EFA Members General Assembly - 25 November 2020 - European Festivals ...
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Contents Agenda..................................................................................................................................................... 3 1 Draft Minutes General Assembly Estoril 2019 ................................................................................ 4 2 Activity Report 2019 ...................................................................................................................... 11 Communication report .......................................................................................................... 14 The Festival Academy 2019 ................................................................................................... 20 FestivalFinder.eu - Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe (EFFE).................................... 21 3 Financial Report 2019.................................................................................................................... 22 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... 22 Explanatory notes.................................................................................................................. 22 Provision details .................................................................................................................... 28 Audit report ........................................................................................................................... 29 4 Activity update 2020 ..................................................................................................................... 38 The Festival Academy ............................................................................................................ 42 FestivalFinder.eu - Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe (EFFE).................................... 44 Perform Europe ..................................................................................................................... 44 Festival Cities Alliance under continual construction ........................................................... 45 Take 5 A system with a result – A result with consequences................................................ 45 Communication Plan update ................................................................................................. 46 5 Budget update 2020 & 2021 ......................................................................................................... 50 6 Activities proposal 2021 ................................................................................................................ 55 Arts Festivals Summit Galway 2021 - programme ................................................................ 58 7 Membership .................................................................................................................................. 60 Application new members .................................................................................................... 60 Membership: a new membership fee policy proposal by the EFA Board ............................. 73 8 Call for EFA Board Elections .......................................................................................................... 76 9 Next EFA General Assemblies / Arts Festivals Summits-proposals ............................................... 77
Agenda 1. Roll call 2. Approval agenda 3. Draft minutes General Assembly Estoril 2019 4. Activity Report 2019 5. Financial Results 2019 6. Activity Update 2020 7. Budget update 2020 8. Activity Proposal 2021 9. Budget 2021 10. Membership 10.1. New members 10.2. New membership fee policy 11. Call for elections: EFA President, Vice-Presidents and Board Members 12. Next General Assemblies 13. Miscellaneous 3
1 Draft Minutes General Assembly Estoril 2019 The General Assembly took place on 15 April 2019 in the Palacio Hotel, Estoril, Portugal Hosted by the Estoril Lisboa Festival Participants Individual members: Al Bustan Festival: Nada Massoud, Laura Lahoud; Audi Sommerkonzerte: Sarah Braun, Ruth Schwerdtfeger; BBC Proms: Alys Jones; Bergen International Festival: Anders Beyer; BOZAR – Center of Fine Arts: Paul Dujardin (EFA Board), Magdalena Liskova; Culturescapes: Jurriaan Cooiman; Estoril Lisbon Festival: Piñeiro Nagy (EFA Board), Rita Marques; European Film Festival Palic: Ilija Tatic, Miroslav Mogorovic; Festival Internacional de Música Castell de Peralada: Oriol Aguila; Festival Internacional de Teatro Clásico de Mérida: Pedro Blanco Vivas, Miriam Garcia Cabezas; Flanders Festival International: Sophie Detremmerie (EFA Board), Greet De Grave, Michel Vermaerke, Veerle Simoens; FMM Sines – Festival Músicas do Mundo: Nuno Mascarenhas, Carlos Seixas; International Festival Wratislavia Cantans: Agata Adamczyck, Agnieszka Wroblewska, Jolanta Galary; International Izmir Festival: Filiz Sarper (EFA Board); Leoš Janáček International Music Festival: Jaromir Javůrek; Les Festivals de Wallonie: Isabelle Bodson; Malta International Arts Festival: Annabelle Stivala, Ruben Zahra; MITO SettembreMusica Festival: Nicola Campogrande; Mittelfest: Haris Pasovic; Mosel Musikfestival: Tobias Scharfenberger, Lilian Erbel; Music Biennale Zagreb: Antun Tomislav Šaban, Margareta Ferek Petric; Ohrid Summer Festival: Natasa Popovic, Robert Momirovski, Nina Momirovska; Prague Spring International Music Festival: Ondrej Zelenka; Ravenna Festival: Franco Belletti; Sochi Winter International Arts Festival: Dmitry Grinchenko, Patrick de Clerck; SoNoRo Festival: Razvan Popovici;; südtirol festival merano . meran: Hermann Schnitzer (Vice-President); Usedom Music Festival: Thomas Hummel; Varna Summer International Music Festival: Mario Hossen, Plamena Tsoneva; Vilnius Festival: Ruta Pruseviciene (EFA Board), Danas Skramtai; Yerevan Perspectives International Music Festival: Sona Hovhannisyan Collective members Association of Irish Festival Events (AOIFE): Colm Croffy (EFA Board), Donagh Moore ;Finland Festivals: Kai Amberla; Federation of Music Festivals in Flanders: Jan Briers (EFA President); France Festivals: Philippe Toussaint; ItaliaFestival: Francesco Maria Perrotta (EFA Board); Rotterdam Festivals: Heleen Hulshof; Serbian Festivals Association: Jovanka Visekruna Jankovic (EFA Board); Spanish Association of Classical Music Festivals: Marta Barrecheguren Fernández; Sweden Festivals: Peter Eriksson; Swissfestivals: Jurriaan Cooiman Affiliate members: European Early Music Network – REMA: Adèle Fourcade Apologised: A. Sakharov International Art Festival, Abu Dhabi Festival, ALTOFEST – International Contemporary Live Arts, Ankara International Music Festival, Aspendos International Opera & Ballet Festival, International Antalya Piano Festival, Berliner Festspiele, Bodrum Music Festival, Bratislava Music Festival, Europalia Arts Festival, George Enescu International Festival and Competition, Budapest Spring Festival (Proxy to Ljubljana Festival), Armel Opera Festival, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Festival Internacional de Musica de Canarias , Semana de Música Religiosa, Edinburgh International Festival, Festival Del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Gdansk Shakespeare Festival, International Festival Sarajevo Winter, Israel Festival Jerusalem, Lucerne Festival, Festival della Valle d'Itria , Mersin International Music Festival (Proxy to Izmir International Music Festival), Stresa Festival, Georgian International Festival of Arts GIFT, European Festival of Performing Arts Timisoara - New Romanian Drama Festival, Utrecht Early 4
