Economics

This season there will be no theatre festival “Les Rendez-Vous de Cormatin” here. The rumour had been spreading for a while now, but recently all volunteers doing the work in Cormatin (building stages, selling programs, etc.) were called to a meeting and briefed about the situation.
The theatre company Studio Asnières from around Paris, the organiser of the event, has been unable to cough up the social payments for their employees, and is now in a state described by those in the know as technical bankruptcy.
However, this is not the first time this happens; a few years back the festival was also cancelled for one year, hence the Cormatin side of the festival knows how to handle this. Adverts in the program had already been sold to advertisers, and those will be refunded. The benefactors (and to be allowed to help as a volunteer one has to become a benefactor!) whom all have paid up around € 30, will be treated to a show as a consolation prize. To that effect most likely a big name will be asked to perform in Cormatin for all benefactors. A couple of years back this was the well known French actor Kad Merad, very famous since he played a role in the French film and blockbuster “Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis”, who also performs as a stand-up comedian.
One would think that in a situation like this no more money would be spent than strictly necessary.

Still, the volunteers were asked, after they had been told the facts about the “bankruptcy”, to turn up once more in the near future to help addressing letters, in which the situation around the festival is explained.
We are talking of about 3000 (three thousand!) letters, sent to people who at any one time in the past had purchased a theatre ticket and of whom the address is known to the organisation.
Would it not be more logical to save a cool € 1500 (and I am only taking into account the cost of stamps!), and keep them for a year when the festival will go ahead?

For our own website click here.