EFA Members General Assembly - 25 November 2020 - European Festivals ...

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EFA Members General Assembly - 25 November 2020 - European Festivals ...
EFA Members General Assembly
25 November 2020
EFA Members General Assembly - 25 November 2020 - European Festivals ...
Contents
Agenda..................................................................................................................................................... 3
1      Draft Minutes General Assembly Estoril 2019 ................................................................................ 4
2      Activity Report 2019 ...................................................................................................................... 11
               Communication report .......................................................................................................... 14
               The Festival Academy 2019 ................................................................................................... 20
               FestivalFinder.eu - Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe (EFFE).................................... 21
3      Financial Report 2019.................................................................................................................... 22
               Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... 22
               Explanatory notes.................................................................................................................. 22
               Provision details .................................................................................................................... 28
               Audit report ........................................................................................................................... 29
4      Activity update 2020 ..................................................................................................................... 38
               The Festival Academy ............................................................................................................ 42
               FestivalFinder.eu - Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe (EFFE).................................... 44
               Perform Europe ..................................................................................................................... 44
               Festival Cities Alliance under continual construction ........................................................... 45
               Take 5 A system with a result – A result with consequences................................................ 45
               Communication Plan update ................................................................................................. 46
5      Budget update 2020 & 2021 ......................................................................................................... 50
6      Activities proposal 2021 ................................................................................................................ 55
               Arts Festivals Summit Galway 2021 - programme ................................................................ 58
7      Membership .................................................................................................................................. 60
               Application new members .................................................................................................... 60
               Membership: a new membership fee policy proposal by the EFA Board ............................. 73
8      Call for EFA Board Elections .......................................................................................................... 76
9      Next EFA General Assemblies / Arts Festivals Summits-proposals ............................................... 77
EFA Members General Assembly - 25 November 2020 - European Festivals ...
Agenda

1.  Roll call
2.  Approval agenda
3.  Draft minutes General Assembly Estoril 2019
4.  Activity Report 2019
5.  Financial Results 2019
6.  Activity Update 2020
7.  Budget update 2020
8.  Activity Proposal 2021
9.  Budget 2021
10. Membership
    10.1. New members
    10.2. New membership fee policy
11. Call for elections: EFA President, Vice-Presidents and Board Members
12. Next General Assemblies
13. Miscellaneous

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EFA Members General Assembly - 25 November 2020 - European Festivals ...
1 Draft Minutes General Assembly Estoril 2019
The General Assembly took place on 15 April 2019 in the Palacio Hotel, Estoril, Portugal
Hosted by the Estoril Lisboa Festival

Participants

Individual members:

Al Bustan Festival: Nada Massoud, Laura Lahoud; Audi Sommerkonzerte: Sarah Braun, Ruth
Schwerdtfeger; BBC Proms: Alys Jones; Bergen International Festival: Anders Beyer; BOZAR – Center
of Fine Arts: Paul Dujardin (EFA Board), Magdalena Liskova; Culturescapes: Jurriaan Cooiman; Estoril
Lisbon Festival: Piñeiro Nagy (EFA Board), Rita Marques; European Film Festival Palic: Ilija Tatic,
Miroslav Mogorovic; Festival Internacional de Música Castell de Peralada: Oriol Aguila; Festival
Internacional de Teatro Clásico de Mérida: Pedro Blanco Vivas, Miriam Garcia Cabezas; Flanders
Festival International: Sophie Detremmerie (EFA Board), Greet De Grave, Michel Vermaerke, Veerle
Simoens; FMM Sines – Festival Músicas do Mundo: Nuno Mascarenhas, Carlos Seixas; International
Festival Wratislavia Cantans: Agata Adamczyck, Agnieszka Wroblewska, Jolanta Galary; International
Izmir Festival: Filiz Sarper (EFA Board); Leoš Janáček International Music Festival: Jaromir Javůrek; Les
Festivals de Wallonie: Isabelle Bodson; Malta International Arts Festival: Annabelle Stivala, Ruben
Zahra; MITO SettembreMusica Festival: Nicola Campogrande; Mittelfest: Haris Pasovic; Mosel
Musikfestival: Tobias Scharfenberger, Lilian Erbel; Music Biennale Zagreb: Antun Tomislav Šaban,
Margareta Ferek Petric; Ohrid Summer Festival: Natasa Popovic, Robert Momirovski, Nina
Momirovska; Prague Spring International Music Festival: Ondrej Zelenka; Ravenna Festival: Franco
Belletti; Sochi Winter International Arts Festival: Dmitry Grinchenko, Patrick de Clerck; SoNoRo
Festival: Razvan Popovici;; südtirol festival merano . meran: Hermann Schnitzer (Vice-President);
Usedom Music Festival: Thomas Hummel; Varna Summer International Music Festival: Mario Hossen,
Plamena Tsoneva; Vilnius Festival: Ruta Pruseviciene (EFA Board), Danas Skramtai; Yerevan
Perspectives International Music Festival: Sona Hovhannisyan

Collective members

Association of Irish Festival Events (AOIFE): Colm Croffy (EFA Board), Donagh Moore ;Finland
Festivals: Kai Amberla; Federation of Music Festivals in Flanders: Jan Briers (EFA President); France
Festivals: Philippe Toussaint; ItaliaFestival: Francesco Maria Perrotta (EFA Board); Rotterdam
Festivals: Heleen Hulshof; Serbian Festivals Association: Jovanka Visekruna Jankovic (EFA Board);
Spanish Association of Classical Music Festivals: Marta Barrecheguren Fernández; Sweden Festivals:
Peter Eriksson; Swissfestivals: Jurriaan Cooiman

Affiliate members: European Early Music Network – REMA: Adèle Fourcade

Apologised:

A. Sakharov International Art Festival, Abu Dhabi Festival, ALTOFEST – International Contemporary Live
Arts, Ankara International Music Festival, Aspendos International Opera & Ballet Festival, International
Antalya Piano Festival, Berliner Festspiele, Bodrum Music Festival, Bratislava Music Festival, Europalia
Arts Festival, George Enescu International Festival and Competition, Budapest Spring Festival (Proxy
to Ljubljana Festival), Armel Opera Festival, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Festival Internacional de
Musica de Canarias , Semana de Música Religiosa, Edinburgh International Festival, Festival Del Maggio
Musicale Fiorentino, Gdansk Shakespeare Festival, International Festival Sarajevo Winter, Israel
Festival Jerusalem, Lucerne Festival, Festival della Valle d'Itria , Mersin International Music Festival
(Proxy to Izmir International Music Festival), Stresa Festival, Georgian International Festival of Arts
GIFT, European Festival of Performing Arts Timisoara - New Romanian Drama Festival, Utrecht Early

