Host, venue and city
Each Atelier for Young Festival Managers is characterised by a different host city, its festivals and cultural life. The 14th edition took place in Gothenburg, Sweden and participants got to know the many facets of the city through local cultural players, artists and political representatives. Sessions took place at various venues connected to the local community, hence the cultural life and context of the city were experienced and analysed as part of the training programme.
Host and co-organiser
The Atelier for Young Festival Managers was organised in partnership with Kultur i Väst, which is the cultural administration of the region Västra Götaland, where 1,7 million people live in 49 municipalities. Göteborg is the capital of the region.
Working together with local authorities and cultural organisations, Kultur i Väst raises awareness of the importance of culture in society by strengthening the regional cultural landscape with venues, knowledge and practices. Kultur i Väst provides opportunities for artists from all fields to develop their creations in the region. They invest in arts and culture to make the city better, and offer opportunities for a large audience to experience concerts, festivals and more all year long. Working as a consulting and advising body, the organization organises courses and produces music events to spread the knowledge and inspire people of all age, gender and backgrounds about culture and its role in society. The care and genuineness Kultur i Väst puts into its work makes it the perfect partner for the Festival Academy to offer the best possible training during the Atelier for Young festival managers.
”We are delighted to invite upcoming festival managers from all over the world to take part of the cultural life of the region Västra Götaland and its capital Göteborg/ Gothenburg. It is the second city in Sweden, situated on the west coast, a stone's throw away from our Nordic neighbours Norway and Denmark. While developing your skills as festival managers you will be given plenty opportunities to learn more about the arts and culture in the city of Göteborg, as well as experiencing cultural heritage on the peaceful Swedish countryside. Since Kultur i Väst has a unique mission to conduct a festival platform, providing a program to support the enhancement of arts festivals, there will also be networking possibilities with some of the region’s 200 festivals.”
Carita Forslund, Kultur i Väst/The Festival Platform
City
Gothenburg is the 2nd largest Swedish city. In recent years, the industrial landscape gave way to a dynamic artistic scene. Today, the city hosts several music venues, galleries and festivals, such as the Gothenburg Film Festival, largest in Scandinavia, or the Gotheburg Culture Festival, which turns the streets each year in August into art venues presenting performances from every discipline and each corner of the world. This rich and diverse cultural environment is the perfect location to be immersed in for a (future) festival leader.