Due to Strikes in France, the Famous 'Avignon' Arts Festival Will Not Be Held This Year - 2003-07-11

The Avignon Festival has been canceled for the first time in its 57-year history due to a dispute with the workers' union. Theater artists and stage actors have gone on strike over unemployment benefits. The curtain of this famous performing arts festival did not rise on the opening day. Avignon is one of the major arts festivals in the world, usually attracting several hundred thousand participants. These spectators spend over 16 million dollars each season in the city. Many of them have already paid for their hotels and come to Avignon. However, they now have to wait to see if theater workers will continue their strike and dissolve the festival, which lasts for 20 days. The French government has made it difficult for theater professionals to receive unemployment benefits. Still, all performing artists, from street performers to comedians and top actors, are covered by unemployment benefits if they work a minimum number of hours in a year. The government, which is trying to reduce the costly social services system, wants to increase the required hours to qualify for unemployment benefits. Officials have postponed the approval of the bill for fear of strikes, but theater workers consider this retreat temporary and meaningless. Currently, theater staff must work 507 hours a year to qualify for 12 months of unemployment insurance. Under the new government bill, they would have to work 507 hours within ten months to receive unemployment benefits for eight months. The strike has also led to the cancellation of the 'Montpellier' dance festival and the opera festival in Aix-en-Provence. However, the organizers of a Rolling Stones concert in Paris have promised to hold the concert. Attendees at the festival will not witness horse shows in the courtyard of the old papal palace in Avignon or Shakespeare plays in Lithuanian and Italian.