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EFA Members General Assembly - 25 November 2020 - European Festivals ...
Music Festival, Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, Norway Festivals, Czech Association of Music
Festivals, Bulgarian Festivals Association

a) Roll call
President Jan Briers conducts the roll call of members present and represented by proxies. 44 voting
delegates are present or represented by proxy, which gives a quorum for voting.

b) Approval agenda
    1. Roll call

    2. Approval agenda

    3. Appointment scrutinizers

    4. Draft minutes General Assembly Ljubljana 2018

    5. Activity report 2018

    6. Financial results 2018

    7. Activity update 2019

    8. Budget update 2019

    9. Activities and budget 2020

    10. Membership

    11. Future EFA General Assemblies

    12. Miscellaneous

c) Appointment scrutinizers
Jan Briers introduces the two proposed scrutinizers: Danas Skramtai from the Vilnius Festival and Nada
Massoud from the Al Bustan Festival. The scrutinizers are approved.

d) Draft minutes General Assembly Ljubljana 2018
Jan Briers runs through the minutes of the General Assembly Ljubljana. The draft minutes are
approved.

e) Activity report 2018
Kathrin Deventer refers to the discussion before the start of the General Assembly for most activities
that are presented in the activity calendar in the General Assembly Reader.

The activity report is approved.

f) Financial results 2018
Ruta Pruseviciene explains the financial result in general. As treasurer, she followed the work of the
Secretariat. She invites EFA members to continue their commitment to EFA.

Kathrin Deventer: There is a slight loss of € 7843,99 on an overall turnover around €1.000.000. A
provision is taken for the membership fees that have not been paid. The office continues to work
collecting open membership fees from the past years. We are reducing the fees that have not been
paid in the past. Referring to the Treasurers’ appeal that each member should take its responsibility,
she underlines that without the membership fees, EFA is not able to exist and not able to co-finance
the different brands that EFA is running on behalf of its members with the support of the European
Commission.

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EFA Members General Assembly - 25 November 2020 - European Festivals ...
In that context, we have the result that is considered as a healthy situation by the board and I as a
secretary general.

Paul Dujardin: can you explain how the budget can be sustainable in the coming years if we don’t have
the European support?

Kathrin Deventer: The overall budget 2019 is around €100.000 lower than the budget that was
presented in Ljubljana due to the EFFE project. The subvention for EFFE ends in September 2019 and
legally there is no opportunity to prolong an EU Preparatory Action. Technically in European
Commission terms, either the action is prepared and ready to be included as a fixed program under
the next Creative Europe programme, or the program stops.

At the moment, discussions are going on with the European Commissioner and the DG EAC to get a
commitment from the European Commission but also of all national ministers to ask for a European
budget specifically for festivals in 2020 and in the future.

We reduce costs for activities, are trying to raise funds on a European and a national level and invest
a lot of time in membership development. The board is prepared to further develop the business
model of EFA.

We are further developing new business model ideas to continue the EFFE project. There is a
community of 2000+ festivals that signed up, this community is growing every day. EFA has taken up
the mandate to serve the entire festival landscape. For example, we would ask the 2000 festivals for a
30 euro registration fee for FestivalFinder.eu. That would equal €60.000 income, which can even grow
as the amount of festivals registering grows.

The idea of the board and the secretariat is to build on the volume of the different programs. They are
not sustainable on their own but they should not be stopped and the role that EFA has played in the
dialogue with the EC and parliament has given us the trust that the commission will not stop working
with festivals in the future.

Paul Dujardin: We all have to work together and need solidarity with the EFA secretariat.

Jan Briers: We also talked about the possibility of a membership category for smart cities but we can
also think about universities, they can also help us.

The President asks the General Assembly to vote for the Financial Results 2018. By raise of hands,
the report is accepted including the audit report. The Board is released of its accountability.

g) Activity update 2019
Jan Briers gives the floor to Kathrin Deventer.

Kathrin Deventer runs through the activity calendar in the GA Reader. The main points of the activities
were already mentioned in the session before. There is a series of 13 clearly formulated invitations
that are the basis for the internal conversation between 75 members to work on. We will follow-up all
the proposals and input from the last two hours to add to our work program 2019.

One of the most important upcoming meetings is the EFFE Awards Ceremony on 26 September in
Brussels. Out of the 705 label winners, the EFFE Jury chaired by Sir Jonathan Mills will select a shortlist
of around 30-40 festivals that will be highlighted throughout Summer. The Jury meets in Lisbon after
the Summit and will come together in May during the Bergen International Festival on invitation of
Anders Beyer. All EFA Members are invited to join the celebrations in Brussels.

h) Budget update 2019
The adjusted budget 2019 was discussed with the financial results 2018 and is approved once again.

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EFA Members General Assembly - 25 November 2020 - European Festivals ...
h) Activities and budget 2020
Kathrin Deventer runs through the current activity proposal 2020:

    -   The Atelier for Young Festival Managers Kampala (August 2020) is a perfect opportunity for
        those who have a strategy to work with Africa and build a network of African arts and festival
        managers
    -   The next Arts Festivals Summit will take place in Galway from 27 to 30 April 2020. That year
        Galway is European Capital of Culture in Ireland.
    -   In May 2020 the EFA Board is invited to Ohrid by the Ohrid International Summer Festival. This
        will be the first Board Meeting after the board elections 2020.
    -   More meetings and conference will be communicated through the EFACTS and personal
        mailings.

The budget for 2020 is a reflection of the budget update of 2019. This budget includes the EU Network
Grant of €250.000, but does not include funding for the EFFE project. This budget will be adapted to
realistic if the funding for the EFFE project is secured, we will know this in June-July and will present it
throughout the year and in the General Assembly in Galway.

Philippe Toussaint: asks for an explanation of the rising wage cost by 15%.

Kathrin Deventer says that this has to do with the legal indexation of wages according to Belgian
legislation. This increase in the budget does not increase the number of staff, the team was also
reduced from 7 to 6 in September 2018 when Lennart Deroo left and was not replaced, given the
financial situation. The increase in the budget of 2020 would allow us to replace Lennart. This is the
difference between 2019 and 2020. So it’s both, indexation and the replacement of one more team
member who we have not replaced in 2018and 2019.

Philippe Toussaint says that EFA has to be careful, with the public funding that is not safe in 2020.

Kathrin Deventer replies that this budget will only be applied if the funding and membership fees are
secured. The board and the team observe and follow this development very carefully.

Jurriaan Cooiman: When I look at the analytical budget for EFA, there is an EU Subvention of €600.000
to be expected in 2020, which gives an overall income for EFA of €900.000. But I think this is partly also
for the activities of EFFE and TFA? So actually this subvention is not for EFA only, but it’s meant to be
for all projects. So if the subvention doesn’t come, what activities do you reduce?

