It has been a Grec of “strong emotions”. With these words, the director of the Barcelona summer festival, Cesc Casadesús, summed up his feelings at the close of the 2023 edition. Together with Xavier Marcé, Barcelona City Council Commissioner for Culture, they have assessed the operation of the festival.
The Grec has offered 88 shows, a lower figure than in previous editions, because Casadesús considers that figures above a hundred are not appropriate in a festival of these characteristics. Regarding Avignon, one of the leading European festivals and with which the Grec collaborates, he recalled that they only present around 40 proposals.
The festival closed the edition with 130,995 spectators and an average occupancy rate of 72%. Of the 88 proposals on the schedule, there have been 23 shows that have sold out.
Casadesús has emphasized the choral proposals, which have been hybridized with theater and dance, and which have characterized this edition, as well as the circus shows, which have bordered on full occupancy. On the contrary, international theater is the one that has had the most problems attracting a majority audience, something normal according to the festival director.
He has also highlighted the "difficult balance between quality and popular proposals", which he believes has been achieved in this edition, and hence the "strong emotions" that he has used as a summary.
The programming that has been offered at the Grec amphitheater has reached a record average occupancy, with 95% of the tickets sold and more than 30,000 attendees. The festival will assess whether the programming is maintained in singular spaces, given the "complexity of production that these sites present", although Casadesús has recalled that they have garnered good numbers of tickets.
The 2024 edition is the eighth and last that Casadesús will direct, a record number of editions, to which Marcé has informed that in the fall a competition will be called to select the new director, who will serve from 2025, but who will first collaborate with Casadesús in the relay
