‘Eye-to-Eye’ is the European Festivals Association’s (EFA) Festival Quarterly. It assembles a variety of voices that speak about our society, the state of the arts and reasons why the arts exist, concepts, and moments in contemporary life. It includes articles EFA commissions and material we ask editors to provide. It reflects EFA’s journey to broaden our conversations and dig into the habitat of festivals, taking us well beyond the process of festival making.
Eye-to-Eye is published every 4 months.
The European Festivals Association community
The European Festivals Association (EFA) is a trusted alliance of festival makers representing:
- 100 EFA members; strong and long standing festivals coming from different countries in Europe and beyond,
- More than 3000 festivals in 45 countries registered on FestivalFinder.eu, among which 823 festivals received the EFFE Label 2019-2021 – these numbers are growing daily,
- 1056 alumni of The Festival Academy who have followed one or several training programmes,
- 80 cities contributing and participating in the Festival Cities Initiative.
Members • Abu Dhabi Festival • Ankara International Music Festival • Artlink Festival • Antwerp Spring Festival • Arcadia • Aspendos International Opera & Ballet Festival • Audi Sommerkonzerte • BBC Proms • Berliner Festspiele • Bergen International Festival • BITEF – Belgrade International Theatre Festival • Bodrum Music Festival • BOZAR Festival • Bratislava Music Festival • Campania Teatro Festival • Cistermúsica – Alcobaça Music Festival • Construction Festival • CULTURESCAPES • De Bijloke • De Singel • Divine Comedy Festival • Dubrovnik Summer Festival • Edinburgh International Festival • Estoril Lisbon Festival • European Festival of Performing Arts Timisoara – New Romanian Drama Festival • Festival Castell de Peralada • Festival della Valle d’Itria • Flanders Festival International • Festival Internacional de Teatro Clásico de Mérida • Festival Ljubljana • Festival of Contemporary Art GogolFest • Festival Udine Castello • Gdansk Shakespeare Festival • George Enescu International Festival and Competition • György Cziffra Festival • Helsinki Festival • Holland Festival • Horizon 50-200 • International Antalya Piano Festival • International Festival Wratislavia Cantans • International Izmir Festival • International Music Festival “Kharkiv Assemblies” • Israel Festival • Khachaturian International Festival • KharkivMusicFest • Leoš Janáček International Music Festival • Lerici Music Festival • Les Festivals de Wallonie • Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival • Lviv Early Music Festival • Macerata Opera Festival • Machol Shalem Dance House • Malta International Arts Festival • Mersin International Music Festival • MITO SettembreMusica Festival • Mittelfest • Mosel Musikfestival • Müpa Budapest • Music Biennale Zagreb • Music Festival in Belém – Dias da Musica • Nasimi Festival. Poetry, Arts, Spirituality • North Cyprus International Bellapais Music Festival • O. Festival for Opera.Music.Theatre. • Ohrid Summer Festival • ODESSA CLASSICS music festival • Prague Spring International Music Festival • Ravenna Festival • Romaeuropa Festival • Sarajevofest Art and Politics • Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival • SoNoRo Festival • Spoleto Festival Dei Due Mondi • südtirol festival merano . meran • Teatro Aveirense • Theatre City Budva • Usedom Music Festival • Utrecht Early Music Festival • Valley of Arts Festival • Varna Summer International Music Festival • Vilnius Festival • Wonderfeel • Yerevan Perspectives International Music Festival • Association of Irish Festival Events (AOIFE) • Bulgarian Festivals Association • Czech Association of Music Festivals • Federation of Music Festivals in Flanders • Festivals Edinburgh • Finland Festivals • France Festivals • ItaliaFestival • Norway Festivals • Rotterdam Festivals • Serbian Festivals Association • Sicheslav Festival Association “ArtEthnoFest” • Spanish Association of Classical Music Festivals • Sweden Festivals • European Early Music Network (EEMN/REMA) • IETM – International network for contemporary performing arts
Honorary Members • Darko Brlek • Frans De Ruiter • Gavin Henderson • Massimo Mercelli • José Louis Ocejo • Piñeiro Nagy
Board Members • Jan Briers (President) • Filiz Sarper (Vice-President) • Paul Dujardin (Vice-President) • Kai Amberla • Franco Belletti • Alexandra Bobes • Tamar Brüggemann • Sophie Detremmerie • Thomas Hummel • Katie Paterson • Francesco Maria Perrotta
Publication date: May 2023
Direction of the E-Magazine: Kathrin Deventer
Editing coordination: Audrey Brisack
Photograph cover: Malta International Arts Festival © Stephen Buhagiar
Texts: Jordi Albareda, Chris Baldwin, Zvonimir Dobrović, Kateryna Lozenko, Horacio Pérez, Chris Salter
Contributing Editor: Simon Mundy
Website: Hamadou KA – Maks vzw
Graphic design: Quasi – Maks vzw
Publisher: European Festivals Association
With the continuous support of: Gert Naessens, Ana Benavides Otejo, Donika Rudi Berishaj, Luana Santos
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage or retrieval devices or systems, without prior written permission from the publisher, except that brief passages may be quoted for review.
The support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and doesn’t engage the responsibilty of the European Commission for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.