Kathrin Deventer explains that there are two different grants, one of €350.000 that can only be used
for EFFE. The other pot of €250.000 is used for EFA as a network and includes the activities of The
Festival Academy, that are running under EFA. In the analytic system, we are not splitting the personnel
cost per project. We have a separate slide on how the 6 staff members are divided between EFA, TFA
and EFFE, and how this is linked to the grants.

Jan Briers asks to vote for the budget 2020 by raise of hand. The Budget 2020 is approved.

i) Membership
Resigning Members

Jan Briers refers to the Membership chapter in the GA Reader were the members will see that one
festival and two national association (BAFA and Estonian Music Festivals Association) stepped down.
He asks Kathrin why Festival d’Aix en Provence left the Association?

Kathrin Deventer: explains that the festival is taking one year off, the director changed from Bernard
Foccroulle to Pierre Audi, the former director of the Holland Festival. We have already taken contact
with him through Frans de Ruiter, former EFA President. He is invited for the next Summit in Galway,

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EFA Members General Assembly - 25 November 2020 - European Festivals ...
and will hopefully accept the invitation. There is a very clear commitment to the association, but
because of a very serious budget cut, the festival will rejoin us next year.

BAFA has stopped its membership but is still a very active EFFE Hub. Estonian Music Festivals
Association have very serious financial problems, and have nobody in their office to work on the
association.

Then there are two more festivals, the Settimane Musicali al Teatro Olimpico and the International
Music Festival "A Tempo", that have to be excluded by the EFA statutes because they have not paid
their membership fees for two consecutive years. If a festival cannot pay their third year, it is excluded.

Another festival in this situation is Sarajevo Winter Festival directed by Ibrahim Spahic. He couldn’t be
here today because the president his festival passed away. 2 of the 3 outstanding fees are paid by the
end of April.

Membership Applications

Kathrin Deventer: First of all, two festivals that have left EFA in the past have rejoined the association:
Bergen Festival and CULTURESCAPES. Then there are 10 new applications. Important to note is that
we are very clearly growing, as Sophie Detremmerie already said, in terms of disciplines, there is two
new film festivals. There are two new associations, one collective from the south of Sweden, and one
collective from the Ukraine that are eager to join. There is also a new venue that is joining, the cultural
center of Belém, which organizes amongst others the Music Days of Belém. We started again after
years of decreasing membership numbers with more members who take an active and responsible
role for EFA.

    -   IBIZACINEFEST is presented by Ilija Tatic of the European Film Festival Palić.

Philippe Toussaint raises the issue of the membership fees for smaller festivals. It is important to have
festivals that are not related to music, but IBIZACINEFEST has a revenue of €50.000, they would have
to give more than 10% of that to the EFA Membership fee.

Kathrin Deventer explains that the Board is looking into that during the coming 12 months, at the
moment the festivals have applied with the knowledge that the fee is €4000. We cannot tell them that
they cannot become a member because we think they cannot pay.

    -   Medfilm Festival .
    -   International Art Festival of P.I. Tchaikovsky is presented by Narmin Shiralieva.
    -   Cistermúsica - Festival de Música de Alcobaça is presented by Dulce Alves.
    -   Musik i Syd is presented by Peter Eriksson, this is an application for a collective member.
    -   Terras sem Sombra is presented by Pineiro Nagy.
    -   GogolFest is presented by Andrew Palatnyi.
    -   Music Days Festival in Belém was presented by the director in the opening dinner.
    -   ArtEthnoFest is presented by Oleksandr Butsenko, this is an application for a collective
        member.
    -   Nasimi Festival is presented with a move the festival sent.

Philippe Toussaint: It’s important that we know the figures of all the candidates and 4 of them have
not given any budget details. I ask Gogolfest, Cistermúsica, MedFilm Festival and ArtEthnofest to give
us their budget, we need them for voting.

We must have a view on the capacity of each of these festivals to be a long term member. This is
possible partly by knowing the organization’s budget.

Kathrin Deventer thanks Philippe for his concern. The festivals and associations, partly present here
today, are of course invited and free to share this information. She adds that all the applications have
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EFA Members General Assembly - 25 November 2020 - European Festivals ...
been presented and discussed, one by one, in the last EFA board meeting and they have all been
accompanied by recommendation letters of very honorable people that support the applications and
that know EFA very well. They know the functioning of EFA, as well as the financial contributions. The
board has approved these applications for presentation to the General Assembly, being aware that
each of these festivals knows of the EFA directives, statutes, rules, what the responsibilities of a
membership in the association means. It was the decision taken by the board to present these
applications to the General Assembly.

Jan Briers adds that what is important for him, and what has always been important for EFA, is the
artistic culture. If it’s a small or big festival, is not important. He thinks we are here to support the
smaller festivals, not the big ones. So if a small festival, who needs us even more than the big ones,
applies, even with a small budget, but we think, artistically seen, it’s a festival we can defend, there is
no reason why we shouldn’t take them with us.

Sona Hovhannisyan wants to understand what the criteria are to accept new members. She
remembers when, in 2007, they were fighting to prove the artistic qualities of for instance Yerevan
Perspectives is really very high and is in accordance with other European Festivals, we are here with
many little festivals and that is something to approve.

Haris Pasovic: I think it is wonderful that we have all these candidates that increase diversity and
complexity of EFFE. I’m particularly happy that we have the candidate from the Ukraine, Gogolfest,
they were EFFE Laureate in 2017. It seems that EFFE and EFA work very well together. I’m also happy
to see two film festivals. Until recently, the film festivals were not really represented within EFA. Last
year again, we had the European Film Festival Palic that won an EFFE Award and are now trial
members. The idea that we go towards Russia with the Tchaikovsky Festival, to Azerbaijan with the
Nasimi Festival is gorgeous. So obviously we have high credibility for these festivals. They are good and
interesting festivals. I do support all 10 applications.

Antun Tomislav Saban: I would just like to say that I like this discussion, but we definitely don’t have
time to scrutinize every one of the 10 candidates. I would just like to know if the board scrutinized all
of them, and if they get the board recommendation to be members?

Jan Briers: Since the start of EFA, all applications first go to the board for approval. You all voted for
this board, and for each of the 10 festivals, there was not one board member that said no.

Antun Tomislav Saban supports all 10 candidates if the board stands behind it.

Jan Briers asks to star the voting for the 10 candidates and if it can be done by raise of hands? If
someone does not agree we go for ballot voting.

Two persons want ballot voting, the results will be counted an announced at the end of the meeting.
With a simple majority of the present members, the applicants will be admitted to the General
Assembly of EFA.

j) Future EFA General Assemblies
Jan Briers gives the floor to Colm Croffy who will host next year’s General Assembly and Arts Festivals
Summit in Galway.

