“It endangers the future of the festival”: Palmarosa in search of profitability in Montpellier

Fiona montre l'installation de la scène principale au Palmarosa Midi Libre – GIACOMO ITALIANO

Ce vendredi 23 août, le festival Palmarosa lance sa troisième édition à Montpellier. Fiona Gautier, responsable communication, a retenu les leçons de l'année précédente et annonce plusieurs nouveautés. Mais les festivaliers manquent à l'appel.

On August 7, you announced a drastic drop in the ticket price (from 60 euros to 39.14 euros), to attract more festival-goers. Have you achieved your goals??

We are still below our goal. We were hoping for 8,000 festival-goers per day, or 24,000 tickets sold. But we are adapting to maintain the festival. Right now, we are in the middle of setting up, so there is no question of canceling, it will take place. But the impact is enormous for us, it puts us in danger for the future. It endangers the future of the festival.

Why choose to have a festival with an Indie-Pop-Rock lineup in the era of techno and rap events?

It's the choice of John the creator who is a music fan. We are positioning ourselves in a different niche to attract a new clientele. Then in the south of France, we are the only festival of this kind. We would like to become the reference in the South in terms of Indie-Pop-Rock. We are not going to overshadow our colleagues in the north, who do big events.

The festival starts in two days, what is the status of the installation of the festival??

Two days to go, we are running in all directions. The secondary stage is set up, the main one is underway. Many things will accelerate tomorrow with the arrival of food trucks.

Why did you install a second stage ?

The second stage is primarily to reduce the waiting time between two artists. When an artist finishes his performance on the main stage, another group starts on the secondary stage. And then it allows to manage the flow at the bars. Not everyone will drink at the same time, some will go to the second stage.

Last year, the waiting time was particularly long at the refreshment area. How can we explain and avoid this latency??

We were short of volunteers, there weren't enough of them. For this new edition, we decided to collaborate with Limo, professionals, who will take care of the five bars on the estate. This year, the beer should flow freely!

Do you have more volunteers for this edition ?

We posted the announcements on our social networks months ago. It was a bit of a struggle. We could have had more to relieve us, but we have the minimum quota to tour.

Some festival-goers had complained about the heat. What's new to cool down??

The festival-goers were really very hot. Now, there are more shaded spots around the stages. The big new thing will be the giant mister. People will be able to go through this tunnel to cool down. We had already installed a water jet the year before, but it used way too much water, with the mister we use less. And we are going to put back free drinking water taps, to fill your water bottle.

Have you implemented any other new features??

Yes, we have the safe zone. One of our priorities is that festival-goers feel safe. So we have set up a tent in which people who feel in danger – or uncomfortable or who have a bad feeling – can take refuge. Inside, there will be volunteers, trained in the fight against sexist and sexual violence, to come forward, discuss, exchange and assess whether security needs to be involved. For those who feel unwell, there will always be the first aid station next to the safe zone tent.

We also have our zero plastic policy, even internally we use Tetra Packs. Food trucks sign a charter committing to not bringing plastic onto the site. And a green brigade will travel around the area to raise awareness among festival-goers about sorting their waste.

Within the festival you advocate eco-responsibility, last year you recycled 100 kg of organic waste. Do you plan to reproduce the experiment?? How do you plan to recycle this waste??

So, we work with many associations on the festival site that help us sort waste. For example, the C.L.O.P.E. association will raise awareness among spectators about cigarette butts lying around, distribute portable ashtrays and participate in the collection. Behind, they provide us with a report on the number of cigarette butts collected and their recycling. Either they are recycled into street furniture, thermal insulation, awareness panels, etc. Once recycled, cigarette butts become an odorless and light material. Otherwise, they transform it into energy.

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