New season, new activities

New season, new activities

Newsletter August 2020

Dear Alumni, festival colleagues and community,

For the last few months, we all have witnessed the whole world turning upside down and it was not different for us at The Festival Academy. Our plans and projects had to be put to a halt and we had to rethink our ways of connecting with our community, now more than ever. However, we like to consider these times as a source of opportunity for reinventing ourselves and for strengthening our bonds in a time of much needed connection and collaboration.

So we are delighted to share our upcoming projects and ideas with you. We hope you will join us in our activities, which focus on strengthening the arts and festival's community and to create connections to cross sectoral initiatives.

Hoping this communication will find you all well and in great health, we carry on.

Warmest regards,

Inge, Rebecca and Anaïz

  • Support Lebanon!

Following what happened in Beirut, we will host our first Hotspot on Lebanon and its region.

This online panel will be led by several experts and speakers from the region: artists, art organisations, institutions and cross-sectoral experts. This panel aims to provide an urgent highlight that gives us the opportunity to understand in depth what is happening in these countries and how it affects the arts' scene as well as to build bridges and strategies for enhancing international cooperation.

Join us on 4th September 2020 from 11:00 to 1:30pm CEST/Brussels time!

Find out more and register here!

In the meantime, we are sharing solidarity initiatives with Beirut and Lebanon on our website. If you have any projects or initiatives to share, please send them to info@thefestivalacademy.eu and we will share them here!

  • New online activities and training

We are delighted to present our new online monthly activities:

- Training sessions: 2-day online Ateliers on particular themes

- Hotspots: focused lectures on specific regions and countries and the arts' conditions there

- Inspirational lectures: testimonies about how artists change the world

- Webinar: keynotes on contemporary themes by amazing speakers

- Reunions: alumni reunion from past Ateliers starting with Beirut Atelier 2015 reunion on 4th September from 14:30 - 16:00 CEST/Brussels time

- Alumni bi-weekly Zoom session catch-up: following the discussions started in March 2020 and the Atelier for Solidarity in June 2020 to reimagine a post-Covid-19 world, this meeting on 10th September aims to re-connect to each other and to share our state of mind as well as our country's reality.

- Informal Networking sessions: open sessions for networking and socialising each last Friday of the month. Details on each activity and their editions will be sent soon.

You can stay updated and learn more about each activity by visiting our Online Activities page.

  • Upcoming Ateliers

- Atelier Düsseldorf/Theater der Welt - June 2021: call for application re-open!

The Atelier Theater der Welt/Düsseldorf has been postponed due to Covid-19 to take place in June 2021. New dates are 16-22 June 2021. We are glad to re-open the call and to invite festival managers to apply to participate in this Atelier.

Apply here!

More information on this training can be found here.

- Atelier Kampala - November 2020:

News on the Kampala Atelier will follow soon!

- Tailor-made Atelier for Young Festival Managers: Atelier for Arts and Production Managers Elefsina - December 2020

We are happy to inform that our upcoming in-person Atelier Elefsina remains confirmed. In the case of eventual changes of any kind, applicants and participants will be notified immediately.

The dates for the three modules of the Atelier for Arts and Production Managers have been confirmed:

Module I - Elefsina (Greece): 2-6 December 2020

Module II - Placements in festivals : in between module I and III

Module III - Beirut (Lebanon): 25-28 November 2021

Find out more about this training here!

  • Festival and events

Check upcoming events and festivals from our Alumni!

- SAFE festival online by CHIPAWO Zimbabwe: 18-25 August, 2020

Edinburg Culture Summit special online edition: kicks-off on Saturday 22 August, 2020

- How to be together 3 days online panel by Zürcher Theater Spektakel27-28-29 August 2020

- Hay Festival Querétaro, Mexico (digital): 2-7 September 2020

- From Jaffa to Agripas Festival, Jerusalem: 9-10 September 2020

- Dance and Heritage Festival, by Escena Patrimonio (digital) : 12 September 2020

- Green Culture 2020 (digital): 18-20 September 2020

If you wish to strengthen our global inclusive conversation and support young festival managers and our international activities, click here.