Fearless Festivals: a grape / EFA Denis de Rougemont Forum
Athens is hosting EFA's next Denis de Rougemont Forum: The Fearless Festivals Forum adresses performing arts festivals and is part of the Athens Epidaurus Festival’s platform for the promotion of the Greek performing arts abroad, grape – Greek Agora of Performance, which takes from 22 to 27 July 2025.
In collaboration with the European Festivals Association, the Athens Epidaurus Festival presents the forum Fearless Festivals on 23 July in Athens. Held within the framework of grape – Greek Agora of Performance 2025 and part of EFA's Denis de Rougemont Forum series, this event will spotlight the vital role of festivals as pivotal spaces for free expression, artistic experimentation, and public assembly.
Hosted at the Goethe Institut-Athen, the event will feature thoughtfully curated panel discussions, bringing together directors of historically renowned festivals alongside prominent voices from Greece’s theatre and dance communities. Together, they will explore the notion of festivals as complex and contested cultural institutions - that must ceaselessly navigate the delicate balance between continuity and change, all the while fostering cross-border collaboration and artistic mobility.
The detailed programme follows shortly.
About the Athens Epidaurus Festival
This year marks the 70th Anniversary of the Athens Epidaurus Festival, 1955–2025. For seven decades, the Festival has served as a compass of cultural vitality. Within its compelling anniversary programme, the Festival will present 107 productions over 96 days, featuring approximately 3,000 artists and creators from around the globe.
Alongside its rich anniversary programme, the Athens Epidaurus Festival’s international platform, grape – Greek Agora of Performance, continues for a third consecutive year, dedicated to promoting Greek performing arts abroad. This initiative aims to create a dynamic platform where leading artists in theatre and dance can present their work to international festival directors and representatives of cultural institutions. The platform’s growing impact is already evident, having supported the outreach of Greek artistic creations showcased in more than forty cities across Europe, Asia, and the United States.
Grape – Greek Agora of Performance: Schedule 22-27 July 2025
The Fearless Festivals Forum is part of the Athens Epidaurus Festival’s platform for the promotion of the Greek performing arts abroad, grape – Greek Agora of Performance, which takes from 22 to 27 July 2025.
Performances
21-24 July
Noemi Vasileiadou
Pitted prunes
Art Theatre Karolos Koun
THEATRE
Katerina Giannopoulou
Phenomenon by Greg Liakopoulos
Peiraios 260
THEATRE
Patricia Apergi
Hystory
Peiraios 260
DANCE
Dafin Antoniadou
Darkest White
Peiraios 260
DANCE
Sofia Antoniou
Life, Old Age, and Death of a Working-Class Woman
Peiraios 260
THEATRE
Konstantinos Papanikolaou
Sufficiently creative
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center – Lighthouse
DANCE
Konstantinos Ntellas
The Old Women Who Pick Nettles
Stathmos Theatre
THEATRE
Performances
25 & 26 July
Giannis Skourletis—bijoux de kant
To the Right of the Creek by Giannis Palavos
Inspired by Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus
War session by Aris Alexandris
Inspired by Aristophanes’ Lysistrata
Little Theatre of Ancient Epidaurus
THEATRE
Parallel programme
23 July
Fearless Festivals: a grape / EFA Denis de Rougemont Forum
A forum in collaboration with the European Festivals Association
Goethe Institut-Athen
24 July
Artist Presentations & Networking Event
Goethe Institut-Athen
25 & 26 July
Yannis Houvardas
Oedipus
The story of a transformation: from darkness to light
Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus
THEATRE