News
Launch of EFA BOOKS 2: Give, Get or Get Off! Challenges of cultural networking today
5 February 2008
The European Festivals Association (EFA) presents EFA BOOKS 2: ‘Give, Get or Get Off! Challenges of cultural networking today!’. ‘Give, Get or Get Off!’ is a follow up of the conference ‘Cultural Networks at Work’ that was organized by EFA and the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) in Brussels in June 2007. The book brings together results of the conference which was attended by 40 networks, 350 delegates from 50 countries. Altogether it is presenting excerpts of the discussion sessions as well as a series of contributions of experienced networkers on the challenges and opportunities of cultural networking today. Networking is an all time phenomenon. In the last years the popularity of networking in the cultural sector has steadily increased. Still, it seems that cultural organisations struggle with the challenges which networks offer. ‘Give, get or get off’ is a critical reflection on the efficiency of networking in the cultural sector today. It throws light on its economic, artistic, organisational, political and geographical dimensions and aims to stimulate the discussion on the utility of cultural networking today. EFA BOOKS 2 follows the first issue within the EFA BOOKS series entitled ‘Still so much to be done: Challenges for Culture in Europe’ featuring among the others European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. Soon, the EFA BOOKS series will be extended with EFA BOOKS 3 ‘Cahier de l’Atelier. Arts Festivals for the Art’s sake?’. This third publication has a strong artistic approach, focusing on the challenges of artistic festival management and programming. It features experienced festival pioneers such as Gerard Mortier, Bernard Faivre d’Arcier and many others. Hugo De Greef, EFA Secretary General who writes the introductory essay in EFA BOOKS 2, considers the EFA BOOKS series as “one of the best ways to engage in issues that are to the concern of festivals while at the same reaching out to civil society and contributing to the cultural debate in Europe in a sustainable way.” The EFA BOOKS series is distributed among a large public including EFA members, the festival sector, national and European politicians, cultural and civil society networks, universities and the press. All issues are offered at the EFA e-shop on www.efa-aef.eu.