Welcome to the April issue of International Arts Manager, where our annual Festivals Focus arrives as the sector turns its attention to the months ahead. Each year, this issue offers an opportunity to look more closely at the role festivals play, not only as celebratory events, but as places where artistic ideas and communities meet.
In our cover feature, we catch up with Wu Han and David Finckel as they prepare to step away from Music@Menlo after 25 years. They reflect on the values and artistic convictions that have shaped both their partnership and the festival they have built, and explain why, for them, nothing is ever “just a concert”. At the Carmel Bach Festival, Artistic Director Grete Pedersen is shaping a programme around sound, place and perspective in dialogue.
