Both Re-Connect and TFA believe immersive experiences can bring people together in long-lasting ways. Yet, these need a guided structure, attentive mediation and care. The Island Lab seeked to explore new ways of togetherness and presence, bringing back the value of non-verbal exchanges, and allowing space for spending casual time with each other. Nature as an element that intertwines us all play a key role during the whole stay.  

Bringing together a harmonious yet effervescent constellation of people also plays a key role in the design of immersive experiences.  

The Festival Labs are conceived as upskilling opportunities for Alumni of The Festival Academy's previous programs. This is not only a way to serve the community that TFA has built up over the last 17 years, but also ensures that participants are already familiar with TFA’s methodologies and ethos, and thereby facilitating a more productive lab environment. 

The challenge of the process was to put together a group that would allow everyone to benefit and contribute best with their unique abilities and perspectives to build a fruitful conversation and impactful collaborative experience. 

TFA put an emphasis on reaching out to possible participants individually, coordinated by Inge Ceustermans and the TFA team, following an in-depth examination of certain criteria.  They were contacted directly, briefed about the overarching project and Lab The team of The Festival Academy has an in-depth knowledge of the profiles of their Alumni community which helped identifying suitable people. 

TFA conducted in depth conversation with each of the candidates beforehand. Participants selected had to be from countries with mobility restriction, either due to political instability, conflict or visa policies or to share the lived experience of mobility restriction as part of their past even if they are not facing these challenges currently. Furthermore, TFA selected a strategic partner, operating on a Greek island to explore possibilities of expanding the methodology to another location. 

Re-Connect furthermore published an open call and selected 3 artists for a fully granted residency on the island, which was supported by BIRCA.