Pierre Gendronneau, deputy director of the Avignon Festival, is the subject of an investigation following reports of sexual violence in a previous position.

Following a report from the Ministry of Culture targeting Pierre Gendronneau, deputy general director of the Avignon Festival, regarding possible sexual harassment in a previous position, the Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation, it announced Tuesday, May 27, to Agence France-Presse (AFP). The reported acts were denounced by an employee of the Festival d'Automne, where Mr. Gendronneau worked before his arrival in Avignon in February 2023, according to the director of the Parisian event, Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota.

The prosecution simply confirmed that it had "received" this "article 40" - a report of a potential crime - from the ministry "and that the investigation had been entrusted to the Brigade for the Repression of Crimes Against Persons (BRDP)" .

"Nearly two years after his departure, in the fall of 2024, I was informed by an employee who said she had been the victim of sexual harassment by Pierre Gendronneau," Mr. Demarcy-Mota explained to AFP at the end of April. The Festival d'Automne has commissioned the Egaé firm, headed by Caroline De Haas, to conduct an internal investigation.

"A report was made to the ministry. I asked to be able to discuss it with all members of the Festival team, and we put a procedure in place to arrive at a diagnosis. But since Pierre Gendronneau is no longer an employee, there is no contradiction, and no possible sanction within the Festival d'Automne," added Mr. Demarcy-Mota.

It was the discovery of this report from the ministry that also led the director of the Avignon Festival, Tiago Rodrigues, to mandate Egaé to also conduct an internal investigation, carried out "in November and December" , the latter specified.

"Several independent lawyers" contacted by the festival concluded that "the investigation did not reveal any proven facts of harassment or violence on the part of Pierre Gendronneau during his period of work at the Festival" in Avignon, continued Tiago Rodrigues.

Mr. Rodrigues had nevertheless announced the departure, "by mutual agreement" , of Mr. Gendronneau on June 13, 2025, "for personal reasons" and following these "accusations" of sexual and gender-based violence. The existence of accusations "prior to his arrival at the Avignon Festival and other investigations launched created a climate of suspicion towards him. It was becoming impossible for him to carry out his mission" , he had justified.