France Festivals : le tour des festivals 2007 sur toute la France

Represent and defend the interests of festivals before public authorities

The federation undertakes to inform public authorities of the cultural and economic roles of festivals. Today the federation is seen as an important point of reference for public authorities concerning festivals within the performing arts field.

To underscore this initiative, France Festivals organized in November 2003 a symposium at Royaumont (cultural center in Asnières sur Oise, France) on the theme : Does music need festivals ? The main conclusions were the following :

No matter what their size, festivals demand a high quality of musical content.
Festivals are an important source of revenue for artists and non-permanent groups. (Music ensembles belonging to the Federation of Vocal and Instrumental Ensembles (FEVIS) sign between 60 and 80% of their contracts with festivals).
They are an important means to launch careers of composers and musicians.
Festivals foster interaction between performers and spectators.

Through their number and quality, festivals are a mainstay of the French music scene. Yet festivals are fragile and uncertain :

> Their management is made more and more complicated.
> Musical risk-taking has increased.
> Public funding is becoming scarce.
> Municipal governments are the principal funding agents, and they often insist upon a certain involvement in the festivals.
> Private sponsorship has not replaced the lost public funding. The effects of recent changes in legislation encouraging private sponsorship are not yet known.


Within this context, the role of France Festivals is to create opportunities to foster dialog and to organize collective initiatives so as to support festival organizers in France.

France Festivals strives to make the legislation evolve and to clarify any legal uncertainties by lobbying for laws specific to festivals.

France Festivals is well-known today among policymakers and institutions, and it is regularly consulted by the culture ministry on current issues.

Legal and administrative support

France Festivals educates, advises, and defends the interests of its members.
Members can find helpful resources and ask for additional assistance from France Festivals directly or via the special members-only section of the federation's website.
The federation also supports festivals faced with complex administrative regulations (advice concerning contracts, tax and social legislations, organization of training seminars, etc...)

France Festivals has access to the resources of two firms dealing specifically with French work legislation, tax law and legal issues (the firm Premier'Acte and the lawyer Xavier Delsol, a member of the law firm DMG Juris). It is thus able to respond quickly and clearly to any questions or problems encountered by member festivals. The federation keeps its members informed regularly of new laws and key figures concerning French labor and tax laws and relevant legislation through its dedicated intranet website.

On these subjects as well as on questions concerning marketing or communications, France Festivals organizes training seminars for its members.

For its initiatives on advising and disseminating information and training, France Festivals receives financial support from the Ministry of Culture and Communications.

Marketing and publicity support

France Festivals present at the music show, Musicora
France Festivals has a stand at the show Musicora), the not-to-be-missed event for professionals in the music world, from March 16th to 18th, 2007 at the carrousel du Louvre (Delorme room, stand F8).


France Festivals member of the "Heritage and Cultures club" of the Maison de la France
The new marketing strategy of the French government tourist office, Maison de la France, aims to underscore the value of events and festivals as important tools to enhance different regions and their cultural heritage.

> The Patrimoine et Cultures (Heritage and Cultures) club of the French government tourist office has as a goal to bring together professionals from the cultural tourism trade and organizations that promote cultural tourism. This allows France Festivals to promote the programs of the festivals in France and abroad thanks to various initiatives by the club throughout the year.

Promote creations, young artists, and the search for new audiences

France Festivals has as a mission since 2000 to develop among its members various initiatives promoting younger audiences, young musicians, and the performance of new music.

A number of festivals are already working on these initiatives, and France Festivals wishes to lend its support and encourage further work on these three axis of development.

Since 2001, France Festivals has worked specifically on encouraging the hiring of young musicians, through the partnerships with several important international performance concours :
the concours Long-Thibaud, the concours International de Quatuor à Cordes de Bordeaux, the concours Jean-Pierre Rampal and the concours Mstislav Rostropovitch, concours de chant de Toulouse, the concours d'Instruments à vent de Toulon and the concours International d'Orgue de Chartres.

A renewed partnership with the Victoires de la Musique classique
France Festivals is a partner since 2003 with the Révélations des Victoires de la Musique Classique, a category for young musicians at the annual French music awards ceremony. Through is partnership, sixteen festivals in 2007 agreed to host young musicians nominated for the category of new, young talent, « Révélations instrumentales et Révélations Voix ».

Initiatives