Music Festival, Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, Norway Festivals, Czech Association of Music Festivals, Bulgarian Festivals Association a) Roll call President Jan Briers conducts the roll call of members present and represented by proxies. 44 voting delegates are present or represented by proxy, which gives a quorum for voting. b) Approval agenda 1. Roll call 2. Approval agenda 3. Appointment scrutinizers 4. Draft minutes General Assembly Ljubljana 2018 5. Activity report 2018 6. Financial results 2018 7. Activity update 2019 8. Budget update 2019 9. Activities and budget 2020 10. Membership 11. Future EFA General Assemblies 12. Miscellaneous c) Appointment scrutinizers Jan Briers introduces the two proposed scrutinizers: Danas Skramtai from the Vilnius Festival and Nada Massoud from the Al Bustan Festival. The scrutinizers are approved. d) Draft minutes General Assembly Ljubljana 2018 Jan Briers runs through the minutes of the General Assembly Ljubljana. The draft minutes are approved. e) Activity report 2018 Kathrin Deventer refers to the discussion before the start of the General Assembly for most activities that are presented in the activity calendar in the General Assembly Reader. The activity report is approved. f) Financial results 2018 Ruta Pruseviciene explains the financial result in general. As treasurer, she followed the work of the Secretariat. She invites EFA members to continue their commitment to EFA. Kathrin Deventer: There is a slight loss of € 7843,99 on an overall turnover around €1.000.000. A provision is taken for the membership fees that have not been paid. The office continues to work collecting open membership fees from the past years. We are reducing the fees that have not been paid in the past. Referring to the Treasurers’ appeal that each member should take its responsibility, she underlines that without the membership fees, EFA is not able to exist and not able to co-finance the different brands that EFA is running on behalf of its members with the support of the European Commission. 5
In that context, we have the result that is considered as a healthy situation by the board and I as a secretary general. Paul Dujardin: can you explain how the budget can be sustainable in the coming years if we don’t have the European support? Kathrin Deventer: The overall budget 2019 is around €100.000 lower than the budget that was presented in Ljubljana due to the EFFE project. The subvention for EFFE ends in September 2019 and legally there is no opportunity to prolong an EU Preparatory Action. Technically in European Commission terms, either the action is prepared and ready to be included as a fixed program under the next Creative Europe programme, or the program stops. At the moment, discussions are going on with the European Commissioner and the DG EAC to get a commitment from the European Commission but also of all national ministers to ask for a European budget specifically for festivals in 2020 and in the future. We reduce costs for activities, are trying to raise funds on a European and a national level and invest a lot of time in membership development. The board is prepared to further develop the business model of EFA. We are further developing new business model ideas to continue the EFFE project. There is a community of 2000+ festivals that signed up, this community is growing every day. EFA has taken up the mandate to serve the entire festival landscape. For example, we would ask the 2000 festivals for a 30 euro registration fee for FestivalFinder.eu. That would equal €60.000 income, which can even grow as the amount of festivals registering grows. The idea of the board and the secretariat is to build on the volume of the different programs. They are not sustainable on their own but they should not be stopped and the role that EFA has played in the dialogue with the EC and parliament has given us the trust that the commission will not stop working with festivals in the future. Paul Dujardin: We all have to work together and need solidarity with the EFA secretariat. Jan Briers: We also talked about the possibility of a membership category for smart cities but we can also think about universities, they can also help us. The President asks the General Assembly to vote for the Financial Results 2018. By raise of hands, the report is accepted including the audit report. The Board is released of its accountability. g) Activity update 2019 Jan Briers gives the floor to Kathrin Deventer. Kathrin Deventer runs through the activity calendar in the GA Reader. The main points of the activities were already mentioned in the session before. There is a series of 13 clearly formulated invitations that are the basis for the internal conversation between 75 members to work on. We will follow-up all the proposals and input from the last two hours to add to our work program 2019. One of the most important upcoming meetings is the EFFE Awards Ceremony on 26 September in Brussels. Out of the 705 label winners, the EFFE Jury chaired by Sir Jonathan Mills will select a shortlist of around 30-40 festivals that will be highlighted throughout Summer. The Jury meets in Lisbon after the Summit and will come together in May during the Bergen International Festival on invitation of Anders Beyer. All EFA Members are invited to join the celebrations in Brussels. h) Budget update 2019 The adjusted budget 2019 was discussed with the financial results 2018 and is approved once again. 6
h) Activities and budget 2020 Kathrin Deventer runs through the current activity proposal 2020: - The Atelier for Young Festival Managers Kampala (August 2020) is a perfect opportunity for those who have a strategy to work with Africa and build a network of African arts and festival managers - The next Arts Festivals Summit will take place in Galway from 27 to 30 April 2020. That year Galway is European Capital of Culture in Ireland. - In May 2020 the EFA Board is invited to Ohrid by the Ohrid International Summer Festival. This will be the first Board Meeting after the board elections 2020. - More meetings and conference will be communicated through the EFACTS and personal mailings. The budget for 2020 is a reflection of the budget update of 2019. This budget includes the EU Network Grant of €250.000, but does not include funding for the EFFE project. This budget will be adapted to realistic if the funding for the EFFE project is secured, we will know this in June-July and will present it throughout the year and in the General Assembly in Galway. Philippe Toussaint: asks for an explanation of the rising wage cost by 15%. Kathrin Deventer says that this has to do with the legal indexation of wages according to Belgian legislation. This increase in the budget