Colm Croffy: I would like to thank Pineiro and his team first of all for all they have done, it’s been
fabulous. So Galway is the European Capital of Culture 2020, we are looking forward to a very rich
programme. The Arts Festivals Summit will take place 27 – 29 April 2020, which I think from looking
at the calendars of the members, should facilitate about 95% of all members. I was asked about
airports and let me just confirm the reality that Galway City, even though it has 80.000 people and it
is the capital of the bohemian west, it does not have an airport. It is serviced by three airports:
Shannon, Knock and Dublin. We have very good connections and we will help the delegates with their
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EFA Members General Assembly - 25 November 2020 - European Festivals ...
transport with a very special Irish welcome. The Summit will take place over three days and we intend
to use the landscape of the city to engage and to stimulate the discussion. I’m looking forward to
welcoming you all in Galway next year.

Jan Briers: announces the results of the ballot voting for new members. All 10 festivals are accepted
with at least 32 out of 39 votes.

Jan Briers closes the General Assembly and thanks the EFA members for their contributions.

The meeting is closed without any further issue raised.

Estoril, 15 April 2019

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2 Activity Report 2019
2019 saw an intense year of activities for and with EFA members. The Association developed further
into an interactive alliance of various stakeholders in our festivals community. The community
extended representatives to cities who joined our work and thinking in a new Festival Cities alliance in
the making, as well as to new supporters of EFA’s The Festival Academy programmes.

    1. 8 new members joined EFA
    2. 823 festivals received the EFFE Label 2019-2020, 24 were chosen EFFE Laureates and 5
        received the EFFE Awards during the EFFE Awards Ceremony 2019 at the BOZAR
    3. Many ‘mini’-business summits in Shanghai, Classical:Next, Nordic-Baltic Platform and others
        brought at various occasion our members together for business development meetings: We
        organized 36 encounters, meetings, working sessions for EFA members throughout the year
    4. FestivalFinder.eu is in full development: over 2000 festivals are signed up today with each
        month some 50 more
    5. The Festival Academy counts 700 Alumni generated in its training programmes, and extends
        its activities to new training formats
    6. 40 cities and representatives of cities participated in our various gatherings 2019 for cities in
        Lisbon, Brussels and Berlin
    7. The Arts Festivals Summit Lisbon brought together 250 delegates for our 3 days annual get-
        together of the festivals community
    8. In member visits and exchanges, EFA could be present locally in various of your festivals
    9. 12 EFACTS, 17 Invitations for EFA members informed and engaged with EFA members; various
        social media and press activities put members in the picture: EFA was on TV, radio and in the
        news with its members and activities
    10. The Association in terms of its finances, team and organisation is in transition towards a new
        phase of programmes, financial basis and operational development with team members
        leaving and new ones joining, as well as new support and funding programmes in
        development.

Together with each and every single EFA member and our community of all together 3000 Festivals,
we are an Alliance and every of you a spokesperson of the importance of bringing arts to audiences in
our festivals. All your suggestions are welcome.

 January

 8-10 January, New York |ISPA Conference with various members present

 16-19 January, Antwerp | Festival Production Management Training Edition IV - Module I, hosted by deSingel International Arts
 Campus – with various members delegating young festival managers

 19 January, Valletta | EFFE Launch in Malta, with various members and EFFE Jury members present

 21-22 January, Kiev | EFFE Launch in Ukraine, with EFA members present meeting new members

 February

 7-11 February, Sarajevo | EFA Member Visit - XXXV International Festival Sarajevo Winter

 8-11 February, Belgrade | EFFE Launch in Western Balkans with various members from the region present

 14 – 17 February, Elefsina | Custom made Atelier for Greek Festival managers

 15-17 February |Sochi Festival Readings in the framework of the Winter International Arts Festival with various members
 present as speakers

 February-December, different locations | Placements Festival Production Management Training Edition IV - Module 2 in various
 members festivals

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March

4 March, Brussels | EFFE International Jury meeting @ EFA Office , Brussels

4 March, Brussels | Arts Festivals Council reception @ BOZAR, Brussels

5 March, Brussels | Annual Exclusive EFA Round Table with EU Commissioner for Culture Tibor Navracsics @ KaaiForum with
members and non-members present

5 March, Brussels | EFA Board meeting @ EFA office, Brussels

21 March, Milano | Italiafestival Meeting – EFFE with various members present

23-29 March, Valletta | Atelier for Young Festival Managers in collaboration with Malta Festivals with various members sending
their young managers to Malta

April

12-13 April, Berlin | A Soul for Europe Conference with members contributions

14-17 April, Lisbon | Arts Festivals Summit, hosted by the Estoril Lisbon Festival

14 April, Lisbon | EFA Board Meeting hosted by the Estoril Lisbon Festival

14 April, Lisbon | EFA General Assembly hosted by the Estoril Lisbon Festival

15 April, Lisbon | EFA Young Artists Concert – 1st Edition

16 April, Lisbon | Future Heritage Ambassadors

16 April, Lisbon | EFFE Hubs Meeting

16 April, Lisbon I The Festival Academy General Assembly

16 April, Lisbon | MeetUp, hosted by the Estoril Lisbon Festival

17 April, Lisbon | EFFE International Jury meeting

May

5 May, Esslingen | Representation at the Podium Esslingen Festival

9 May, Hamburg |Participation as speaker and mentor in Fair Trade & Exchange: Best-Practices und Potentiale für die Kultur
und Kreativwirtschaft in Deutschland in collaboration with Unesco Germany

15-18 May, Rotterdam |Classical Next with many members present as speakers and participants

21-23 May, Bergen | EFFE International Jury Meeting with various members as part of the Delegation invited to Bergen

24-25 May, Plovdiv | Workshop Capacity building addressing the gaps of knowledge on implementing cooperation in a Europe-
wide and international context | On gender equality in relation to artists, from creation to performance and to artistic
programming

30 May, Berlin |Festivals as free spaces. Presentation and panel conversation between civil society, international Networks and
local action - Berlin Performing Arts Festival

29-31 May, Rotterdam | ICORN Network Meeting / PEN International WiPC Conference

June

2-8 June, Sao Paulo |Participation in Brasil Cena Aberta conference and Panel “The Knowings and Makings of Worlds"

16-17 June, Brussels |Participation at the international colloquium ‘Culture for the Future, Creativity, Innovation and Dialogue
for Inclusive Development’ organised by DgDevco

17-19 June, Copenhagen | Communicating the Arts with various members present

28-30 June, Elefsina | Festival Readings

July

2 July, Ljubljana | Presidency meeting

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16 July, Brussels |Participation Roundtable “What can culture contribute to the Future of Europe?” by the European culture
foundation and European Policy Centre

