FestivalFinder.eu Networking Sessions: New faces, new names, new audiences?
The FestivalFinder.eu Networking Sessions are EFA's new online format, transforming it into an active platform that fosters direct engagement by offering festivals a dedicated space to connect, collaborate, interact, exchange ideas, share knowledge, explore synergies and share best practices. The sessions will continue throughout the year, each one exploring a different theme relevant to the festival community.
First meeting session, 27 May 2025
New faces, new names, new audiences?
How to open up to new emerging artists while retaining your audiences?
EFA invited festivals to the first FestivalFinder.eu networking session, which brought together 136 participants from 38 different countries, including Italy, Kosovo, Croatia, the UK, Spain or Greece. Participants were invited to reflect on their strategies for opening up their programmes to include emerging artists, while maintaining audience engagement and attracting new audiences. The session explored best practices that balance the opportunities and challenges of showcasing new talents.
Discussion points included the challenges related to sustainable touring, mobility, and youth engagement, while also presenting solutions:
“We run the project ‘Youth Orchestra and Choir Professional Academies’ to offer training and job opportunities to young musicians at the beginning of their professional careers. One of the key values is attracting young audiences and focusing on access in rural areas for youth, by encouraging mobility services, collaborating with youth associations and offering affordable tickets for young people.” (Sandra Rodrígues Campos, Jordi Savall Festival)
Throughout the session, many festival makers echoed a similar conviction: supporting young artists is not only a strategy to broaden and diversify audiences but also a responsibility rooted in a commitment to future generations and to the vitality of artistic creation.
- The importance of support mechanisms like EFFEA - European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists was highlighted as a catalyst for cross-border collaboration, enabling both artistic innovation and intercultural dialogue. EFFEA operates on multiple levels: it supports emerging artists by facilitating learning, visibility and mobility opportunities, encourages festivals to expand their artistic choices and collaborate with both familiar and new partners, and offers audiences the chance to encounter new voices and perspectives.
"Content is king in the festival world, but I do wish we had more tools to discover young musicians and ensembles. As a festival that depends largely on private funding, collaborations - like our residency with the Wonderfeel Festival and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival supported by EFFEA - contacts and networking are key. We’re also committed to supporting women artists, and working with other festivals on joint projects has been a great way to introduce new talent. In our context, these kinds of partnerships help us move toward greater independence from our national cultural department.” (Efruz Çakırkaya, Artistic Director of the Istanbul Music Festival and EFFEA Jury Member)
- Another key practice discussed was community participation. The team of DIFFERENTI SENSAZIONI in Turin emphasised how their theatre festival embraces participatory approaches by encouraging emerging artists to engage with both the local community and the urban landscape of the city. MetropolitanArt is a project combining performing arts and contemporary art involving residents, museums, artists, research and workshops imagined for fostering community belonging. The very festival’s office (CAOS Officine) is part of the regeneration of the suburb urban landscape and community. Indeed, after being a huge basement abandoned for 20 years located in the former working-class neighbourhood of Turin, the office serves now as a place for artistic production, urban regeneration and social inclusion.
This series of online meetings connects festivals across diverse art disciplines, fostering exchanges and strengthening connections through shared insights and collaborative opportunities.
It brings together individuals, festivals, artists and organisations that share a commitment to various topics including sustainability, environmental initiatives, well-being, freedom of speech, diversity x inclusion, and support for emerging artists. Additionally, discussions on funding opportunities and related subjects also take place.
The European Festivals Association (EFA) is committed to fostering artistic collaboration, interaction, and the exchange of ideas across borders. Through its initiatives, EFA aims to strengthen connections between festivals, countries, cities, and help to build a more interconnected and vibrant European art scene.
- The next session, “Together in Care: Well-being of Artists and Festivals,” is scheduled for 24 June, starting at 11.00 CEST. We will discuss how is well-being defined and approached in the context of a festival. How can care be structurally embedded into the organisation of festivals? In what ways can fostering more meaningful relationships and mutual support between emerging artists and festivals contribute to overall well-being?
