Paris Autumn Festival sponsored by Top Cable
An avant-garde Art Festival

The Paris Autumn Festival was created in 1972 by Michel Guy, Georges Pompidou's Minister of Culture. The Festival d'Automne rapidly became a crossroads for avant-garde and forward-looking artistic creation. The Festival draws large audiences and stimulates wide public interest.

Following the death of Michel Guy in 1990 Alain Crombecque became the Director General of the Festival with Marie Collin and Joséphine Markovits as artistic directors. André Bénard is Chairman of the Board of the Festival, and Guy de Wouters is Chairman of the Board of the Amis du Festival.


The Festival d'Automne à Paris is a not-for-profit organization and receives subsidies from the French Ministry for Culture and Communication, the City of Paris, the Région Ile-de-France and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It enjoys the support of many corporate and individual donors, all members of the Amis du Festival.

The Festival's activities fall into four categories :

- To present original works not previously produced in France

- To commission new work, often in collaboration with leading French, and European institutions, and North American partners

- To provoke and present experimental work. Since the early days of the Festival, special attention has focused on the emergence of new talents

- To provide access to non-western cultures, featuring major presentations from different countries and civilisations, including Japan, China, Australia, Morocco, India, Korea, Egypt, South Africa, Iran...