August

5 August, Peralada | Castell de Peralada Festival – EFA Member visit

6 August, Peniscola | Festival Internacional de Música Antígua de Peníscola – EFA representation

23 August, Heerlen | International Symposium Centriphery - Festival Cultura Nova

September

10-11 September, Milan | Life on Mars confence by Live Internationalization Gateway |EFA representation

11 September, Amsterdam | Preparatory meeting for development of new Business Managers Training in collaboration with
Holland Festival

11 September, Amsterdam | Participation in Roundtable Why Europe Needs a Public Space? … And What to Do About It? By
European Cultural Foundation and Adessium Foundation

23 September, Brussels | European Cultural Foundation, CultureAction Europe, BOZAR-Centre For Fine Arts Brussels and The
European Heritage Alliance: Debate Including an introduction by MEP Sabine Verheyen, Chair of Culture and Education
Committee at the European Parliament Act for Europe through Culture

25 September, Brussels | EFA Board Meeting – RISE 2

26 September, Brussels | Arts Festivals Salon including EFFE Award Ceremony in collaboration with BOZAR - Centre of Fine Arts
– EFFE

September-December | EFA Festival in Focus interviews

October

2 October, Amsterdam |The European Cultural Foundation celebration of the 65th anniversary of the foundation and the presentation
of the 11th ECF Princess Margriet Award for Culture
14 October, Amsterdam, meetings with the Holland Festival and The European Cultural Foundation

16-17 October, Rome, Visit of RomaEuropa

17-21 October, Shanghai | EFA delegation to the 21st China Shanghai International Arts Festival / Forums and Performing Arts Fair
(ChinaSPAF 2019) with various members participating

25 October, Galway, Preparation of the Arts Festivals Summit

November

5 November, Brussels Board meeting The Festival Academy by phone conversation

7-8 November, Liepāja | Nordic Baltic Festival Platform Conference with presentation by EFA online and various EFA members present

9 November, Berlin | A Soul for Europe Conference and cities for Europe meeting with various EFA members and cities contributing

13 – 19 November, Kortrijk | Atelier for Young Festival Managers in collaboration with Next Festival with various members present

13-16 November, Saint-Petersburg | Culture Forum Saint-Petersburg with many of EFA’s members present as speakers

25 Novemer, Brussels Meeting of Europe’s theatre festivals at the invitation of the European Commission to plan its future

27 November, Barcelona, speech at the Catalan Academy of Music in Barcelona, with various EFA members present

29-30 November, Porto | Workshop Capacity building addressing the gaps of knowledge on implementing cooperation in a Europe-
wide and international context | On diversity with and by artists in terms of race, ethnicity, minorities, sexual orientation and consider
tools on how to better reflect the society lived in

December

4 December, Galway | EFA Board meeting

13 December, Brussels | network meeting EFA – PEARLE – IETM about future collaboration in the EU tender for traveling arts fund

                                                                                                                          13
Communication report
This section gives you an overview of what was done in terms of communication in 2019 for the European
Festivals Association (EFA), FestivalFinder.eu (FF.eu) and The Festival Academy (TFA).

We have selected the most relevant statistics for you and tried to make them as clear as possible.

Let’s recall: the most important objective of EFA’s communication efforts is first of all to inform different target
groups about EFA members and their activities, secondly to inform about EFA activities and last but not least
profile the collective as the powerful network of arts festivals in Europe.

At one sight:

    -      Thanks to EFA activities such as the EFFE Awards Salon, the number of visitors to the sites almost doubles,
           hence the visibility of each EFA member
    -      FestivalFinder.eu is the most successful website with 240 visitors per day (110 for EFA’s site)
    -      Mailings to our database of 7.000 addresses are read to a high degree – hence a good promotion way
           for EFA members
    -      Social media, in particular EFA’s Facebook, is very popular also in comparison to other networks.

                              EFA                         EFFE                         TFA
 Website                       110 users per day          240 users per day           28 users per day
                               3,33 pages/user            2,88 pages/user             3,58 pages/user
                               2’25 minutes/session       2’20 minutes/session        2’52 minutes/session
 Database newsletter           38% open rate
                               4,2% click rate
 Facebook                      1.053 new likes            283 new likes               458 new likes
                                (total: 9.032 likes)        (total: 4.597 likes)         (total: 4.073 likes)
                               1.141 new followers        299 new followers           477 new followers
                                (total:9.163 followers)     (total:4.631 followers)      (total:4.115 followers)

 Twitter                       168 new followers          25 new followers (total:   N/A
                                (total:1.973 followers)     771 followers)
                               1.162 profile visits       611 profile visits

 Youtube                       10 new subscribers        N/A                          N/A
                                (total:110 subscribers)
                               2’13 minutes/visitor
                               68,6 hours watched

In detail:

EFA website
Website statistics
In 2019, 41.763 users visited the EFA website. In other words, this means that we have 110 users on our website
every day.

The users have generated 56.358 sessions (one session lasts 30 minutes) and this metric is interesting because
it takes into account both the new and repeated visits. 88% of the people visiting the website are new users and
12% are returning visitors, probably most of them are part of our members as we suppose that you visit our
website often.

The users have visited a total of 187.888 pages, which gives an average of 3,33 pages per session and stayed on
average for 2’25 minutes on our website.

                                                                                                            14
65% of the users come on our website through organic search (typing key words in an internet browser), followed
    by 23% typing our url directly. 8% come on our website thanks to links present on other websites (we hope this
    is linked to your websites, dear members) and only 4% through social media.

    Regarding content, the homepage is the most visited page and represents 11% of the total pages visited. The
    page /members/find-your-festival also represents 11%, which is a very good stat since this means that many users
    try to find out who are the EFA members. The page /members represent 5% of all the pages visited, followed by
    the page /about (3%) and the page related to the 2019 Arts Festivals Summit in Lisbon (2%).

    The audience
    Regarding the audience, we can estimate than 60% of our users are female and 40% are male. The users are
    pretty young since 34% of them are between 25-34, followed by 20% being between 35-44.1

    The audience is mostly located in the following countries: 14,5% come from the USA; 7,5% from the UK; 6% from
    Belgium; 5,5% from Germany and 5% from Spain. The disparity is wider for the cities with London and Brussels
    being the two first most represented cities with 3%, followed by Chicago and Ashburn with 2%.

    The language the most used by the audience is unsurprisingly English for 46,5% (English us and English gb
    together), followed by Spanish and Italian both reaching 4% and German for 3,5% of our users.

    Another interesting stat is that 63% of the audience is using a desktop to visit EFA’s website but mobile is gaining
    more and more popularity with 32%.2

    FF.eu website
    The FestivalFinder.eu website replaced the EFFE website (www.effe.eu) end of February 2019.
    Therefore, the following analysis is not based on a full year but on approximately 10 months.

    Website statistics
    In 2019, 73.388 users visited the FF.eu website. In other words, this means that we have on average 240 visitors
    per day, which is a very very good number.

