Provoking curiosity

Posted on 8 May 2013 by European Festivals Association

“The most attractive aspect to me was developing a programme over a longer period of time for a very concentrated moment. And I was interested in working in a foreign country after having worked so long in the international context. It was a great opportunity to face a new audience, address different expectations, and work with a new team. But the main argument for me was to have more time to go deeper into the content of projects, bind them together dramaturgically with a thematic focus,” explains Maria Magdalena Schwaegermann, former Artistic Director of the Zürcher Theater Spektakel in Switzerland, in an interview for the latest publication of the European Festivals Association (EFA) – “Inside/Insight Festivals. 9 Festival Directors — 9 Stories”. Continue reading →

Visiting Ankara – the capital of Turkey

Posted on 3 May 2013 by Kathrin Deventer

View of the Old City from the Castle of Ankara

I have never been to Ankara – the capital of Turkey. This is probably true for many who travelled to Turkey several times to spend some holiday at the Aegais or the Riveira, or to dive into the rich cultural life of Istanbul. Ankara does not figure as the first destination. Ankara is the capital, and I imagined something like Canberra in Australia: a city which has been designated capital because of certain reasons; but not because it represents the social, economic, cultural centre of the country. But I was wrong. Continue reading →

Through the Gate of Pomegranates (2). Back and again.

Posted on 26 April 2013 by Jelle Dierickx

Festival Life 2013. That’s the title of this conference day. Working day, to be precise. Visiting Granada is of course fun, but all participants came with a mission and everybody knows that a vibrant cultural and festival life is only there thanks to the blood, sweat and tears of those who carry the “holy festival flame”. Continue reading →

Through the Gate of Pomegranates

Posted on 24 April 2013 by Jelle Dierickx

A freshly mowed lawn. That’s what Granada smells like once the door of the airplane is opened. The two-day experience of the senses can begin. Before having a short night rest I meet Eva, Kathrin, Nathalie and Jacqueline at the entrance of the hotel. The team is well prepared for the storm tomorrow, and Eva immediately asks some deep questions about a possible future for Europe. Yes, this is clearly an EFA meeting. Not one second is wasted. Continue reading →

Concrete & Conflict: Re-imagining Place through a City of Culture

Posted on 17 April 2013 by Jonathan May

30 years ago the parade ground at Ebrington in Derry-Londonderry echoed to the sound of soldiers marching on what was one of the most modern military forts in Europe. In this City of Culture year for Derry the former barracks are once again full to capacity – but this time with locals and visitors eager to participate in a parade ground which has been transformed into the city’s newest public entertainment space.

Excited by the prospect of creating new stories with local artists, dancers and musicians in Derry-Londonderry, LIFT jumped at the chance to take part in the exciting year-long programme of cultural activity as part of the City of Culture 2013, many events of which will be held at Ebrington. Continue reading →

Technology creates emotion

Posted on 10 April 2013 by European Festivals Association

Lille Lungegårdsvannet is simply the most visible spot in Bergen. This octagonal water right in the city of Bergen is 700 meters in circumference, and is not an artificial lake. It will be under greater focus in the evening of 22 May, as the 2013 Bergen International Festival officially opens outdoors with an especially composed electronic concert called Murmuration. It is set within an ever-changing multimedia-light-sculpture using latest high-end-technology in the form of 35 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), LED-architecture and artful light design. Guest blogger Hjørdis Losnedahl, Communications Coordinator at the Bergen International Festival, gives some more insight into the mutlimedia production.

Continue reading →

Lingering limbo: the festival scene in Belgrade

Posted on 5 April 2013 by Inge Ceustermans

“What would you do if I told you that you have zero Euro for your festival?” asked Katarina Zivanovic, City of Belgrade Secretary for Culture, addressing an international audience at the opening of the European Festivals Association’s (EFA) meeting of its 2013 Collective and Affiliate Members at the City Hall in Belgrade last month. Welcome to Belgrade…!

This statement was actually made a few months earlier during a meeting the Secretary for Culture held with all festival directors of Belgrade on the cultural budget; Ms. Zivanovic not only said this as a provocation! Authorities see this as a tool for innovation and are actually implementing it. Until today, Belgrade’s festivals don’t know precisely what their budget will be for this year. Continue reading →

Sounds of your memory: co-creation of a musical portrait of Edinburgh

Posted on 3 April 2013 by Jackie Westbrook

Edinburgh residents, visitors, and fans and performers at Edinburgh International Festival are being called on to send in sound files which capture their memories of Edinburgh, and its transformation into the Festival City each August.

What is the first sound you hear in the morning? What is your favourite Festival memory? What does your street sound like? We are inviting people to record or describe these sounds and to send them in through the Festival website and SoundCloud to provide composer Tod Machover with the basis of a creative work which he will then continue to develop with public interaction through to the beginning of July. Continue reading →

What does an image sound like?

Posted on 27 March 2013 by Nina Calopek

On Friday, 5 April 2013, at 8 pm, one day before the music opening of the Music Biennale Zagreb (MBZ), the opening of Ivan Marušić Klif’s exhibition at the Student Centre Gallery will take place. I.M. Klif is one of the most recognisable and most interesting names of the Croatian new media art scene. His continuous artistic work on the “borders of genres”, his questioning of possibilities offered by media, as well as his open approach ensured him a prominent place in contemporary visual arts. He has been dealing for many years now with exploring the relationships between sound and image and their manipulation. Continue reading →

Small is beautiful

Posted on 13 March 2013 by European Festivals Association

Robyn Archer (c) Heide Smith

“I have come to most things by accident. It never occurred to me that I could ever be a festival director and there were no recognisable models to follow,” Robyn Archer starts to share her insights into festival making in the latest publication by the European Festivals Association (EFA), entitled “Inside/Insight Festivals. 9 Festival Directors — 9 Stories”, the fifth volume in the EFA BOOKS series. Festival making is the “art of juxtaposition”, says Robyn. “The director must have the skill to combine old with new, international with local, familiar with unfamiliar, so that a seamless beast emerges, much much greater than the simple sum of its parts.” Continue reading →

Festival Bytes

Festival Bytes Blog of the European Festivals Association (EFA)