Dead Geneva or Dull Geneva?
A quick look at the website of the city of Geneva and that of the tourist office is enough to realise the extent of the range of activities offered for the summer of 2025 in
Geneva. No fewer than 2,500 events are planned, including exhibitions, parties, museum exhibitions, religious and spiritual events, performances, sporting events, and guided tours. Enough to fill each day with cultural, sporting, or festive activities..
Whether it's the Ella Fitzgerald Stage, which offers more than 26 free concerts at Parc La Grange from 20 June to 22 August, the Fête de la Musique, an iconic event, the Street Food Festival taking place in June, or soon the fan zone for the Women's Euro Football at Quai Gustave Ador, there is something for everyone. !
Despite this abundant offer, it is common to hear that Geneva is a sad city, lifeless, even soulless. Is this a regrettable misunderstanding of the actual offerings available or the whim of eternal malcontents??
Quantity never rhymes with quality
When the relevant services are questioned, they remain sceptical about this feeling of a dead city. With figures to support it, it is undeniable that a phenomenal amount of energy and budget is deployed to satisfy the greatest number. So why does the reputation of Geneva as a dead city persist? The only memory of Calvin in
would it be the cause? If commenting on the form helps the argument, it does not justify in
nothing the bottom. As the saying goes: there is never smoke without fire. Let us try to find a line of thought.
LoWhen we think of summer festivities, the Paléo Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival immediately come to mind. These eagerly awaited events see their tickets snapped up within hours. Although they have been part of the landscape for decades, they have managed to reinvent themselves. By incorporating local stakeholders, their success reflects the enthusiasm of both local and international audiences.
It would therefore be a matter of proposing, within a general programme, major events that are unifying and intergenerational, with which the public can truly identify and that would act as high points amidst a diverse cultural landscape. Major events also have the merit of significantly boosting the local economy..
Consolation prize or lot of desolation?
However, in Geneva, large-scale projects seem to deter the authorities, who are more focused on the proliferation of events than on projects with international reach, or at least regional.
nationale, ou au moins régionale.
The enthusiasm generated by the public for the Feu Ô Lac drone festival in May 2023 hinted at a new, more ambitious approach to meet public expectations and the international dimension of the canton. Unfortunately, it was a flash in the pan: the population was only granted a single edition..
In August 2024, the local association Faites Genève launched the project Genève Genève, intended to embody the festive revival after nearly eight years of absence of the Fêtes de Genève, which, according to magistrate Marie Barbey-Chappuis, had died from their own excesses. What was offered to us? Scaffolding disguised as refreshment stands, planted directly on the lawns around the harbour, and activities so discreet that no one remembers them..
The official discourse spoke of an event designed by and for the residents. The reality was different: only external catering providers were solicited. The management of the bars, monopolised by the organisers themselves, contradicted the spirit of openness that was proclaimed..
Lack of inspiration or lack of ambition?
If a revamp of the Geneva Festivals seemed necessary to bring them up to date and respond to current challenges and trends, their existence acted as a catalyst at the heart of the Geneva summer..
Furthermore, which city in the world would not want the opportunity to communicate about an event that was born nearly 100 years ago? Are our elected officials so detached from our city that they no longer seek to preserve its history? Instead of abolishing the Geneva Festivals, which are self-financed and continually requested by a very large part of the population, it would surely have been wiser to reform them rather than starting from scratch..
Composing with the prohibitions…
Geneva is also a specialist in all kinds of regulations, with prohibitions galore. Organising an event for a non-state entity means having to contend with over 150 services (around fifty in the canton of Vaud and in Zurich), potentially stakeholders. No outdoor music, prohibition on selling meat, contradictory regulations, endless lists of obligations, etc.…
The good candidates all end up throwing in the towel, thus leaving the administration with the responsibility of brightening up our city. But is it truly fulfilling its role? ?
At present, the only event still organised by a non-governmental entity is the Lake Parade. Managed by private individuals, self-funded, and not benefiting in any way from the large cultural budgets of the City of Geneva, it nevertheless attracts several hundred thousand people..
While it is understandable that the authorities regulate a demonstration, it is less so not to provide the means for success to the organisers whose profession it is. Ultimately, by failing to create the conditions for success, it is to admit failure in advance and to accept a status quo where everyone becomes a loser..
The actors who shape Geneva are being solicited?
Despite the resources that the city provides for the organisation of various events, we are entitled to question the role it plays or at least the vision it upholds. Planning an event for just a few days generates almost as much cost as a long-term event that can accommodate the whims of Geneva's weather. Furthermore, by only offering one-off editions, how can we build a sustainable dynamic without allowing expertise to correct its own work??
To break this spiral of frustration, we may have another avenue. To allow professionals to deploy their talent more easily. Better still, to seek them out and mandate them. !
As commendable as the intentions of some may be in their constant desire to reinvent the wheel, it primarily cultivates a sense of frustration, leading the public to always find the grass greener elsewhere. It is therefore not surprising that Geneva is expanding its entertainment offerings with the help of its airport. Geneva, a dead city? False!
Its airport offers no fewer than 80 European destinations for going to have fun... elsewhere !