    The users have generated 94.942 sessions. 87% of the people visiting the website are new users and 13% are
    returning visitors.

    The users have visited a total of 273.414 pages, which gives an average of 2,88 pages per session and stayed on
    average for 2’20 minutes on our website.

    The way the users are arriving on the FF.eu website is less contrasted than for EFA: 58% of the users come on
    our website through organic search, followed by 19% typing our url directly, 14% through social media and only
    9% thanks to links present on other websites.

    Regarding content, the homepage is the most visited page and represents 15% of the total pages visited. As the
    website counts thousands of pages (there is one page per festival and we had moreover 2000 festivals registered
    at the end of 2019), the results are widely dispersed. The second most visited page /festivals represents 4%. The
    page /awards/effes-audience-choice-2019-2020/vote represent 3%, followed by the page /awards/effes-
    audience-choice-2019-2020 and the page /effe-label both reaching 2%.

    The audience
    Regarding the audience, we can estimate than 60% of our users are female and 40% are male. The users are as
    the EFA users pretty young since 36% of them are between 25-34, followed by 20% being between 35-44.3

1
  This estimation is based on statistics collected for 40% of the total number of users.
2
  The most frequent country, city, language and device are based on 100% of the total number of users.
3
  This estimation is based on statistics collected for 40% of the total number of users.
                                                                                                         15
The FF.eu audience is more disparate in terms of country location than EFA: 8% of the users are located in Italy;
    6% in the USA; 5% in Germany and the UK and 4% in the Netherlands. The disparity is even wider for the cities
    with London, Sofia, Milan and Kyiv, all the four reaching 2%.

    English is a again the most used language with 38% (English us and English gb together), followed by Italian
    reaching 7%, Russian 4% and Dutch for 3%.

    Another interesting stat is that the audience using a desktop or a mobile phone to visit FF.eu are almost the
    same. Desktop is used by 50% of the users and mobile by 46%, the 4% left using a tablet. In conclusion, it is very
    important to have a mobile responsive site.4

    TFA website
    Website statistics
    In 2019, 10.133 users visited the TFA website.

    The users have generated 15.710 sessions. New visitors reach 84% of this amount while 16% are returning
    visitors.

    The users have visited a total of 56.318 pages. On average, 3,58 pages were visited per session and the users
    stayed for 2’52 minutes on the website, which are good numbers.

    As for the FF.eu website, the visitors are coming from less contrasted sources: 35% are typing the url directly;
    33% arrive on the website through organic search; 17% through social media and 15% through links present on
    other websites.

    Regarding content, the homepage is the most visited page and represents 13% of the total pages visited. The
    pages /training and /training/atelier/atelier-next-2019 represent both 4% followed by /training/atelier and
    /training/atelier/atelier-dusseldorf-2020 both at 3%.

    The audience
    We can neither estimate how many men/women visited the TFA website nor the average age of the visitors
    because the option to measure this stat was not activated yet. We will have to wait for the 2020 report to have
    this information as it has been enabled in March 2020.

    The audience is mostly located in the following five countries: 11% come from the USA; 9% from Belgium; 7%
    from Germany; 6% from the UK and 4% from France. As for EFA and FF.eu, the disparity is wider for the cities:
    4% of the users come from Brussels, 3% from London and 2% from Berlin and Ashburn.

    English is again unsurprisingly the language the most used by the audience as it reaches 51% (English-us and
    English-gb together), followed by German and French for 4% and Dutch for 3,5% of our users.

    Regarding the device, 65% of the audience is using a desktop to visit TFA’s website and 33% using a smartphone.

    Database and mailings
    We have today moreover 7.000 subscribers in our mailing system.

    The subscribers are categorised in different lists of target groups in order to receive specific mailings.

    In total, 52 campaigns were sent.

    The open rate reaches on average 38% and the click rate 4,2%. This average changes from one target group to
    another. For example, the directors members list scores higher with 43% of open rate and 6% of click rate.

4
    The most frequent country, city, language and device are based on 100% of the total number of users.

                                                                                                           16
In the top 3 of our best readers, the EFFE Labels are at the first place with 57% of opens and 14% of clicks,
followed by the EFFE Hubs with 48% of opens and 8% of clicks and the people registering to the FF.eu newsletter
with 49% of opens and 6% of clicks.

Social media
European Festivals Association

a) Facebook

     In 2019, EFA has 1053 additional likes (7979 likes on 1/01/2019 > 9032 likes on 31/12/2019).
     EFA has 1141 additional followers (8022 followers on 1/01/2019 > 9163 followers on 31/12/2019).
     Regarding the audience, we can estimate than 62% of our fans are women 35% are men. The users are young
      since 24% of them are between 25-34, followed by 21% of them being between 35-44.
     Concerning the location, the fans come from the following countries and cities
    Country                          Your Fans                       City                           Your Fans
    Italy                            775                             Brussels                       290
    Spain                            616                             Athens                         288
    France                           471                             Berlin                         194
    UK                               460                             London                         187
    Greece                           459                             Paris                          187
    Belgium                          441                             Lisbon                         147
    Germany                          436                             Madrid                         134
    Portugal                         351                             Bucharest                      127
    Turkey                           242                             Istanbul                       125
    Romania                          234                             Barcelona                      124

Top 5 posts
    Date       Post                                                                                 Type        Reach
    23/05      Apply now for the new training programme of The Festival Academy: "Digital           LINK        Reach: 18.354 (paid:
               (R)Evolution: Communication and New Technologies" - 22-25 January 2020,                          16.388)
               @deSingel Internationale Kunstcampus                                                             Reactions: 24
               Deadline to apply: 15 June 2019 #Communication #FestivalsforEurope                               Clicks: 362 (paid 313)
    26/09      EFFE Awards Salon. We are live again!                                                VIDEO       Reach: 8473
                                                                                                                Reactions: 328
                                                                                                                Clicks: 2400
    10/06      The 24 EFFE Laureates that are in the running for the EFFE Awards 2019-2020 are      LINK        Reach: 5888
               announced! This biennial prize celebrates arts festivals that demonstrate artistic               Reactions: 461
               excellence and at the same time have a strong impact on the local and regional                   Clicks: 422
               development of cultural cooperation. For the first time there will be EFFE's
               Audience Choice, cast your vote now and maybe you'll win a festival trip for 2
               persons!
    5/03       Today, prominent festival makers and the European Festivals Association (EFA)        PHOTO       Reach: 5554
               are coming together with EU Commissioner Navracsics Tibor in Brussels to                         Reactions: 220
               examine this return on investment and formalise our engagement, together, on                     Clicks: 478
               the successful development of the initiatives established thus far; EFFE and The
               Festival Academy
    26/09      Congratulations to the 5 EFFE Award winners 2019-2020 and the 2 Lifetime             LINK        Reach: 4754
               Achievement Award Winners: Frie Leysen and Dieter Kosslick!                                      Reactions: 592
               The EFFE Award winners (in alphabetical order) are:                                              Clicks: 255
               1. Conrad Festival, Krakow - Poland
               2. Festival Deltebre Dansa, Deltebre - Spain
               3. Førdefestivalen, Førde - Norway
               4. ГОГОЛЬFEST, various cities - Ukraine
               5. Welcome to The Village, Leeuwarden – The Netherlands
               We also congratulate Международен музикален фестивал “Варненско лято”/
               Varna Summer Music Fest for the EFFE Audience Choice! #EFFE2019

