News

EFFE presented at the European Parliament

21 May 2015

On 16 April, EFA Secretary General Kathrin Deventer and Hugo De Greef (EFFE Co-Directors) presented EFFE - Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe and its current results in the European Parliament during the meeting of the Committee on Culture and Education, chaired by Silvia Costa. Members of the European Parliament were convinced about the importance of this pilot project and, as Silvia Costa underlined, “of the importance of sharing knowledge and a network among the festivals and its audience.”

EFFE was presented for the first time in 2011 to the European Parliament and proposed to the European Commission as a pilot project. Its mission is to share a recognition of arts and cultural festivals’ work more widely across the festival landscape and include as many festivals as possible into a common programme supported by the European Union. The idea of EFFE was born from the notion that the European Union budget could further its impact for each euro spent on festivals, both broadening and deepening its effect.

EFA received the mandate to implement the project and from 2014 set up a unique structure of 24 hubs, our national representatives, and more than 100 festival experts who evaluated over 900 festival label applications. An international jury chaired by Vincent Baudriller was put in place to take the final decision about the EFFE Labels and Awards that will be presented in September 2015.

Karel Bartak, Head of Unit Creative Europe, said: “EFFE is starting to make a difference in the festival landscape and in the second year the project has to become more solid. We are exploring with the European Festivals Association how to move this pilot project forward, whether it is a prolongation of the pilot project or a preparatory action. In a few year the Label has to become an integral part of the cultural landscape in Europe and focus of the priorities of Creative Europe.”

With the support of Silvia Costa and European Commissioner Tibor Navracsics, EFFE is working to ensure the future of the platform; to make it grow, flourish and revitalise the festival landscape across Europe.

Watch the presentation and Q&A session here.