Name of the candidate: Andrzej Kosendiak
Job title: General Director
Age: 68
Gender: Male
Citizenship/origin: Polish
Artistic/geographical experience: My artistic activities are mainly focused on music. I have experience in cooperation with countries such as: Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Norway, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Georgia, USA, China, Thailand, Ireland and many others.

Name of the organisation / festival: National Forum of Music / International Festival Wratislavia Cantans
Membership category: Individual festival
Country of your organisation / festival: Poland
Festival art disciplines: Music
Annual turnover: €1,5 million
Number of visitors per edition: 10.000

Motivation: Wratislavia Cantans has been a member of EFA for 46 years and during this period it has actively participated in programmes under the auspices of EFA, benefitting from the forms of cooperation offered by EFA. Wrocław has hosted the General Assembly twice. Personally, after taking over the position of General Director of the Festival, I had the opportunity to host you in our city.

My experience and professional activity cover three areas that are interwoven and complementary: I am an artist; as a conductor and an active musician, I have given concerts in most European countries, America and Asia. I have made several dozen album recordings.

At the same time, I work as an arts manager running the biggest music institution in Poland: the Witold Lutosławski National Forum of Music. NFM is the operator of a modern concert hall with several resident ensembles, including: NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra, Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, NFM Choir, children's choirs and a number of chamber groups. The NFM is also the organiser of seven festivals, including the International Festival Wratislavia Cantans.

The third area of my activity is education. I am a professor at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, I also run projects for young musicians in other European countries.

I believe that this triple experience: as a performer, artist, organiser and teacher, gives me an interesting perspective of observing and also creating changes in the organisation of artistic events and the development of performance practice. These areas may seem different, but their common feature is the social space in which they function. I think that it is crucial to build relationships with artists, audiences, business partners, local communities and young people.

I am convinced that there is great potential in much closer relations between festivals, especially in the area of programming and promotion, as well as in giving opportunities and support to young artists in building their professional careers.

My dream is to develop collaborations in the field of artistic programming of our festivals. I would like to bring together artistic directors of festivals and artists who are the faces of these events, to use their knowledge and potential to build artistic bridges.

I think it would be interesting for EFA to take advantage of the experience of a country in the middle of Europe, where the traditions of the East and the West meet.