The Power of Exchange: Festivals as Laboratories of Change by TFA Alumna Veronika Kostková – Event Manager
How can one Atelier shift the way we perceive festivals and cultural work?
In the cultural world, we often find ourselves surrounded by plans, spreadsheets, and deadlines. But what happens when we pause for a moment and reflect—together with people from all around the world—on the purpose of our work? That’s exactly what I experienced a few weeks ago in the Spanish city of Donostia / San Sebastián, where the Atelier for Young Festival Managers was held. The program was organized by the non-profit The Festival Academy, an initiative of the European Festivals Association, in partnership with dFERIA- Performing Arts Fair and Victoria Eugenia Theater.
It was an intense experience—47 young professionals from five continents, nearly two weeks of shared conversations, presentations, and exchange of ideas. Most importantly, it was a time when my understanding of what a festival truly is began to change.
The Festival as an Arena for Change
“A festival is not just an event, it is a cultural reality. It consists of people, places, contexts, stories—and all of this can push society forward,” said Inge Ceustermans, director of The Festival Academy, with whom I had the opportunity to speak during my stay. This idea resonated throughout the program. We stopped seeing festivals as passive entertainment and began to perceive them as active agents—a place for testing new ideas, opening up dialogue, and building trust among communities.
One of the most powerful aspects of the Atelier was the intercultural exchange. Together, we reflected on how ideas can be transferred from one context to another—how a festival in Buenos Aires can inspire an event in Serbia, and how a community-based approach from Japan can impact local scenes in Central Europe.
“The Atelier is not about how exactly to organize festivals. It’s about learning how to ask questions. How to stay curious, how to explore change, and how not to be worn down by cynicism,” Ceustermans told me during our conversation. This statement deeply stayed with me. Curiosity emerged as a key quality throughout the program—not only in programming, but also in communication, team-building, and balancing the local with the global.
Resilience and Sustainability – Challenges of Our Time
As someone who has worked across various cultural productions over the years, I know how difficult it is to organize a festival that can survive—not just financially, but in terms of human and ecological sustainability. That’s why discussions around sustainability were so essential. Not as a trendy word, but as a practical question: how can we create festivals that maintain their integrity without exhausting people or the planet? The answer may lie in alternative funding models, ethical partnerships, or environmentally responsible production methods.
“Sustainability is not just about what we do on stage. It’s about our overall approach—how we treat people, energy, emotions, systems. Festivals can be a model for a new world, if we consider all aspects of how they are created and experienced,” Ceustermans emphasized.
The Festival as an Ecosystem
The Atelier in San Sebastián was not just an educational program—it was a spark. A reminder that festivals are not just dates on a calendar, but living ecosystems that build communities and connect people and ideas. That our motivations and passions for creating them are remarkably similar across borders and can’t be confined by geography.
“When a festival becomes a space for sharing, change, and reflection, it leaves people with more than just a good feeling. It leaves them moved,” Ceustermans concluded.
And although this particular experience was rooted in a specific time and place, its message remains with me. The conversations that began there have the power to continue—in our cities, in our teams, and on our stages.
The next edition of the Atelier will take place in Amman, Jordan in September 2025 and in Chemnitz, Germany in November 2025.
Veronika Kostková' s participation in the Atelier was supported by the Slovak Arts Council (Fond na podporu umenia).