does not increase the number of staff, the team was also reduced from 7 to 6 in September 2018 when Lennart Deroo left and was not replaced, given the financial situation. The increase in the budget of 2020 would allow us to replace Lennart. This is the difference between 2019 and 2020. So it’s both, indexation and the replacement of one more team member who we have not replaced in 2018and 2019. Philippe Toussaint says that EFA has to be careful, with the public funding that is not safe in 2020. Kathrin Deventer replies that this budget will only be applied if the funding and membership fees are secured. The board and the team observe and follow this development very carefully. Jurriaan Cooiman: When I look at the analytical budget for EFA, there is an EU Subvention of €600.000 to be expected in 2020, which gives an overall income for EFA of €900.000. But I think this is partly also for the activities of EFFE and TFA? So actually this subvention is not for EFA only, but it’s meant to be for all projects. So if the subvention doesn’t come, what activities do you reduce? Kathrin Deventer explains that there are two different grants, one of €350.000 that can only be used for EFFE. The other pot of €250.000 is used for EFA as a network and includes the activities of The Festival Academy, that are running under EFA. In the analytic system, we are not splitting the personnel cost per project. We have a separate slide on how the 6 staff members are divided between EFA, TFA and EFFE, and how this is linked to the grants. Jan Briers asks to vote for the budget 2020 by raise of hand. The Budget 2020 is approved. i) Membership Resigning Members Jan Briers refers to the Membership chapter in the GA Reader were the members will see that one festival and two national association (BAFA and Estonian Music Festivals Association) stepped down. He asks Kathrin why Festival d’Aix en Provence left the Association? Kathrin Deventer: explains that the festival is taking one year off, the director changed from Bernard Foccroulle to Pierre Audi, the former director of the Holland Festival. We have already taken contact with him through Frans de Ruiter, former EFA President. He is invited for the next Summit in Galway, 7
and will hopefully accept the invitation. There is a very clear commitment to the association, but because of a very serious budget cut, the festival will rejoin us next year. BAFA has stopped its membership but is still a very active EFFE Hub. Estonian Music Festivals Association have very serious financial problems, and have nobody in their office to work on the association. Then there are two more festivals, the Settimane Musicali al Teatro Olimpico and the International Music Festival "A Tempo", that have to be excluded by the EFA statutes because they have not paid their membership fees for two consecutive years. If a festival cannot pay their third year, it is excluded. Another festival in this situation is Sarajevo Winter Festival directed by Ibrahim Spahic. He couldn’t be here today because the president his festival passed away. 2 of the 3 outstanding fees are paid by the end of April. Membership Applications Kathrin Deventer: First of all, two festivals that have left EFA in the past have rejoined the association: Bergen Festival and CULTURESCAPES. Then there are 10 new applications. Important to note is that we are very clearly growing, as Sophie Detremmerie already said, in terms of disciplines, there is two new film festivals. There are two new associations, one collective from the south of Sweden, and one collective from the Ukraine that are eager to join. There is also a new venue that is joining, the cultural center of Belém, which organizes amongst others the Music Days of Belém. We started again after years of decreasing membership numbers with more members who take an active and responsible role for EFA. - IBIZACINEFEST is presented by Ilija Tatic of the European Film Festival Palić. Philippe Toussaint raises the issue of the membership fees for smaller festivals. It is important to have festivals that are not related to music, but IBIZACINEFEST has a revenue of €50.000, they would have to give more than 10% of that to the EFA Membership fee. Kathrin Deventer explains that the Board is looking into that during the coming 12 months, at the moment the festivals have applied with the knowledge that the fee is €4000. We cannot tell them that they cannot become a member because we think they cannot pay. - Medfilm Festival . - International Art Festival of P.I. Tchaikovsky is presented by Narmin Shiralieva. - Cistermúsica - Festival de Música de Alcobaça is presented by Dulce Alves. - Musik i Syd is presented by Peter Eriksson, this is an application for a collective member. - Terras sem Sombra is presented by Pineiro Nagy. - GogolFest is presented by Andrew Palatnyi. - Music Days Festival in Belém was presented by the director in the opening dinner. - ArtEthnoFest is presented by Oleksandr Butsenko, this is an application for a collective member. - Nasimi Festival is presented with a move the festival sent. Philippe Toussaint: It’s important that we know the figures of all the candidates and 4 of them have not given any budget details. I ask Gogolfest, Cistermúsica, MedFilm Festival and ArtEthnofest to give us their budget, we need them for voting. We must have a view on the capacity of each of these festivals to be a long term member. This is possible partly by knowing the organization’s budget. Kathrin Deventer thanks Philippe for his concern. The festivals and associations, partly present here today, are of course invited and free to share this information. She adds that all the applications have 8
been presented and discussed, one by one, in the last EFA board meeting and they have all been accompanied by recommendation letters of very honorable people that support the applications and that know EFA very well. They know the functioning of EFA, as well as the financial contributions. The board has approved these applications for presentation to the General Assembly, being aware that each of these festivals knows of the EFA directives, statutes, rules, what the responsibilities of a membership in the association means. It was the decision taken by the board to present these applications to the General Assembly. Jan Briers adds that what is important for him, and what has always been important for EFA, is the artistic culture. If it’s a small or big festival, is not important. He thinks we are here to support the smaller festivals, not the big ones. So if a small festival, who needs us even more than the big ones, applies, even with a small budget, but we think, artistically seen, it’s a festival we can defend, there is no reason why we shouldn’t take them with us. Sona Hovhannisyan wants to understand what the criteria are to accept new members. She remembers when, in 2007, they were fighting to prove the artistic qualities of for instance Yerevan Perspectives is really very high and is in accordance with other European Festivals, we are here with many little festivals and that is something to approve. Haris Pasovic: I think it is wonderful that we have all these candidates that increase