theatre companies and is performed on the streets and in theatre schools across Avignon.
This year’s Festival d’Avignon promises to be as vibrant and spectacular as ever as the festival’s directors, Vincent Baudriller and Hortense Archambault, have chosen choreographer Boris Charmatz as this year’s guest artist, alongside Simon McBurney, the British theatre director and actor.
Those who have a ticket for the Festival d’Avignon will also benefit from being able to enter Avignon’s many monuments and museums, including the Villeneuve les Avignon for a special PASS price.
As Avignon prides itself in boasting an astonishing number of museums and monuments, there could be no better place then they city of Avignon to host what has been referred to as being “An essential summer stopover in the cultural life of France.”
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