At the Avignon “off” Festival, a growing audience for an ever more varied offering

Bustling pedestrian streets, dozens of shows sold out in the first few days, the festive atmosphere that punctuated the Avignon "off" Festival for three weeks, from July 5 to 26, is confirmed in the figures. The first attendance trends place this ^59th edition "under the sign of success" , note the leaders of the Avignon Festival & Compagnies (AF&C) association, coordinator of this vast live performance market. "According to the first feedback, we would be at 1.6 million tickets sold and the average occupancy rate of the halls would be close to 60%" , detail Laurent Domingos and Harold David, co-presidents of AF&C.

Above all, the two most reliable indicators, which the association uses each year to establish its preliminary assessment, show significant increases. Thus, Ticket'off, the ticketing platform offered by AF&C (alongside those available to each of the 139 Avignon theaters and private platforms such as Billetreduc), sold 290,000 tickets, compared to 203,000 in 2024 and 172,000 in 2023. "It's a record," says Harold David. The same trend applies to "off" subscription cards (offering a 30% discount on show tickets): 79,400 were purchased this year, compared to 62,900 in 2024 and 65,477 in 2023.

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