diversity and complexity of EFFE. I’m particularly happy that we have the candidate from the Ukraine, Gogolfest, they were EFFE Laureate in 2017. It seems that EFFE and EFA work very well together. I’m also happy to see two film festivals. Until recently, the film festivals were not really represented within EFA. Last year again, we had the European Film Festival Palic that won an EFFE Award and are now trial members. The idea that we go towards Russia with the Tchaikovsky Festival, to Azerbaijan with the Nasimi Festival is gorgeous. So obviously we have high credibility for these festivals. They are good and interesting festivals. I do support all 10 applications. Antun Tomislav Saban: I would just like to say that I like this discussion, but we definitely don’t have time to scrutinize every one of the 10 candidates. I would just like to know if the board scrutinized all of them, and if they get the board recommendation to be members? Jan Briers: Since the start of EFA, all applications first go to the board for approval. You all voted for this board, and for each of the 10 festivals, there was not one board member that said no. Antun Tomislav Saban supports all 10 candidates if the board stands behind it. Jan Briers asks to star the voting for the 10 candidates and if it can be done by raise of hands? If someone does not agree we go for ballot voting. Two persons want ballot voting, the results will be counted an announced at the end of the meeting. With a simple majority of the present members, the applicants will be admitted to the General Assembly of EFA. j) Future EFA General Assemblies Jan Briers gives the floor to Colm Croffy who will host next year’s General Assembly and Arts Festivals Summit in Galway. Colm Croffy: I would like to thank Pineiro and his team first of all for all they have done, it’s been fabulous. So Galway is the European Capital of Culture 2020, we are looking forward to a very rich programme. The Arts Festivals Summit will take place 27 – 29 April 2020, which I think from looking at the calendars of the members, should facilitate about 95% of all members. I was asked about airports and let me just confirm the reality that Galway City, even though it has 80.000 people and it is the capital of the bohemian west, it does not have an airport. It is serviced by three airports: Shannon, Knock and Dublin. We have very good connections and we will help the delegates with their 9
transport with a very special Irish welcome. The Summit will take place over three days and we intend to use the landscape of the city to engage and to stimulate the discussion. I’m looking forward to welcoming you all in Galway next year. Jan Briers: announces the results of the ballot voting for new members. All 10 festivals are accepted with at least 32 out of 39 votes. Jan Briers closes the General Assembly and thanks the EFA members for their contributions. The meeting is closed without any further issue raised. Estoril, 15 April 2019 10
2 Activity Report 2019 2019 saw an intense year of activities for and with EFA members. The Association developed further into an interactive alliance of various stakeholders in our festivals community. The community extended representatives to cities who joined our work and thinking in a new Festival Cities alliance in the making, as well as to new supporters of EFA’s The Festival Academy programmes. 1. 8 new members joined EFA 2. 823 festivals received the EFFE Label 2019-2020, 24 were chosen EFFE Laureates and 5 received the EFFE Awards during the EFFE Awards Ceremony 2019 at the BOZAR 3. Many ‘mini’-business summits in Shanghai, Classical:Next, Nordic-Baltic Platform and others brought at various occasion our members together for business development meetings: We organized 36 encounters, meetings, working sessions for EFA members throughout the year 4. FestivalFinder.eu is in full development: over 2000 festivals are signed up today with each month some 50 more 5. The Festival Academy counts 700 Alumni generated in its training programmes, and extends its activities to new training formats 6. 40 cities and representatives of cities participated in our various gatherings 2019 for cities in Lisbon, Brussels and Berlin 7. The Arts Festivals Summit Lisbon brought together 250 delegates for our 3 days annual get- together of the festivals community 8. In member visits and exchanges, EFA could be present locally in various of your festivals 9. 12 EFACTS, 17 Invitations for EFA members informed and engaged with EFA members; various social media and press activities put members in the picture: EFA was on TV, radio and in the news with its members and activities 10. The Association in terms of its finances, team and organisation is in transition towards a new phase of programmes, financial basis and operational development with team members leaving and new ones joining, as well as new support and funding programmes in development. Together with each and every single EFA member and our community of all together 3000 Festivals, we are an Alliance and every of you a spokesperson of the importance of bringing arts to audiences in our festivals. All your suggestions are welcome. January 8-10 January, New York |ISPA Conference with various members present 16-19 January, Antwerp | Festival Production Management Training Edition IV - Module I, hosted by deSingel International Arts Campus – with various members delegating young festival managers 19 January, Valletta | EFFE Launch in Malta, with various members and EFFE Jury members present 21-22 January, Kiev | EFFE Launch in Ukraine, with EFA members present meeting new members February 7-11 February, Sarajevo | EFA Member Visit - XXXV International Festival Sarajevo Winter 8-11 February, Belgrade | EFFE Launch in Western Balkans with various members from the region present 14 – 17 February, Elefsina | Custom made Atelier for Greek Festival managers 15-17 February |Sochi Festival Readings in the framework of the Winter International Arts Festival with various members present as speakers February-December, different locations | Placements Festival Production Management Training Edition IV - Module 2 in various members festivals 11
