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Quote of the Week
“A festival is a unique occasion for meeting different people and different cultures. Together with artists who are real masters of communication through art, a festival is a strong builder of bridges between different cultures - and even between civilizations."
Ján Figel’, former European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture, and Youth
Görlitz, 2006
European Atelier for Young Festival Managers 2006
Looking back at a successful first European Atelier for Young Festival Managers in Görlitz, Germany, May 15-May 21, 2006.
The first European Atelier for Young Festival Managers, organized by the European Festivals Association (EFA) in cooperation with the Institut for Kulturelle Infrastruktur Sachsen (IKS) and Theorem, and with the support of the Felix Meritis Foundation and the Amsterdam/Maastricht Summer Academy and Dartington International Summer School, took place in the historical city of Görlitz, on the German-Polish border, from May 15 until May 21, 2006.
The Atelier was the opportunity to meet both experienced festival leaders in an intimate context, as well as the possibility to meet young colleagues. It’s very rare in our specific professional context to meet so many young people together. To me, that was food for thought.
Tobias Kokkelmans (Festival Van Vlaanderen)
1st Atelier participant
From twenty different countries on three continents, thirty-three motivated young participants with widely diverse cultural and professional backgrounds - from students in arts management to young managers working for large established organizations to beginning curators running their own innovative international festivals - came together for a concentrated and rigorous one-week program of workshops, lectures, and cultural events.
The term Atelier was chosen to emphasize the hands-on and interactive nature of this unique course, which was built up of a wide range of activities.
"Car le vrai rôle d'un festival est d'aider les artistes à oser, à entreprendre des projets..." The motto of the Atelier was borrowed from a lecture on the future of festivals ("Comment donner un avenir aux festivals?" link) by Bernard Faivre d'Arcier, long-term artistic director of the Avignon Festival. Mr. Faivre d'Arcier's argument for the festival as a privileged environment in which artists are allowed to take risks and can create and show the kind of new and experimental work that is generally not presented in conventional institutions was chosen as the theme for the week in order to place particular emphasis on the artistic aspects of festival management.
The necessity and consequences of taking artistic risks was a central theme in all interventions during the course. Other questions and themes centered around the roles festivals can play in the development of the artistic scene of a specific location and in the definition of a city or region's cultural identity, possible ways of connecting with various local communities and of developing audiences, and the importance to a festival's success and longevity of continuously assessing and redefining its identity and artistic vision.
This Atelier brought me much more than expected in term of network, knowledge about festival management, inspiration, reflection and self confidence. I really hope that EFA will continue this workshop every year for other young festival managers to take advantage of this wonderful offer!!!
Emilie Labarchède (International Chamber Music Festival Stavanger)
1st Atelier participant
Participants explored and questioned established and cutting-edge festival formats and developed exciting new ideas under the professional and extremely generous guidance of renowned festival managers, including Steve Austen (Felix Meritis Foundation), Bernard Faivre d'Arcier (former Director of the Festival d'Avignon), Rose Fenton (co-founder of LIFT, London International Theatre Festival), Gavin Henderson (Principal of Trinity College of Music in London), Nele Hertling (Director of the "Berlin Artist Program" of the DAAD), Tzvetelina Iossifova (Co-Director of the Red House Center for Culture and Debate in Sofia), Nevenka Koprivsek (Director of Bunker Productions in Ljubljana), Brian McMaster (Director of Edinburgh International Festival), Gerard Mortier (Director of the Opéra National de Paris) and Tom Stromberg (Director EXPO Hannover 2000 art program).
The atmosphere during the workshop was open and positive, the work schedule full and demanding, but also incredibly productive and stimulating. The reactions at the end of the week were very positive. Participants came away with fresh ideas, new energy and self-confidence, and, maybe most importantly, with a whole new network and endless possibilities for future international exchanges and long-term collaborations.
Participants and presenters stayed in touch and many exciting new projects grew out of this network established in Görlitz.
The complete schedule of this first Atelier, information about workshop leaders and activities may be found at the links below (under Documents related to the European Atelier). Photographs are available in the EFA Photo Gallery.
Organizations and individuals interested in receiving information about this initiative and about how to apply for the next edition may contact EFA at atelier (at) efa-aef.eu.
Documents related to the 1st Atelier
Atelier 2006
Application Form
Call for interest
- Offener Aufruf zur Bekundung von Interesse (Feb-2006)
- Public call for interest (Feb-2006)
- Appel d'intérêt public (Feb-2006)
Press release
- EFA launches European Atelier for young festival managers 2006 (Feb-2006)
- EFA lance l'Atelier Européen pour des jeunes managers de festival 2006 (Feb-2006)
- EFA startet Europäisches Atelier für junge Festivalmanager 2006 (Feb-2006)
- First edition of the European Atelier for Young Festival Managers 2006 great success (Jun-2006)