                                                                                                                       17
b) Twitter

     In 2019, EFA has 168 new followers (1805 followers on 1/01/2019 > 1.973 followers on 31/12/2019)
     We posted 78 tweets
     The tweets collected 60.078 impressions (= tweet shown in somebody’s timeline)
     Our profile was visited 1.662 times
     EFA was mentioned 148 times

c) Youtube

     In 2019, we posted 11 videos (104 videos on 1/01/2019 > 115 videos on 31/12/2019)
     Our videos got 1.844 views
     68,6 hours of the posted videos were watched
     2’13 of average view duration
     10 new subscribers (100 subscribers on 1/01/2019 > 110 subscribers on 31/12/2019)

EFFE

a) Facebook

     In 2019, EFFE has 283 additional likes (4314 likes on 1/01/2019 > 4597 likes on 31/12/2019).
     EFFE has 299 additional followers (4332 followers on 1/01/2019 > 4631 followers on 31/12/2019).
     Regarding the audience, we can estimate than 59% of our fans are women 39% are men. The users are young
      since 21% of them are between 25-34, followed by 19% of them being between 35-44.
     Concerning the location, the fans come from the following countries and cities
    Country                           Your Fans                       City                            Your Fans
    Portugal                          524                             Athens                          161
    Italy                             478                             Lisbon                          152
    Romania                           464                             Bucharest                       122
    Greece                            267                             Porto                           101
    Spain                             230                             Sofia                           98
    Bulgaria                          225                             Brussels                        87
    Germany                           170                             Belgrade                        85
    France                            161                             Nicosia                         74
    Poland                            155                             Paris                           65
    Belgium                           152                             Berlin                          62

Top 5 posts
    Date       Post                                                                                   Type        Reach
    11/01      FestivalFinder.eu trailer: 100 Festivals already applied for the EFFE Label 2019-      VIDEO       Reach: 9573
               2020! Do you also want to show your festivals' engagement for the arts, its local                  Reactions: 30
               community and international openness!                                                              Clicks: 125
               First register your festival on www.FestivalFinder.eu and you will get an invitation
               to apply for the #EFFELabel. #EFAfestivals #FestivalFinder                                         (Paid: reach: 7.795
                                                                                                                  clicks: ?)
    10/06      The 24 EFFE Laureates that are in the running for the EFFE Awards 2019-2020 are        LINK        Reach: 2648
               announced! This biennial prize celebrates arts festivals that demonstrate artistic                 Reactions: 213
               excellence and at the same time have a strong impact on the local and regional                     Clicks: 183
               development of cultural cooperation. For the first time there will be EFFE's
               Audience Choice, cast your vote now and maybe you'll win a festival trip for 2
               persons!
    4/01       Kick off the new year by applying for the EFFE Label 2019-2020 and get recognized      PHOTO       Reach: 1608
               for the great work your festival does in the field of arts, community involvement                  Reactions: 60
               and show your international engagement!                                                            Clicks: 110
               #EFFElabel #FestivalFinder https://www.festivalfinder.eu/festivals/new/account
                                                                                                                         18
26/09   Congratulations to all 24 EFFE Laureates, the 5 EFFE Award winners 2019-2020         LINK        Reach: 1420
            and the 2 Lifetime Achievement Award Winners: Frie Leysen and Dieter Kosslick!                   Reactions: 88
            The EFFE Award winners (in alphabetical order) are:                                              Clicks: 100
            1. Conrad Festival, Krakow – Poland, 2. Festival Deltebre Dansa, Deltebre - Spain
            3. Førdefestivalen, Førde – Norway, 4. ГОГОЛЬFEST, various cities – Ukraine, 5.
            Welcome to The Village, Leeuwarden – The Netherlands
            We also congratulate Международен музикален фестивал “Варненско лято”/
            Varna Summer Music Fest for the EFFE Audience Choice! #EFFE2019
    30/08   The war might have greatly harmed the city, but Vukovar Film Festival is here to     LINK        Reach: 1357
            change the narrative. Meet 2019-2020 #EFFE Laureate Vukovar Film Festival, a                     Reactions: 19
            festival that goes on for 13 years against the odds in Crotia.                                   Clicks: 17
            You can read the full article & find the program of the festival here:

b) Twitter

      Twitter has been not very active in EFA. We posted 25 tweets
      The tweets collected 39.030 impressions
      Our profile was visited 611 times
      EFFE was mentioned 87 times

TFA

a) Facebook

      In 2019, TFA has 458 additional likes (3615 likes on 1/01/2019 > 4073 likes on 31/12/2019).
      TFA has 477 additional followers (3638 followers on 1/01/2019 > 4115 followers on 31/12/2019).
      Regarding the audience, we can estimate that 66% of our fans are women 31% are men. The users are young
       since 31% of them are between 25-34, followed by 24% of them being between 35-44.
      Concerning the location, the fans come from the following countries and cities.
    Country                       Your Fans                       City                           Your Fans
    UK                            245                             Brussels                       123
    Italy                         219                             Athens                         122
    Belgium                       209                             Berlin                         107
    Germany                       208                             London                         97
    Greece                        189                             Paris                          73
    Poland                        174                             Poznan                         65
    Australia                     168                             Amsterdam                      59
    France                        163                             Melbourne                      57
    Netherlands                   139                             Lisbon                         54
    Spain                         124                             Istanbul                       52

Top 5 posts
    Date    Post                                                                                 Type        Reach
    12/08   18 August is the deadline for applications for the Atelier for Young Festival        LINK        Reach: 1619
            Managers Düsseldorf!                                                                             Reactions: 34
            Dates: 23-29 May 2020                                                                            Clicks: 50
            Place: Düsseldorf, Germany
            Co-organiser: Theater der Welt - ITI - Intercultural Theatre Institute
    28/10   We are very happy to announce that one of the participants of the Atelier Valletta   PHOTO       Reach: 1366
            will join us again, but this time as a mentor during the Atelier NEXT, the 16th                  Reactions: 288
            edition of the Atelier for Young Festival Managers. We are speaking of Erica                     Clicks: 270
            McCalman, production manager at Ballardong (Noongar). To know more about
            her and be updated about the news, click here
    13/11   Today the 16th edition of the Atelier for Young Festival Managers, taking place in   PHOTO       Reach: 1303
            the Eurometropolis region of Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai and Valenciennes (BE/FR),                    Reactions: 59
            organised in partnership with the International Arts Festival NEXT, kicked off at                Clicks: 76
            the Budafabriek in Kortrijk. Kristof Jonckheere, Director Buda Arts Centre and the
            mentors Airan Berg, Andrea Caruso Saturnino, Erica McCalman, Brett Pyper, Ong

