News
Arts Festivals Summit 2017 concluded in Wiesbaden
8 May 2017
On 5 May, the European Festivals Association concluded its Arts Festivals Summit 2017 hosted by the Rheingau Musik Festival with a great success. 230 festival makers (EFA Members, EFFE Label Festivals and Atelier Alumni) met in Wiesbaden at the invitation of Mr. Michael Herrmann and his Rheingau Musik Festival team for 3 intense days of inspiring exchanges with colleagues and friends from all over the world.
At the Arts
Festivals Summit Europe’s 715 remarkable
Festivals 2017-2018 received the EFFE
Label in the presence of European Commission and Parliament. On behalf of
the EFFE International Jury Sir Jonathan
Mills delivered the keynote speech. Last but not least the EFA members
elected a new President, Governor Jan
Briers of the Federation of Music Festivals in Flanders, who becomes EFA’s
6th president since 1952. Also his colleague board members were
elected during the General Assembly with some new faces as well as experienced
board members. It also was the occasion to honour
EFA’s longstanding President Darko Brlek, who left the function as
president after 12 years.
The Summit
discussed the hot topics of festival making: new audiences and connecting
different cultures through festival programming, cultural diplomacy, new
business models and the work with both established and emerging artists. “We
have insisted that artists be fluent in the language of bureaucracy; instead we
should insist that bureaucrats learn the language of poetry” as Sir Jonathan
Mills said provocatively in his keynote speech.
On behalf of the EFA Board and Team, the European Festivals Association thanks Rheingau Musik Festival’s Director Michael Herrmann and his team for their hospitality and the excellent organization of the 3 days in the Rheingau. The Summit showed the international participants coming from more than 40 countries the best that the Rheingau region has to offer: beautiful sights from Schloss Vollrads, the astonishing Casino Gesellschaft in Wiesbaden, the amazing Hillary Hahn in the Frankfurter Alte Oper and delicious wine in Kloster Eberbach as well as Schloss Johannesberg.
During the
formal General Assembly on 5 May in the Hessischer Landtag, the first time that
the parliament opened its doors to non-parliamentarians, the members elected a
new board, Vice-Presidents and President, Governor Jan Briers (President of the
Federation of Music Festivals in Flanders). We also welcomed back Semana de
Música Religiosa de Cuenca to the EFA Family.
The
Assembly concluded with the announcement of the Arts Festival Summit Ljubljana from 11-14 April 2018, hosted by
Darko Brlek and his team of the Ljubljana Festival. Please save the date.
EFA Board
2017:
President: Governor
Jan Briers, Arts Festivals Summit 2017 concluded in Rheingau
Vice-Presidents:
- Paul
Dujardin, Centre for Fine Arts Brussels (BOZAR)
- Herman
Schnitzer, Meraner Musikwochen/Settimane Musicali Meranesi
Board Members:
- Colm
Croffy, Association of Irish Festivals and Events
- Colm
Croffy, Association of Irish Festivals and Events
- Sophie
Detremmerie, Flanders Festival Brussels
- Pineiro
Nagy, Estoril Lisbon Festival
- Francesco
Maria Perrotta, ItaliaFestival
- Ruta
Prusevičienė, Vilnius Festival
- Filiz
Sarper, International Izmir Festival
- Ibrahim
Spahic, Sarajevo Winter Festival
- Jovanka Višekruna Janković, Serbian Festivals Association