As the European Festivals Association (EFA) approaches its 75th anniversary, its Secretary General Kathrin Deventer sat down with Gilles Doré, CINARS Executive Director, to discuss solidarity, global partnerships and the
future of festivals.
Under Deventer’s leadership, EFA (a network of 115 members across 34 countries) has launched major initiatives including the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA) and the EFFE Seal for Festival Cities and Regions. Together, CINARS and EFA are now working to bring a delegation of programmers to the CINARS Biennale in November 2026, opening new avenues for dialogue and collaboration across borders.
EFA brings together a remarkably diverse ecosystem. How do you build genuine solidarity within a network where a small emerging festival in Eastern Europe and a major established institution in Western Europe may have very different realities and needs?
Solidarity is spontaneous. The majority of the long-established festivals appreciate connecting with their peers to exchange and co-produce new works together. At the same time, they are also open to sharing their experience and expertise. There is so much to learn from one another. The geographical aspect also plays a role, but it is important to listen to what is happening in countries that are maybe less represented in Western culture. Conversations go in both directions. EFA is about putting festival makers together in dialogue.
EFA is rooted in Europe, but your mission clearly reaches beyond European borders. As a European organisation, how important is it for you to engage with the wider world, and what drives your desire to build closer ties with overseas networks?
EFA represents festivals in Europe and beyond. Putting borders on a continent is not easy. Are countries like Georgia or Armenia part of Europe or Asia? They are actually at the intersection of different cultures and are part of both. The definition of cultural Europe is a matter of who feels part of it, not governments’ membership of various institutions. We live in an interconnected world, and we all face similar challenges.
The circulation of arts and artists is important, so EFA builds partnerships with other platforms uniting festivals from all over the world, including ISPA, CINARS, the China Shanghai International Arts Festival, Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo. EFA attends these events with delegations of members who are interested in discovering new artists and building contacts with festivals and professionals from other continents. The Festival Academy, EFA’s capacity building programme, reaches across Africa and the Americas too.
Next year, EFA celebrates its 75th anniversary, a remarkable milestone. Looking back over decades of transformation in the festival landscape, how do you see the sector’s evolution? How important is it for EFA to deepen connections with peer networks from other continents?
Change seems to happen much faster than in the 1950s. The impact of the internet and associated technologies, including social media, means that all activities are seen in a global context. Since the Covid pandemic, new online tools have appeared that make the organisation of meetings and the sharing of material online much easier. At the same time collaboration has also become more difficult because of the impact of war. We feel that connecting the festival community
is more important than ever these days, for the future of business, for hope and to demonstrate solidarity.
If you could change one structural thing about how Europe supports its festivals and the artists they present, what would it be?
The variety of festivals happening in Europe, however you define it, is so rich. This is a great strength. At the same time, it is also a weakness because it is difficult for cultural policies to encompass this huge diversity. We strongly advocate for festivals being supported better by politicians and officials at all levels of administration. We want festivals to be embedded within their locality and be funded accordingly.
They need the funding and long-lasting links to build partnerships, bring the work of today’s talents to audiences and to invest in the future. As part of this, EFA has launched the EFFE Seal for Festival Cities and Regions to build stronger relationships between festivals and their local authorities. National governments and intergovernmental bodies are also vital parts of the festival ecosystem and have a huge role in keeping it vibrant. EFA, through many connections and networks, helps them develop strategies that work for all.
What gives you hope that makes you believe the sector is moving in the right direction?
I find hope in seeing festivals at the forefront of change, whether through environmental sustainability (encouraging the audience to travel more sustainably), social sustainability (being more inclusive and uniting people from different ages, cultures and social classes) or through promoting health and wellbeing. Festivals have existed for centuries and are the perfect places to engage citizens, open them to the world and help them question it. All this while sharing the pleasure and sometimes the pain of the arts.
This conversation reflects a shared conviction between CINARS and EFA: that festivals matter, that artists must circulate freely, and that the connections we build across countries and continents are what keep the sector resilient and alive.