                                                                                                                   19
Keng SEN and Danny Yung introduced themselves to the international group of 35
          passionate festival makers.
          Tonight the Atelier NEXT will officially open with a public ceremony in the Palais
          de la Bourse in Lille https://www.thefestivalacademy.eu/en/news/
  28/11   #OpportunityAlert for Festival Makers                                                PHOTO   Reach: 1260
          Only few days left to apply for The Festival Academy 2020 Training Programmes!               Reactions: 24
          Don't miss this unique opportunity and apply at the following links:                         Clicks: 121
          - Digital (R)Evolution: Communication and New Technologies Training, 22-25
          January, Antwerp (BE) Link
          - Atelier Dusseldorf (DE), 23-29 May Link
          -Atelier Kampala (UG), 14-20 August Link
  17/11   After a day of press silence, due to the intensive and inspiring working sessions    PHOTO   Reach: 1258
          and great performances, we are back to share with you what is happening during               Reactions: 29
          the 16th edition of the Atelier for Young Festival Managers!                                 Clicks: 170

      The Festival Academy 2019
The Festival Academy, an initiative of the European Festivals Association, offers capacity building and
peer-to-peer exchange for young festival managers from Europe and the world. It contributes to
inter-continental relations and cultural diplomacy through a series of capacity sharing programmes
worldwide.

We have trained 700+ young festival makers from 80+ countries and all continents in 20+ countries
over the last 12 years. We are a growing global community of creative individuals and young festival
leaders.
We organized training in Europe, Asia, Africa and are planning next activities in Europe, Asia, Africa,
Canada, Latin America and US.
 Activity                                Date/Place                   Description
 Festival Production                     16-19 January 2019,          4th edition of the Festival Production
 Management Training Module              Antwerp – Belgium            Management Training in collaboration with
 I ANTWERP 2019                                                       deSingel International Art Campus
 Festival Production                     February-December            Placements in different festivals all over the
 Management Training Module              2019 – Worldwide             world as part of the Festival Production
 II 2019                                                              Management Training
 Festival Readings Sochi                 15-17 February               10 edition of the Festival Readings, in
                                         2019,                        partnership with the Winter International Arts
                                         Sochi – Russia               Festival
 Atelier for Greek Festival              15-17 February 2019          Tailor Made Atelier for Festival Managers in
 Managers ELEUSIS 2021                   Elefsina – Greece            collaboration with ELEUSIS 2021
 Atelier for Young Festival              23-29 March 2019             Atelier for Young Festival Managers in
 Managers Valletta                       Valletta – Malta             collaboration with Festivals Malta
 The Festival Academy General            14 April 2019                General Assembly in the framework of the EFA
 Assembly 2019                           Lisbon – Portugal            General Assembly and conference – Lisbon, 14
                                                                      -17 April 2019
 The Festival Academy Network            15-16 April 2019             7th Academy atelier alumni network meeting
 Meeting 2019                            Lisbon – Portugal            in the framework of the EFA General Assembly
                                                                      and conference taking place in Lisbon
 Festival Readings Elefsina              June 2019,                   11th edition of the readings, in collaboration
                                         Elefsina – Greece            with ELEUSIS 2021 and Synikismos Festival
 Festival Readings Athens                August 2019                  12th edition in collaboration with Athens
                                         Athens – Greece              Festival
 Atelier for Young Festival              November 2019,               16th Atelier for Young Festival Managers in
 Managers NEXT 2019                      Eurometropolis               collaboration with Next Festival
                                         Belgium – France

                                                                                                             20
Ongoing throughout the year

    1. Prospection visits and meetings future activities 2019-2020 and beyond
    2. Activities development (Production Managers Training, Readings…)
    3. Preparation activities 2019 and beyond – options in discussion:
       - Activities in partnership with ELEUSIS 2021
       - MENA Region (Beirut, Zoukak, Module III – 2020)
       - Santiago a Mil + Jonathan Mills: the first joint Atelier – Summit in Chile 2021
    4. Networking, representation
    5. Communication all partners involved
    6. Organisation management (accountancy, personnel, GA and Board meetings…)
    7. Application / funding dossiers (EU, Flemish Community.) fundraising

        FestivalFinder.eu - Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe (EFFE)
EFFE is the expression of the European Commission’s cultural policy for festivals. The programme’s
main strength is the immense variety of arts festivals that benefit from EFFE. EFFE includes today:

        A communication channel to millions of audiences and citizens
        The 1500 EFFE Labels for remarkable Arts Festivals
        The EFFE Awards highlighting certain features identified by the EFFE International Jury
        The 31 EFFE Hubs, decentralized festivals contact points in 31 countries
        Access to audiences: FestivalFinder.eu presenting 2250 arts festivals in 45 countries to
         audiences worldwide
        The Annual Festivals Summit as the central gathering for all concerning festivals
        The Travelling Arts Fund as a next step is suggests to increase real artistic collaboration
         between all kinds of festivals across borders.
        Applied system for interaction, research, knowledge and technical knowledge for evaluation
        An international Jury of high-level festival personalities

Now: EFFE’s preparatory action concluded in September 2019. In our focus: the European Festivals Prize
as of 2021.

Why a Festivals Prize in Creative Europe 2021

Under the motto ‘investing in people’, the power of festivals’ part in Europe’s cultural landscape is
without question. Arts festivals are unique in the overall arts ecology. They are trans-disciplinary; their
artistic practice differs from theatre houses, operas or other cultural centres. They are audience
development tools; they are specific in their business development; they are specific for Europe:
today’s arts festivals formula is copied / adopted in other continents. That is why also their needs are
different: international cooperation and co-productions in the field of arts festivals seem evident for
the big ones, but out of scope for middle sized, smaller ones. Although this is the field where new
artistic work on a smaller scale should be developed and tested.

Arts Festivals are a specific formula in their artistic practice, organisational set up, business model also
under the angle of Europe’s competitiveness. To include a basis for further actions into the programme
therefore makes sense; also because the actions taken and budgets invested in the past 5 years make
sense to be continued and seriously developed. The whole festivals sector, with as the intermediator
EFA and its members, are ready and prepared to do so.

                                                                                                         21
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