A major player in Parisian cultural life, the Paris National Opera (OnP) saw its management and finances between 2015 and 2023 closely studied by the Court of Auditors, which published a report on Thursday October 24. In its document, the body looks back on a complex period for the institution’s various theaters, before a renewed dynamism, and reveals that the Garnier and Bastille operas will each undergo two years of renovation work, implying their closure – d first Garnier from July 2027, then Bastille from July 2030.
Intensely used in recent years, the Palais Garnier, the Ateliers Berthier and the Opéra Bastille have already undergone some renovation and maintenance work. But today, the Court of Auditors reports an “advanced state of aging”. So much so that she describes the need to undertake new major work as “urgent”. Waterproofing of roofs, renovation of stage machinery, hangers, pits, stage frame, etc.
Investments underestimated and underfunded for too long
Focused for several months on two projects, the Paris National Opera was finally forced to abandon them in 2023, losing precious time in the management of its institution. Over the period from 2016 to 2018, the Cité du théâtre was, first of all, to be launched on the Ateliers Berthier site, in the 17th arrondissement, implying a repatriation of the activities of the Paris National Opera to the Bastille site. And secondly, a project for a modular room at Bastille that had been frozen for thirty years was in the pipeline. But the two projects having been abandoned, the Opera greatly suffered these losses financially.
Faced with an “investment wall”, the State has committed between 2022 and 2026 to grant a subsidy of 5 million euros per year, as well as to make available the more than 40 million euros intended for the aborted project for a modular hall at the Opéra Bastille.
Although the State has invested regularly (through annual equity allocation), on average 1.4 million euros per year, the Opera’s expenses have reached more than 12 million euros. After three years of crisis, the OnP is today faced with an exceptional financing need, “estimated, at this stage, at least 200 million euros by 2030, in order to undertake the major works necessary on each of its sites,” the report states.
Surplus results in 2023
To compensate for this lack of resources, the Opera is particularly encouraged to increase the number of its performances “while reducing its permanent staff and maintaining a high level of know-how”.
For the moment, the increase in the number of ballet performances has, for example, allowed a clear increase in ticket revenue, leading to surplus results for the year 2023. And this, even if opera is struggling to fill theaters. In addition, the use of advertising tarpaulins on scaffolding posted in front of the Palais Garnier could also bring in 28 million euros over the period 2024-2030.
The Court of Auditors therefore hopes that these results will be confirmed and urges the OnP to anticipate more the management of its budget in the future. Because the Opera faces several challenges on which, according to the report, it should particularly focus to redress the situation. The workforce is aging, the increased use of non-permanent staff is deplored, the remuneration system remains “too complex and difficult to read”, as does the social management of the collective agreement.
