Paris. 2025 has put the management and teams of Gaîté Lyrique to the test. The year 2026 promises to be more peaceful for the Parisian establishment which reopens its doors daily from January 13. The threat of bankruptcy which weighed on SAS Gaité Lyrique, in charge of its management, gradually receded, leading to a balanced financial statement at the end of the year.
After five months of closure following the occupation of the premises by young migrants and an operating loss of 3.2 million euros,“the economic reconstruction of the company went through different leversexplains Juliette Donadieu, its director. The first two were the optimization of costs and the limitation of financial risks by a gradual resumption of activities with a gradual replenishment of financial losses, carried out concomitantly by both private and public actors. “. The annual budget of 9 million euros is financed 30% by the City of Paris and 70% by its own resources.
Juliette Donadieu, director of the Gaîté Lyrique, Fabrique of the time.
© Anouk Marty, 2023
A surge of financial solidarity
Since the occupation and until today, the place offered programming only on weekends, for concerts and space rentals. Upon the advance payment by the City of Paris, last May, of the balance of 1.346 million euros of the 3.159 million due to the operator for the year 2025, Gaîté Lyrique managed to collect 1.4 million euros, ” half coming from private actors who, in reaction to the media coverage of the threat weighing on our existence, came to support us from the summer without compensation and, for the most part, we did not know”specifies Juliette Donadieu. Among these private players: Tendance positive, Internet portal company (€500,000) and Prisma Facie, creation studio (€50,000). The Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, with which Gaîté Lyrique was discussing projects, donated €100,000. “All our service providers also participated in our recovery with commercial gestures such as Enercoop (Renewable Energy Cooperatives). »
Public institutions also provided support: the Ministry of Culture via the economic restructuring aid program of the National Music Center (€200,000) and Adami, a services company for performing artists (€10,000). The French Biodiversity Office (OFB), a partner with which Gaîté Lyrique was in discussions in 2024 for a three-year partnership, paid €54,000 for 2025.
The memorandum of understanding reached with the City of Paris, after more than six months of discussions, resulted in the payment of €430,000 excluding subsidies, voted by the Paris Council on December 18. No one at the municipality was unaware that a bankruptcy filing followed by liquidation of the company SA Gaîté Lyrique was one of the reasons for unilateral termination of the concession contract, which would have obliged the City to take on all the employees (i.e. around a hundred people) and to relaunch a call for projects.
