About

‘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.

MembersAbu Dhabi Festival Ankara International Music Festival Artlink FestivalAntwerp Spring FestivalAspendos International Opera & Ballet FestivalAthens Epidaurus FestivalAudi SommerkonzerteBBC PromsBerliner FestspieleBOZAR FestivalBratislava Music Festival Campania Teatro FestivalCistermúsica – Alcobaça Music FestivalConstruction FestivalCulturescapesDe BijlokeDe SingelDivine Comedy FestivalDubrovnik Summer Festival Edinburgh International Festival • Enjoy Jazz Festival For Jazz and More • Estoril Lisbon FestivalEuropean Festival of Performing Arts Timisoara – New Romanian Drama FestivalFestival Castell de Peralada Festival Porta FerradaFestival della Valle d’ItriaFlanders Festival InternationalFestival Internacional de Teatro Clásico de MéridaFestival Jordi SavallFestival LjubljanaFestival of Contemporary Art GogolFest • Festival Solo Duo • Festival Udine CastelloFluctuationsGdansk Shakespeare FestivalGeorge Enescu International Festival and CompetitionHelsinki FestivalHolland Festival • Horizon 50-200 • International Antalya Piano FestivalInternational Music Festival ArsanaInternational Festival Wratislavia Cantans International Izmir FestivalInternational Theatre Festival KONTAKTIsrael FestivalKhachaturian International FestivalKharkivMusicFestKulturhaltestelleLerici Music FestivalLes Festivals de WallonieLudwig van Beethoven Easter FestivalLviv Early Music FestivalMacerata Opera FestivalMalta International Arts Festival • Manchester International Festival • MITO SettembreMusica FestivalMittelfestMosel MusikfestivalMüpa Budapest • Musical Bridges Around the World • Music Biennale ZagrebNorth Cyprus International Bellapais Music FestivalOhrid Summer FestivalODESSA CLASSICS Music FestivalOpen Air International Theatre Festival “Prizren Fest”Prague Spring International Music FestivalRavenna FestivalRossini Opera FestivalRUTA FestivalSaint-Denis FestivalSarajevo FestSchleswig-Holstein Musik FestivalSKUPI KammerfestSpoleto Festival Dei Due Mondisüdtirol festival merano . meranTeatro AveirenseTheatre City BudvaThe TheaterFestivalTurkiye Culture Route FestivalsUsedom Music Festival Utrecht Early Music FestivalValley of Arts FestivalVarna Summer International Music FestivalVilnius FestivalWonderfeelYerevan International Theatre FestivalYerevan Perspectives International Music Festival • Association Festivals Bulgaria • Association of Irish Festival Events (AOIFE)British arts festivals association – BAFABulgarian Festivals AssociationCzech Association of Music FestivalsFederation of Music Festivals in FlandersFestivals EdinburghFinland FestivalsFrance FestivalsItaliaFestival • Norske kulturarrangører • Rotterdam FestivalsSerbian Festivals AssociationSicheslav Festival Association “ArtEthnoFest” Spanish Association of Classical Music FestivalsSweden FestivalsEuropean Early Music Network (EEMN/REMA)IETM – International network for contemporary performing arts

Honorary MembersDarko BrlekFrans De RuiterGavin HendersonMassimo MercelliJosé Louis OcejoFiliz SarperPaul DujardinPiñeiro Nagy

Board MembersJan Briers (President) • Sophie Detremmerie (Vice-President) • Francesco Maria Perrotta (Vice-President) • Franco BellettiAlexandra BobesTamar BrüggemannJurriaan CooimanThomas HummelMilena Lubarda MarojevicNatalia Oszkó-JakabKatie PatersonFrancesco Maria Perrotta

Publication date: August 2024

Direction of the E-Magazine: Kathrin Deventer

Editing coordination: Audrey Brisack

Photograph cover: OdeGand / Flanders Festival Ghent © Steven Hendrix

Texts: Diana Anselmo, Anne Bessette, Nika Brunet Milunovic, Iván Fischer, Elbenita Kajtazi, Naghmeh Manavi

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, Camille Durnez

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.