March 4 March, Brussels | EFFE International Jury meeting @ EFA Office , Brussels 4 March, Brussels | Arts Festivals Council reception @ BOZAR, Brussels 5 March, Brussels | Annual Exclusive EFA Round Table with EU Commissioner for Culture Tibor Navracsics @ KaaiForum with members and non-members present 5 March, Brussels | EFA Board meeting @ EFA office, Brussels 21 March, Milano | Italiafestival Meeting – EFFE with various members present 23-29 March, Valletta | Atelier for Young Festival Managers in collaboration with Malta Festivals with various members sending their young managers to Malta April 12-13 April, Berlin | A Soul for Europe Conference with members contributions 14-17 April, Lisbon | Arts Festivals Summit, hosted by the Estoril Lisbon Festival 14 April, Lisbon | EFA Board Meeting hosted by the Estoril Lisbon Festival 14 April, Lisbon | EFA General Assembly hosted by the Estoril Lisbon Festival 15 April, Lisbon | EFA Young Artists Concert – 1st Edition 16 April, Lisbon | Future Heritage Ambassadors 16 April, Lisbon | EFFE Hubs Meeting 16 April, Lisbon I The Festival Academy General Assembly 16 April, Lisbon | MeetUp, hosted by the Estoril Lisbon Festival 17 April, Lisbon | EFFE International Jury meeting May 5 May, Esslingen | Representation at the Podium Esslingen Festival 9 May, Hamburg |Participation as speaker and mentor in Fair Trade & Exchange: Best-Practices und Potentiale für die Kultur und Kreativwirtschaft in Deutschland in collaboration with Unesco Germany 15-18 May, Rotterdam |Classical Next with many members present as speakers and participants 21-23 May, Bergen | EFFE International Jury Meeting with various members as part of the Delegation invited to Bergen 24-25 May, Plovdiv | Workshop Capacity building addressing the gaps of knowledge on implementing cooperation in a Europe- wide and international context | On gender equality in relation to artists, from creation to performance and to artistic programming 30 May, Berlin |Festivals as free spaces. Presentation and panel conversation between civil society, international Networks and local action - Berlin Performing Arts Festival 29-31 May, Rotterdam | ICORN Network Meeting / PEN International WiPC Conference June 2-8 June, Sao Paulo |Participation in Brasil Cena Aberta conference and Panel “The Knowings and Makings of Worlds" 16-17 June, Brussels |Participation at the international colloquium ‘Culture for the Future, Creativity, Innovation and Dialogue for Inclusive Development’ organised by DgDevco 17-19 June, Copenhagen | Communicating the Arts with various members present 28-30 June, Elefsina | Festival Readings July 2 July, Ljubljana | Presidency meeting 12
16 July, Brussels |Participation Roundtable “What can culture contribute to the Future of Europe?” by the European culture foundation and European Policy Centre August 5 August, Peralada | Castell de Peralada Festival – EFA Member visit 6 August, Peniscola | Festival Internacional de Música Antígua de Peníscola – EFA representation 23 August, Heerlen | International Symposium Centriphery - Festival Cultura Nova September 10-11 September, Milan | Life on Mars confence by Live Internationalization Gateway |EFA representation 11 September, Amsterdam | Preparatory meeting for development of new Business Managers Training in collaboration with Holland Festival 11 September, Amsterdam | Participation in Roundtable Why Europe Needs a Public Space? … And What to Do About It? By European Cultural Foundation and Adessium Foundation 23 September, Brussels | European Cultural Foundation, CultureAction Europe, BOZAR-Centre For Fine Arts Brussels and The European Heritage Alliance: Debate Including an introduction by MEP Sabine Verheyen, Chair of Culture and Education Committee at the European Parliament Act for Europe through Culture 25 September, Brussels | EFA Board Meeting – RISE 2 26 September, Brussels | Arts Festivals Salon including EFFE Award Ceremony in collaboration with BOZAR - Centre of Fine Arts – EFFE September-December | EFA Festival in Focus interviews October 2 October, Amsterdam |The European Cultural Foundation celebration of the 65th anniversary of the foundation and the presentation of the 11th ECF Princess Margriet Award for Culture 14 October, Amsterdam, meetings with the Holland Festival and The European Cultural Foundation 16-17 October, Rome, Visit of RomaEuropa 17-21 October, Shanghai | EFA delegation to the 21st China Shanghai International Arts Festival / Forums and Performing Arts Fair (ChinaSPAF 2019) with various members participating 25 October, Galway, Preparation of the Arts Festivals Summit November 5 November, Brussels Board meeting The Festival Academy by phone conversation 7-8 November, Liepāja | Nordic Baltic Festival Platform Conference with presentation by EFA online and various EFA members present 9 November, Berlin | A Soul for Europe Conference and cities for Europe meeting with various EFA members and cities contributing 13 – 19 November, Kortrijk | Atelier for Young Festival Managers in collaboration with Next Festival with various members present 13-16 November, Saint-Petersburg | Culture Forum Saint-Petersburg with many of EFA’s members present as speakers 25 Novemer, Brussels Meeting of Europe’s theatre festivals at the invitation of the European Commission to plan its future 27 November, Barcelona, speech at the Catalan Academy of Music in Barcelona, with various EFA members present 29-30 November, Porto | Workshop Capacity building addressing the gaps of knowledge on implementing cooperation in a Europe- wide and international context | On diversity with and by artists in terms of race, ethnicity, minorities, sexual orientation and consider tools on how to better reflect the society lived in December 4 December, Galway | EFA Board meeting 13 December, Brussels | network meeting EFA – PEARLE – IETM about future collaboration in the EU tender for traveling arts fund 13
Communication report This section gives you an overview of what was done in terms of communication in 2019 for the European Festivals Association (EFA), FestivalFinder.eu (FF.eu) and The Festival Academy (TFA). We have selected the most relevant statistics for you and tried to make them as clear as possible. Let’s recall: the most important objective of EFA’s communication efforts is first of all to inform different target groups about EFA members and their activities, secondly to inform about EFA activities and last but not least profile the collective as the powerful network of arts festivals in Europe. At one sight: - Thanks to EFA activities such as the EFFE Awards Salon, the number of visitors to the sites almost doubles, hence the visibility of each EFA member - FestivalFinder.eu is the most successful website with 240 visitors per day (110 for EFA’s site) - Mailings to our database of 7.000 addresses are read to a high degree – hence a good promotion way for EFA members - Social media, in particular EFA’s Facebook, is very popular also in comparison to other networks. EFA EFFE TFA Website 110 users per day 240 users per day 28 users per day 3,33 pages/user 2,88 pages/user 3,58 pages/user 2’25 minutes/session 2’20 minutes/session 2’52 minutes/session Database newsletter 38% open rate 4,2% click rate Facebook 1.053 new likes 283 new likes 458 new likes (total: 9.032 likes) (total: 4.597 likes) (total: 4.073 likes) 1.141 new followers 299 new followers 477 new followers (total:9.163 followers) (total:4.631 followers) (total:4.115 followers) Twitter 168 new followers 25 new followers (total: N/A (total:1.973 followers) 771 followers) 1.162 profile visits 611 profile visits Youtube 10 new subscribers N/A N/A (total:110 subscribers) 2’13 minutes/visitor 68,6 hours watched In detail: EFA website Website statistics In 2019, 41.763 users visited the EFA website. In other words, this means that we have 110 users on our website every day. The users have generated 56.358 sessions (one session lasts 30 minutes) and this metric is interesting because it takes into account both the new and repeated visits. 88% of the people visiting the website are new users and 12% are returning visitors, probably most of them are part of our members as we suppose that you visit our website often. The users have visited a total of 187.888 pages, which gives an average of 3,33 pages per session and stayed on average for 2’25 minutes on our website. 14
