Board member since 2021

Name of the candidate: Tamar Brüggemann
Job title: Director
Age: 42
Gender: female
Citizenship/origin: The Netherlands
Artistic/geographical experience: Wonderfeel is a Dutch festival whose unique format - modelled on pop festivals and based on classical music - means it is frequently invited to conferences across Europe. With our artistic programming, we collaborate with various European partners, not only by inviting guest programmers to shape a focus on their own countries (Turkey, UK, Western Balkans, Morocco), but also by making new compositions travel throughout Europe and beyond, for instance with our own production "They Have Waited Long Enough" (18 performances in 6 countries) and our project "Festivals for Compassion" (more than 90 performances across 22 countries). 

Name of the organisation / festival: Wonderfeel
Membership category: Individual
Country of the organisation / festival: The Netherlands
Festival art disciplines: classical music and poetry
Annual turnover: €1.300.000
Number of visitors per edition: 9.500

Motivation: Since becoming part of EFA, starting with my role on the EFFE jury, then as a member representing Wonderfeel in 2021, and as a board member for the past 3 years, I have been struck by the diversity in how each of us organises our festivals. We come together from all corners of Europe, with our own cultural traditions, funding structures, degrees of local integration, varying levels of government recognition or interference. Yet, what strikes me most, is our own diversity: the multitude of artistic genres and event scales, and the topics we explore through our artistic and social programming.

If anything unites us, it is our capacity to dream. In the midst of social turmoil, political shifts, climate change, inflation, and some of us even under the most dangerous conditions, we organise our festivals as anchors keeping us tethered to the hope, or even the certainty that things can and will get better.

Recent events have starkly underlined how we are not islands unto ourselves. The European Festivals Association allows us to cultivate close connections share ideas, our concerns and best practices, values, and principles. Its larger context makes us look beyond ourselves and challenges us to imagine the future of the performing arts in the next 5, 15 and 50 years.

At Wonderfeel, we prioritise accessibility, facilitating meaningful encounters, celebrating connectedness through diversity – in our festival programming and all activities throughout the season – and fostering happiness. In past years, I have played an active role, with a touch of Dutch directness, on EFA’s board. In the coming years, I would like to do more to improve the accessibility of EFA, leveraging the reach of EFFE, EFFEA, and The Festival Academy. And just as I push for environmental sustainability at Wonderfeel and with the European Festivals Forest, I would like to continue my efforts to make EFA greener.

Meeting you all, on and offline, has made me realise once again that festivals in Europe are organised by the most wonderful, committed people and how important our connection through EFA is. Knowing that the amazing EFA team shares the same drive to make our world a little bit better, I'm keen to continue serving on the EFA board for a second term. It would be an honour and a joy.