Disabled Access

The Festival d’Avignon commits to make sure that disabled people are not excluded from culture by progressively integrating specific measures.

Tactile model of La FabricA, 2020 © Christophe Raynaud de Lage

Practical information

Details of adapted tools

To know more about the accessibility of our venues

Accessibility and disability contact

Partnerships with specialised and health institutions

The Festival d'Avignon consolidates and develops its exchanges with specialised and health institutions. A spectator's programme is offered to each organisation which can include shows during and outside the Festival, artistic practice workshops (artistic practive, discovery of technical professions), visits of the Festival's venues, meetings with the artistic teams...

  • The SESSAD and the IME of the Centre Alain Pujol

  • The Foyer d'Accueil Médicalisé Terro Flourido

  • The " Culture et vous " group of the Montfavet Hospital

  • The "Theatre Workshop" group of the Montfavet Hospital

  • The AFTAC of the Montfavet Hospital

  • The CATTP Jacques Monod of the Montfavet Hospital

  • The Mutual Aid Group GEM au cœur

In 2023, more than a hundred people benefited from these programmes.

In July 2023, the Festival d'Avignon offered a holiday co-constructed with APF évasion. The programme included shows, visits, meetings and workshops.

Audio descriptions, tactile visits and tactile models

Audio description

Every year, many shows are organically accessible to visually-impaired spectators who can experience the text and the stage performance of the actors. Audio description supplements this experience by providing information about direction, sets, and the actors’ postures, costumes, and movements. Those elements of description are pre-recorded and broadcast live by an audio description engineer, using headphones provided to all blind and visually-impaired spectators.

The Festival d’Avignon offers one performance with audio description during each edition. Large print and Braille playbills are available directly at the venue. Whenever possible, the performance is preceded by a tactile tour of the set and an encounter with the artistic team of the show. 

To ensure that live performances are accessible all year round, the Festival d'Avignon lends its audiodescription equipment to any local association or organisation wishing to use it, simply by signing a loan agreement.

Tactiles models

To allow spectators to further explore the Festival’s artistic environment, a tactile model of La FabricA, its permanent venue, is now available. Blind spectators can thus visit this theatre to better situate themselves in space and to discover what lies behind the scenes in this building that has presided over so much artistic creation.

In 2022, the Festival d'Avignon, Accès Culture and La Nouvelle Fabrique have inaugurated a new tactile model of the Cour d'honneur in the Palais des papes.

The audiodescriptions of the Festival d'Avignon are supported by the Fondation Raze, and produced with the association Accès Culture. The tactile models of the FabricA at the Festival d'Avignon and the Cour d'honneur at the Palais des papes were designed and produced by La Nouvelle Fabrique, in collaboration with Accès Culture and with the support of the Caisse d'Epargne CEPAC.

Surtitles, French sign language, and audio equipment

Many shows are organically accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing spectators, such as dance or mime shows as well as foreign shows with French surtitles.

Every edition, the Festival d’Avignon provides tools for spectators to be able to better navigate the programme. A video in French sign language with surtitles presents the shows naturally accessible to deaf and-hard-of-hearing spectators. It's also possible to discover the whole programme, as the entire presentation of the programme is translated live into French sign language and then made available on video on the Festival website.

The Festival d'Avignon is also equipped with portable individual loops, which give people with hearing aids a better auditory perception of the show. These portable individual loops are available at La FabricA all year round for events with sound systems and at most venues during the Festival, subject to booking and depending on the programme. To find out whether the venue you wish to visit is equipped, please refer to the venue's page.

The Festival has committed to loaning this equipment out to its regional partners to provide better services to people with disabilities.

Accessibility to the programme and shows of the Festival d’Avignon for deaf and hard-of-hearing people is supported by Accès Culture. Surtitles and FSL dubbing for the presentation of the programme is done by URAPEDA-PACA. The Festival was able to acquire its audio equipment thanks to the support of Caisse d’Epargne CEPAC.

Spectacles with LSF and adapted surtitles are available free of charge for certain performances at the Festival d'Avignon, subject to reservation.