audit mission triggered to measure the deficit

The festival is affected by the structural and economic difficulties experienced by the lyrical art sector, and by its own revenue objectives which could not be achieved, leading to a deficit situation, according to the Ministry of Culture.

The State has launched an audit mission following a worsening of the deficit of the Aix-en-Provence Festival, we learned this Tuesday from the Ministry of Culture and management, which mentions a reduction in the sail for this internationally renowned opera festival.

“The festival alerted its main public partners and a mission was immediately initiated to analyze the situation and find solutions in the very short and medium term.indicated the ministry to AFP, confirming information from the local investigation site Marsactu.

Marsactu evokes a deficit of “several million euros“, for an annual budget exceeding 20 million. Neither the ministry nor the festival management have confirmed these amounts.

The State and communities mobilized

A “flash audit mission“was launched in the second half of March and should continue in April, Stéphanie Deporcq, delegated administrator of the festival, managed by a 1901 law type association, told AFP. The mission met “the entire management committee“of the festival and the work is taking place”in cooperation with all public financiers“, she indicated: “We found the State and communities extremely mobilized to work together in a complicated financial context.”

Stressing that the festival’s accounts had not yet been finalized for 2023, Stéphanie Deporcq refused to give an order of magnitude of the deficit, but recognized that the alert launched by management on the state of finances implied that it had deteriorated significantly. According to a report from the regional chamber of accounts made public in January, over the period between 2014 and 2020, the festival was in deficit four of these seven years.

“The festival is not in danger”

The report, without singling out the management of the festival, however pointed out the “weak equity“, noting that “public subsidies represent on average 38% of operating income between 2014 and 2019“The State thus provides over the period an average of 4 million subsidies per year and the communities (city, department, region, etc.) approximately the same amount overall.”The State, the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis and the city of Aix-en-Provence regularly grant exceptional subsidies to balance the management of the festival“, the report further noted. “The festival is not in danger“, insisted Ms. Deporcq, while recognizing that the recovery “will certainly be done over a few years“.

A reduction in programming “is very much part of what we are discussing today“and must be done “in line with the means” available, she recognized, emphasizing the desire to preserve “the identity of the festival with presentations of high artistic quality as well as our public service missions“, towards youth audiences for example. The programming of the July 2024 edition has, however, only been modified marginally, she clarified, with only one performance deleted, the opera in concert version of Giuseppe Verdi’s Sicilian Vespers.