How are the artists who appear at the Festival chosen?

Drawing up the Festival's line-up is the responsibility of two members of the permanent staff supported by programmers for Swiss artists, for street theatre and classical music. This team visits numerous festivals in Switzerland and abroad to see new talent performing live, an essential step before signing any group. No artist is ever invited simply on the strength of a recording. Paléo Festival provides a mix of bill-topping concerts and new discoveries in order to arouse the curiosity of its eclectic audience.

The stages

The Grande Scene (capacity 30,000) and Les Arches (12,000) play host each evening to one or two bill-topping acts as well as offering a stage opportunity (early in the evening) to emerging talent. Situated in the heart of the Village du Monde, The Dome stage (2,000 spectators) has been entirely devoted to the music of a specific region of the world since 2003 (Africa in 2003; Latin America in 2004; Asia in 2005; Eastern Europe in 2006; North Africa in 2007; Brazil in 2008; India in 2009; Southern Africa in 2010). The Club Tent (capacity 2,000) is dedicated to the discovery of new talent and new trends, as is the Détour (3,000). La Ruche, on the other hand, is a world set apart for the celebration of street theatre, circus acts, comedy and visual poetics.

What do the artists appearing at the festival earn?

All the artists appearing at the Festival receive a fee. These may vary depending on the status and reputation of the artists (established star or newly discovered talent). The program budget and other constraints of a technical nature involved in organising a festival like Paléo mean that it is not always possible to host the kind of artists who usually appear in sports stadiums or other very large venues. Whilst fees may vary considerably from one artist to another, and involve large sums of money, it is important to remember, however, that at the Nyon event, as elsewhere, an artist’s fee does not represent what he or she earns, but what it costs to produce them at the Festival, along with their musicians, technicians and often complex and expensive equipment, all of which have to be transported from one country to another.