65% of the users come on our website through organic search (typing key words in an internet browser), followed by 23% typing our url directly. 8% come on our website thanks to links present on other websites (we hope this is linked to your websites, dear members) and only 4% through social media. Regarding content, the homepage is the most visited page and represents 11% of the total pages visited. The page /members/find-your-festival also represents 11%, which is a very good stat since this means that many users try to find out who are the EFA members. The page /members represent 5% of all the pages visited, followed by the page /about (3%) and the page related to the 2019 Arts Festivals Summit in Lisbon (2%). The audience Regarding the audience, we can estimate than 60% of our users are female and 40% are male. The users are pretty young since 34% of them are between 25-34, followed by 20% being between 35-44.1 The audience is mostly located in the following countries: 14,5% come from the USA; 7,5% from the UK; 6% from Belgium; 5,5% from Germany and 5% from Spain. The disparity is wider for the cities with London and Brussels being the two first most represented cities with 3%, followed by Chicago and Ashburn with 2%. The language the most used by the audience is unsurprisingly English for 46,5% (English us and English gb together), followed by Spanish and Italian both reaching 4% and German for 3,5% of our users. Another interesting stat is that 63% of the audience is using a desktop to visit EFA’s website but mobile is gaining more and more popularity with 32%.2 FF.eu website The FestivalFinder.eu website replaced the EFFE website (www.effe.eu) end of February 2019. Therefore, the following analysis is not based on a full year but on approximately 10 months. Website statistics In 2019, 73.388 users visited the FF.eu website. In other words, this means that we have on average 240 visitors per day, which is a very very good number. The users have generated 94.942 sessions. 87% of the people visiting the website are new users and 13% are returning visitors. The users have visited a total of 273.414 pages, which gives an average of 2,88 pages per session and stayed on average for 2’20 minutes on our website. The way the users are arriving on the FF.eu website is less contrasted than for EFA: 58% of the users come on our website through organic search, followed by 19% typing our url directly, 14% through social media and only 9% thanks to links present on other websites. Regarding content, the homepage is the most visited page and represents 15% of the total pages visited. As the website counts thousands of pages (there is one page per festival and we had moreover 2000 festivals registered at the end of 2019), the results are widely dispersed. The second most visited page /festivals represents 4%. The page /awards/effes-audience-choice-2019-2020/vote represent 3%, followed by the page /awards/effes- audience-choice-2019-2020 and the page /effe-label both reaching 2%. The audience Regarding the audience, we can estimate than 60% of our users are female and 40% are male. The users are as the EFA users pretty young since 36% of them are between 25-34, followed by 20% being between 35-44.3 1 This estimation is based on statistics collected for 40% of the total number of users. 2 The most frequent country, city, language and device are based on 100% of the total number of users. 3 This estimation is based on statistics collected for 40% of the total number of users. 15
The FF.eu audience is more disparate in terms of country location than EFA: 8% of the users are located in Italy; 6% in the USA; 5% in Germany and the UK and 4% in the Netherlands. The disparity is even wider for the cities with London, Sofia, Milan and Kyiv, all the four reaching 2%. English is a again the most used language with 38% (English us and English gb together), followed by Italian reaching 7%, Russian 4% and Dutch for 3%. Another interesting stat is that the audience using a desktop or a mobile phone to visit FF.eu are almost the same. Desktop is used by 50% of the users and mobile by 46%, the 4% left using a tablet. In conclusion, it is very important to have a mobile responsive site.4 TFA website Website statistics In 2019, 10.133 users visited the TFA website. The users have generated 15.710 sessions. New visitors reach 84% of this amount while 16% are returning visitors. The users have visited a total of 56.318 pages. On average, 3,58 pages were visited per session and the users stayed for 2’52 minutes on the website, which are good numbers. As for the FF.eu website, the visitors are coming from less contrasted sources: 35% are typing the url directly; 33% arrive on the website through organic search; 17% through social media and 15% through links present on other websites. Regarding content, the homepage is the most visited page and represents 13% of the total pages visited. The pages /training and /training/atelier/atelier-next-2019 represent both 4% followed by /training/atelier and /training/atelier/atelier-dusseldorf-2020 both at 3%. The audience We can neither estimate how many men/women visited the TFA website nor the average age of the visitors because the option to measure this stat was not activated yet. We will have to wait for the 2020 report to have this information as it has been enabled in March 2020. The audience is mostly located in the following five countries: 11% come from the USA; 9% from Belgium; 7% from Germany; 6% from the UK and 4% from France. As for EFA and FF.eu, the disparity is wider for the cities: 4% of the users come from Brussels, 3% from London and 2% from Berlin and Ashburn. English is again unsurprisingly the language the most used by the audience as it reaches 51% (English-us and English-gb together), followed by German and French for 4% and Dutch for 3,5% of our users. Regarding the device, 65% of the audience is using a desktop to visit TFA’s website and 33% using a smartphone. Database and mailings We have today moreover 7.000 subscribers in our mailing system. The subscribers are categorised in different lists of target groups in order to receive specific mailings. In total, 52 campaigns were sent. The open rate reaches on average 38% and the click rate 4,2%. This average changes from one target group to another. For example, the directors members list scores higher with 43% of open rate and 6% of click rate. 4 The most frequent country, city, language and device are based on 100% of the total number of users. 16
