Festival goers :
80,636 in 2007
Occupancy rates :
97% for operas
90% for concerts
Festival's budget :
€ 21 M
In 2007, 80,636 festival goers took part in the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, which represents an increase of over 34% in comparison to the previous year, an increase made possible by the opening of the Grand Théâtre de Provence.
The occupancy rates for the theatres were very high, 97% for operas and 90% for concerts. 20% of festival goers came from Europe and worldwide, 50% from the Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur region and 30% from the rest of France.
The Festival is being opened up to an increasingly younger audience with highly successful targeted activities including a young persons price (€ 10 and € 15 for operas and concert for those under 26), an “young people at the opera” initiative where each adult seat purchased includes one free adjacent seat for a child under 18, along with awareness activities in schools, colleges and high schools through a broad educational program developed in 2006. These different activities reached almost 2,000 youngsters in 2007.
Furthermore, to make its shows accessible to a wider audience, the Festival has implemented a pricing policy which enables it to offer almost 20,000 seats for under € 50.
Finally, the Festival also brings together regional as well as national and international economic organisations, patron or partner companies and professionals from all over the world.
Every year the national and international press provide widespread coverage of the event.
In 2007, 300 journalists covered the Festival, half of whom came from abroad (23 nationalities represented).
In addition to three televised broadcasts (Die Walküre live and a recording of De la Maison des morts on Arte and the recording of the concert with Daniel Harding, Hélène Grimaud, Mahler Chamber Orchestra on France 3), 68 subjects or televised reports were dedicated to the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.
Eleven operas and concerts were the subject of a radio broadcast, ten of which were live.
In order to support its development the Festival has had to acquire the necessary production and be able to provide accommodation for several operatic productions as well as the artists' involved. This has necessitated a search for new financial resources.
From 1998 to 2007, the Festival's budget practically doubled, going from € 11.7 M to € 21 M.
Today, the Festival is 70% self-financing thanks to a combination of ticket sales (21%), patronage and sponsorship (12%), the participation of the Casino d'Aix-en-Provence (10%), coproduction (6%), tours (6%) and various other incomes (TV, radio, Festival related products, media partnerships). Public subsidies amount to almost 30% of the budget (State, Town, Département, Region).
In 2007, 57% of the budget (€ 12.1M) was dedicated to artistic productions, 20% to fixed costs, 23% to technical operating costs and communication and logistics costs during the Festival.
