EFA and its communities at the Conference of Bulgaria Festivals Association
The Conference of the Bulgaria Festivals Association “Festival and the City” took place in Sofia on 13 and 14 March. The event gathered some 50 festival makers and cities representatives from all over the country - Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv, Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo, Stara Zagora, and Pirdop - to meet and discuss about the present and future of festivals.
On 13 and 14 March 2025, EFA was present in Sofia for the Conference “Festival and the City” of the Bulgarian Festivals Association, its collective member uniting several festivals in Bulgaria. It was the biggest conference organised by the Bulgarian Festivals Association since COVID. 50 participants coming from diverse horizons attended the event, including festival organisers and municipalities from Bulgaria, representatives from the ministry of Culture, and both local and international experts.
The speakers invited covered a wide range of topics related to festival business: the importance of collecting data, getting to know your audience, funding, evaluation criteria to measure impact, sustainability, cultural policies, etc. Members of the Bulgarian Festivals Association have presented their festivals, and the cities have put forward some of the festivals happening in their municipality and the links that bind them together. Presentations from international experts brought some fresh perspectives and valuable insights into the state of the sector in other countries and highlighted EU projects offering opportunities for growth and collaboration. During the "International Perspectives: European Festivals Association" session, EFA took the stage to present its main projects open to all arts festivals such as the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists - EFFEA, FestivalFinder.eu, The Festival Academy, and the EFFE Seal for Festival Cities and Regions.
The dialogue that festivals are creating both on the national and international levels have an interesting impact, especially their social impact. They contribute directly to the well-being of citizens and make the link between tradition and modernity.
The conference has proved to be very useful to all the participants, to exchange and see where festivals were today. During these 2 days, they shared, connected, and discussed not only their needs but also the challenges they face. The biggest problem is related to funding that is not well distributed and coming late, especially for festivals happening at the beginning of the year. The predictability of support is also a major issue as festivals need to apply every year to receive funds. A solution would be to make festivals that have proved to be relevant after 4 or 5 years eligible for funding of programmes of 3 years to create some security on a middle term basis.
The most inspiring presentation and to which many speakers referred to was "International Perspectives: ESG and Financial Sustainability of Festivals" by Natália Oszkó-Jakab, Festival Director of Valley of Arts and EFA Board Member. She showed that over a period of 10 years how she managed to make her festival depend on only 20% of governmental funding today.
On EFA’s side, it was very meaningful to see its various close communities present during this event: EFA Members, EFFE Seal Cities and Regions, and EFFEA Festivals.
Festivals are sustainable forms of access to arts. They preserve the democratic values of our societies.
The conference gave a lot of inspiration and good reasons for festivals and cities to go on and dream about a better future. Vasil Dimitrov, the President of the Bulgarian Festivals Association concluded: “This event gives me strength to continue. For 30 years, things are not right, and we face injustice. The presence of people and exchanges give me a lot of hope for the years to come.” Hopefully, this conference will take place every year, hosted each time by a new municipality to travel through Bulgaria’s diverse and vibrant festivals sector.