In the top 3 of our best readers, the EFFE Labels are at the first place with 57% of opens and 14% of clicks, followed by the EFFE Hubs with 48% of opens and 8% of clicks and the people registering to the FF.eu newsletter with 49% of opens and 6% of clicks. Social media European Festivals Association a) Facebook In 2019, EFA has 1053 additional likes (7979 likes on 1/01/2019 > 9032 likes on 31/12/2019). EFA has 1141 additional followers (8022 followers on 1/01/2019 > 9163 followers on 31/12/2019). Regarding the audience, we can estimate than 62% of our fans are women 35% are men. The users are young since 24% of them are between 25-34, followed by 21% of them being between 35-44. Concerning the location, the fans come from the following countries and cities Country Your Fans City Your Fans Italy 775 Brussels 290 Spain 616 Athens 288 France 471 Berlin 194 UK 460 London 187 Greece 459 Paris 187 Belgium 441 Lisbon 147 Germany 436 Madrid 134 Portugal 351 Bucharest 127 Turkey 242 Istanbul 125 Romania 234 Barcelona 124 Top 5 posts Date Post Type Reach 23/05 Apply now for the new training programme of The Festival Academy: "Digital LINK Reach: 18.354 (paid: (R)Evolution: Communication and New Technologies" - 22-25 January 2020, 16.388) @deSingel Internationale Kunstcampus Reactions: 24 Deadline to apply: 15 June 2019 #Communication #FestivalsforEurope Clicks: 362 (paid 313) 26/09 EFFE Awards Salon. We are live again! VIDEO Reach: 8473 Reactions: 328 Clicks: 2400 10/06 The 24 EFFE Laureates that are in the running for the EFFE Awards 2019-2020 are LINK Reach: 5888 announced! This biennial prize celebrates arts festivals that demonstrate artistic Reactions: 461 excellence and at the same time have a strong impact on the local and regional Clicks: 422 development of cultural cooperation. For the first time there will be EFFE's Audience Choice, cast your vote now and maybe you'll win a festival trip for 2 persons! 5/03 Today, prominent festival makers and the European Festivals Association (EFA) PHOTO Reach: 5554 are coming together with EU Commissioner Navracsics Tibor in Brussels to Reactions: 220 examine this return on investment and formalise our engagement, together, on Clicks: 478 the successful development of the initiatives established thus far; EFFE and The Festival Academy 26/09 Congratulations to the 5 EFFE Award winners 2019-2020 and the 2 Lifetime LINK Reach: 4754 Achievement Award Winners: Frie Leysen and Dieter Kosslick! Reactions: 592 The EFFE Award winners (in alphabetical order) are: Clicks: 255 1. Conrad Festival, Krakow - Poland 2. Festival Deltebre Dansa, Deltebre - Spain 3. Førdefestivalen, Førde - Norway 4. ГОГОЛЬFEST, various cities - Ukraine 5. Welcome to The Village, Leeuwarden – The Netherlands We also congratulate Международен музикален фестивал “Варненско лято”/ Varna Summer Music Fest for the EFFE Audience Choice! #EFFE2019 17
b) Twitter In 2019, EFA has 168 new followers (1805 followers on 1/01/2019 > 1.973 followers on 31/12/2019) We posted 78 tweets The tweets collected 60.078 impressions (= tweet shown in somebody’s timeline) Our profile was visited 1.662 times EFA was mentioned 148 times c) Youtube In 2019, we posted 11 videos (104 videos on 1/01/2019 > 115 videos on 31/12/2019) Our videos got 1.844 views 68,6 hours of the posted videos were watched 2’13 of average view duration 10 new subscribers (100 subscribers on 1/01/2019 > 110 subscribers on 31/12/2019) EFFE a) Facebook In 2019, EFFE has 283 additional likes (4314 likes on 1/01/2019 > 4597 likes on 31/12/2019). EFFE has 299 additional followers (4332 followers on 1/01/2019 > 4631 followers on 31/12/2019). Regarding the audience, we can estimate than 59% of our fans are women 39% are men. The users are young since 21% of them are between 25-34, followed by 19% of them being between 35-44. Concerning the location, the fans come from the following countries and cities Country Your Fans City Your Fans Portugal 524 Athens 161 Italy 478 Lisbon 152 Romania 464 Bucharest 122 Greece 267 Porto 101 Spain 230 Sofia 98 Bulgaria 225 Brussels 87 Germany 170 Belgrade 85 France 161 Nicosia 74 Poland 155 Paris 65 Belgium 152 Berlin 62 Top 5 posts Date Post Type Reach 11/01 FestivalFinder.eu trailer: 100 Festivals already applied for the EFFE Label 2019- VIDEO Reach: 9573 2020! Do you also want to show your festivals' engagement for the arts, its local Reactions: 30 community and international openness! Clicks: 125 First register your festival on www.FestivalFinder.eu and you will get an invitation to apply for the #EFFELabel. #EFAfestivals #FestivalFinder (Paid: reach: 7.795 clicks: ?) 10/06 The 24 EFFE Laureates that are in the running for the EFFE Awards 2019-2020 are LINK Reach: 2648 announced! This biennial prize celebrates arts festivals that demonstrate artistic Reactions: 213 excellence and at the same time have a strong impact on the local and regional Clicks: 183 development of cultural cooperation. For the first time there will be EFFE's Audience Choice, cast your vote now and maybe you'll win a festival trip for 2 persons! 4/01 Kick off the new year by applying for the EFFE Label 2019-2020 and get recognized PHOTO Reach: 1608 for the great work your festival does in the field of arts, community involvement Reactions: 60 and show your international engagement! Clicks: 110 #EFFElabel #FestivalFinder https://www.festivalfinder.eu/festivals/new/account 18
26/09 Congratulations to all 24 EFFE Laureates, the 5 EFFE Award winners 2019-2020 LINK Reach: 1420 and the 2 Lifetime Achievement Award Winners: Frie Leysen and Dieter Kosslick! Reactions: 88 The EFFE Award winners (in alphabetical order) are: Clicks: 100 1. Conrad Festival, Krakow – Poland, 2. Festival Deltebre Dansa, Deltebre - Spain 3. Førdefestivalen, Førde – Norway, 4. ГОГОЛЬFEST, various cities – Ukraine, 5. Welcome to The Village, Leeuwarden – The Netherlands We also congratulate Международен музикален фестивал “Варненско лято”/ Varna Summer Music Fest for the EFFE Audience Choice! #EFFE2019 30/08 The war might have greatly harmed the city, but Vukovar Film Festival is here to LINK Reach: 1357 change the narrative. Meet 2019-2020 #EFFE Laureate Vukovar Film Festival, a Reactions: 19 festival that goes on for 13 years against the odds in Crotia. Clicks: 17 You can read the full article & find the program of the festival here: b) Twitter Twitter has been not very active in EFA. We posted 25 tweets The tweets collected 39.030 impressions Our profile was visited 611 times EFFE was mentioned 87 times TFA a) Facebook In 2019, TFA has 458 additional likes (3615 likes on 1/01/2019 > 4073 likes on 31/12/2019). TFA has 477 additional followers (3638 followers on 1/01/2019 > 4115 followers on 31/12/2019). Regarding the audience, we can estimate that 66% of our fans are women 31% are men. The users are young since 31% of them are between 25-34, followed by 24% of them being between 35-44. Concerning the location, the fans come from the following countries and cities. Country Your Fans City Your Fans UK 245 Brussels 123 Italy 219 Athens 122 Belgium 209 Berlin 107 Germany 208 London 97 Greece 189 Paris 73 Poland 174 Poznan 65 Australia 168 Amsterdam 59 France 163 Melbourne 57 Netherlands 139 Lisbon 54 Spain 124 Istanbul 52 Top 5 posts Date Post Type Reach 12/08 18 August is the deadline for applications for the Atelier for Young Festival LINK Reach: 1619 Managers Düsseldorf! Reactions: 34 Dates: 23-29 May 2020 Clicks: 50 Place: Düsseldorf, Germany Co-organiser: Theater der Welt - ITI - Intercultural Theatre Institute 28/10 We are very happy to announce that one of the participants of the Atelier Valletta PHOTO Reach: 1366 will join us again, but this time as a mentor during the Atelier NEXT, the 16th Reactions: 288 edition of the Atelier for Young Festival Managers. We are speaking of Erica Clicks: 270 McCalman, production manager at Ballardong (Noongar). To know more about her and be updated about the news, click here 13/11 Today the 16th edition of the Atelier for Young Festival Managers, taking place in PHOTO Reach: 1303 the Eurometropolis region of Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai and Valenciennes (BE/FR), Reactions: 59 organised in partnership with the International Arts Festival NEXT, kicked off at Clicks: 76 the Budafabriek in Kortrijk. Kristof Jonckheere, Director Buda Arts Centre and the mentors Airan Berg, Andrea Caruso Saturnino, Erica McCalman, Brett Pyper, Ong 19
