The Varna Summer International Music Festival launched a broadcast project entitled “The Festivals of Europe” with an interview of Kathrin Deventer, Secretary General of the European Festivals Association. The interview was broadcasted on 2 May 2010 on Radio Varna (Branch of the Bulgarian National Radio) – at www.radiovarna.com – and dedicated to EFA. From May 2010 until May 2011 – finishing just before the 2011 EFA General Assembly and Conference that is to take place in Varna and hosted by the Varna Summer International Music Festival – interviews with EFA members will be broadcasted on Radio Varna at a weekly basis. The kick-off interview with Mrs Deventer (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3) focused on EFA as the major network for festivals in Europe and beyond, its mission and its initiatives. Once again the Secretary General underlined the importance of “joining forces” in order to make the voice of festivals heard and to promote the power of arts and culture in general. The aim of the project is to attract the attention of the local audience to festival activities and especially to the values of EFA: The festival Varna Summer is eager to promote EFA’s activities. The series of interviews “is a wonderful collaboration,” said Kathrin Deventer: “It is such a good way of showing how important an international network can be in a local or in a national situation.” Plamena Tsoneva from the Varna Summer Festival stresses that the “main goal is to present both the cultural diversity and the common values of EFA members. With this project, we do hope to enrich our audience and all of us through the advantages of the radio network.” From now on, every Sunday one festival will be spotlighted. The presentations include a description of each festival, an interview about the latest festival edition with the director or a representative, and audio recordings of the festival programmes. This is a great opportunity to re-create the festival atmosphere with live-recorded music from each festival. Interviews can be listened to live at Radio Varna on www.radiovarna.com every Sunday in Bulgarian language with wonderful music provided by EFA members: • EET: 7-8pm • CET: 6-7pm • GMT: 5-6pm All interviews are featured on the EFA website. Next broadcast on 9 May is dedicated to the Rheingau Music Festival featuring an interview with the festival’s Director Michael Herrmann. Related links: • EFA Multimedia Gallery (all interviews) • Interview Kathrin Deventer, EFA Secretary General (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3)