At the Avignon Festival, the challenge of surtitling

The Avignon Festival affirms its commitment to linguistic diversity, with a guest language each year and numerous foreign artists performing on the stages of the City of the Popes. Surtitling shows, to allow all audiences to enjoy performances, is a key tool of its cultural policy. Appearing in the 1980s, surtitles first found their place at the Opera. Surtitles, since they are indeed a projection of texts above the stage, delivering a live translation of a live performance.

Introduced in Avignon under the direction of Olivier Py (2013-2022), they have become widespread since the arrival of his successor, Tiago Rodrigues , a defender of ever-increasing linguistic diversity. Due to the multilingual programming , foreign language shows are subtitled... and those in French. In 2023, the Festival created a position to be able to "ensure monitoring from one end of the surtitling chain to the other," explains Clara Moulin-Tyrode, the festival's deputy production director.

Companies performing there are encouraged to provide a surtitling solution for their shows, but the institution is nonetheless providing "€60,000 to €70,000" in addition. The operation is shared with touring venues. The National Office for Artistic Diffusion (ONDA) and the French Institute are providing support, while collaborations are being established with specialized partners such as Panthéa, the European leader in surtitling for live performance.

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