Keng SEN and Danny Yung introduced themselves to the international group of 35 passionate festival makers. Tonight the Atelier NEXT will officially open with a public ceremony in the Palais de la Bourse in Lille https://www.thefestivalacademy.eu/en/news/ 28/11 #OpportunityAlert for Festival Makers PHOTO Reach: 1260 Only few days left to apply for The Festival Academy 2020 Training Programmes! Reactions: 24 Don't miss this unique opportunity and apply at the following links: Clicks: 121 - Digital (R)Evolution: Communication and New Technologies Training, 22-25 January, Antwerp (BE) Link - Atelier Dusseldorf (DE), 23-29 May Link -Atelier Kampala (UG), 14-20 August Link 17/11 After a day of press silence, due to the intensive and inspiring working sessions PHOTO Reach: 1258 and great performances, we are back to share with you what is happening during Reactions: 29 the 16th edition of the Atelier for Young Festival Managers! Clicks: 170 The Festival Academy 2019 The Festival Academy, an initiative of the European Festivals Association, offers capacity building and peer-to-peer exchange for young festival managers from Europe and the world. It contributes to inter-continental relations and cultural diplomacy through a series of capacity sharing programmes worldwide. We have trained 700+ young festival makers from 80+ countries and all continents in 20+ countries over the last 12 years. We are a growing global community of creative individuals and young festival leaders. We organized training in Europe, Asia, Africa and are planning next activities in Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada, Latin America and US. Activity Date/Place Description Festival Production 16-19 January 2019, 4th edition of the Festival Production Management Training Module Antwerp – Belgium Management Training in collaboration with I ANTWERP 2019 deSingel International Art Campus Festival Production February-December Placements in different festivals all over the Management Training Module 2019 – Worldwide world as part of the Festival Production II 2019 Management Training Festival Readings Sochi 15-17 February 10 edition of the Festival Readings, in 2019, partnership with the Winter International Arts Sochi – Russia Festival Atelier for Greek Festival 15-17 February 2019 Tailor Made Atelier for Festival Managers in Managers ELEUSIS 2021 Elefsina – Greece collaboration with ELEUSIS 2021 Atelier for Young Festival 23-29 March 2019 Atelier for Young Festival Managers in Managers Valletta Valletta – Malta collaboration with Festivals Malta The Festival Academy General 14 April 2019 General Assembly in the framework of the EFA Assembly 2019 Lisbon – Portugal General Assembly and conference – Lisbon, 14 -17 April 2019 The Festival Academy Network 15-16 April 2019 7th Academy atelier alumni network meeting Meeting 2019 Lisbon – Portugal in the framework of the EFA General Assembly and conference taking place in Lisbon Festival Readings Elefsina June 2019, 11th edition of the readings, in collaboration Elefsina – Greece with ELEUSIS 2021 and Synikismos Festival Festival Readings Athens August 2019 12th edition in collaboration with Athens Athens – Greece Festival Atelier for Young Festival November 2019, 16th Atelier for Young Festival Managers in Managers NEXT 2019 Eurometropolis collaboration with Next Festival Belgium – France 20
Ongoing throughout the year 1. Prospection visits and meetings future activities 2019-2020 and beyond 2. Activities development (Production Managers Training, Readings…) 3. Preparation activities 2019 and beyond – options in discussion: - Activities in partnership with ELEUSIS 2021 - MENA Region (Beirut, Zoukak, Module III – 2020) - Santiago a Mil + Jonathan Mills: the first joint Atelier – Summit in Chile 2021 4. Networking, representation 5. Communication all partners involved 6. Organisation management (accountancy, personnel, GA and Board meetings…) 7. Application / funding dossiers (EU, Flemish Community.) fundraising FestivalFinder.eu - Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe (EFFE) EFFE is the expression of the European Commission’s cultural policy for festivals. The programme’s main strength is the immense variety of arts festivals that benefit from EFFE. EFFE includes today: A communication channel to millions of audiences and citizens The 1500 EFFE Labels for remarkable Arts Festivals The EFFE Awards highlighting certain features identified by the EFFE International Jury The 31 EFFE Hubs, decentralized festivals contact points in 31 countries Access to audiences: FestivalFinder.eu presenting 2250 arts festivals in 45 countries to audiences worldwide The Annual Festivals Summit as the central gathering for all concerning festivals The Travelling Arts Fund as a next step is suggests to increase real artistic collaboration between all kinds of festivals across borders. Applied system for interaction, research, knowledge and technical knowledge for evaluation An international Jury of high-level festival personalities Now: EFFE’s preparatory action concluded in September 2019. In our focus: the European Festivals Prize as of 2021. Why a Festivals Prize in Creative Europe 2021 Under the motto ‘investing in people’, the power of festivals’ part in Europe’s cultural landscape is without question. Arts festivals are unique in the overall arts ecology. They are trans-disciplinary; their artistic practice differs from theatre houses, operas or other cultural centres. They are audience development tools; they are specific in their business development; they are specific for Europe: today’s arts festivals formula is copied / adopted in other continents. That is why also their needs are different: international cooperation and co-productions in the field of arts festivals seem evident for the big ones, but out of scope for middle sized, smaller ones. Although this is the field where new artistic work on a smaller scale should be developed and tested. Arts Festivals are a specific formula in their artistic practice, organisational set up, business model also under the angle of Europe’s competitiveness. To include a basis for further actions into the programme therefore makes sense; also because the actions taken and budgets invested in the past 5 years make sense to be continued and seriously developed. The whole festivals sector, with as the intermediator EFA and its members, are ready and prepared to do so. 21
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