EFA BOOKS 5 – “Inside/Insight Festivals. 9 Festival Directors — 9 Stories”

A festival is a complex creature that requires careful tending and nurturing. Each festival director brings their own vision, experience, intuition, ambition and inspiration to the process of shaping it — each negotiates the politics, economics, and the social realities of the city where it takes place.

Nine directors from four continents who have headed or are still at the head of festivals share their thoughts; their dreams and dilemmas; the problems they have encountered, and how they succeeded or failed to solve them. And above all: how they established artistic landmarks in the times and environments that were their own.

Robyn Archer is a key figure in Australian festival life; Maria Magdalena Schwaegermann has left marks on the German, Swiss and Australian festival landscapes; Serina Chen has been a fireball of activity on the Taiwanese cultural scene; Belgian Frie Leysen is one of the most experienced personalities on the international theatre scene; Thorunn Sigurdardottir sheds light on culture in Iceland, where she works; Rose Fenton and Lucy Neal co-founded a highly successful festival in the UK that is still up and running; Carla van Zon looks at the arts and cultural exchanges in New Zealand; and Ching-Lee Goh has contributed immensely to further the place of Singaporean artists and festival networking.

EFA BOOKS 4 - “Dialogue. Festivals Act for an Intercultural Society”

In the follow-up of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, EFA BOOKS 4 “Dialogue. Festivals Act for an Intercultural Society” casts the immense potential of festivals to enable DIALOGUE in societies, to move borders and remove barriers. “Artists think about society, criticise what they see, analyse deficits and challenges, while simultaneously offering visions for the future. Festivals channel this visionary and imaginative artistic force in order to expose audiences to what is innovative, original, excellent, to what is the ‘other’. That is the inherent task of a festival: to create exceptional festive moments of dialogue between the arts and the public.”.

“Dialogue” is an inspiring collection of articles, interviews and discussions; an insightful anthology of different festivals’ itineraries, urban realities and cultural approaches to cities and their inhabitants; a compilation of the thoughts of seven festival directors about festivals’ roles in our diverse societies.

Contributors:
Hortense Archambault (Avignon Festival)
Per Boye Hansen (Bergen International Festival)
Joachim Sartorius (Berlin)
Enrique Gámez Ortega (Granada)
Yeşim Gürer Oymak (Istanbul)
Yossi Tal-Gan (Jersualem)
Ibrahim Spahić (Sarajevo)

The authors shed light on festivals paving the way towards an intercultural society. Their views are preceded by a foreword written by Commission Director General Odile Quintin and an introduction by EFA Secretary General Kathrin Deventer.

More details about EFA BOOKS 4 and order form here.

Please read our press release on the launch of EFA BOOKS 4 in English , French and German.

Find out more about the Arts Festivals’ Declaration on Intercultural Dialogue here.

EFA BOOKS 3 - “Cahier de l’Atelier. Arts festivals for the sake of art?“

EFA BOOKS 3, “Cahier de l’Atelier. Arts festivals for the sake of art?“ has been published in October 2008. “Cahier de l’Atelier” is an invaluable reference book about arts festivals, full of vivid personal anecdotes, thoughtful insights and inspirational, daring visions. In it, the European Festivals Association has given the chair to renowned directors Bernard Faivre d’Arcier, Frans de Ruiter, Gerard Mortier, Nele Hertling, Sir Brian McMaster, Gavin Henderson, Rose Fenton, Darko Brlek, Tom Stromberg and Ritsaert ten Cate; with an introduction by Hugo De Greef and a foreword by European Commissioner Ján Figel’. Each of them has invaluable experiences to share; and each of them shares the view that whatever their differences, all arts festivals must be there for art’s sake. In “Cahier de l’Atelier”, these men and women evoke their experiences and the challenge of creating arts festivals that enrich artistic expression.

This publication, as well as the one-week training course ‘European Atelier for Young Festival Managers’, express the EFA’s commitment to the passing on of knowledge, and the primacy of artistic intentions. Find out more about the Atelier for Young Festival Managers!

More details about EFA BOOKS 3 and order form here.

Please read our press release on the launch of EFA BOOKS 3 in English, German and French.

EFA BOOKS 2 - “Give, Get or Get Off. Challenges of cultural networks today”

EFA BOOKS 2, “Give, Get or Get Off. Challenges of cultural networks today”, published in March 2008 presents the outcomes of the conference ‘Cultural Networks at Work’, which was organized by the European Festivals Association (EFA) and the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) in Brussels in June 2007. The Book is offering some general conclusions, a series of presentations but also personal statements about cultural networks and their challenges and opportunities for networking in the cultural sector. The BOOK reflects the divers’ statements and point of views made during the conference and aims to enrich and stimulate the debate about the efficiency, utility and tasks of cultural networks in an international context.

Find out more about the Conference ‘Cultural Networks at Work’!

More details about EFA BOOKS 2 and order form here.

Please read our press release on the launch of EFA BOOKS 2.

EFA BOOKS 1 - “Still so much to be done. Challenges for Culture in Europe”

EFA BOOKS 1 is entitled “Still so much to be done. Challenges for Culture in Europe”. This anthology has been published in December 2006 on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Denis de Rougemont, founder and first president of EFA. It features prominent European cultural scientists, professionals and politicians including Anne-Marie Autissier (Paris VIII University), Frans de Ruiter (Leiden University), Rik Pinxten (Gent University), Dr. Volker Hassemer (Spokesperson of the initiative “A Soul for Europe”) and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso (nota bene a student of Denis de Rougemont). The authors study the notion of culture from a historical, philosophical, political, cultural and sometimes very personal perspective. The way they draw the line from immediate post-war integration to the meaning of culture today and its challenges in the future makes this anthology an important reflection on the key role the arts, artistic expressions, cultural networks, such as EFA and the civil society engagement. The Book has been republished in a second edition in 2007.

More details about EFA BOOKS 1 and order form here.

Please read our press release on the launch of EFA BOOKS 1 in English, German or French.