Festivals, heritage and new generations: The Denis de Rougemont Forum in Varna
What can music tell us about the role of festivals in Europe? How can festivals preserve their heritage while remaining open to new artistic voices? And how can European cooperation help them build for the future?
These questions shaped the EFA Denis de Rougemont Forum, held in Varna, Bulgaria, from 4 to 6 September 2026. Organised by the European Festivals Association (EFA) and hosted by the Varna Summer International Music Festival on the occasion of its 100th anniversary, the Forum brought together festivals and cultural professionals from across Europe, with a particular focus on the Balkans.
Varna, Bulgaria | 4-6 September 2026
Music, history and memory
The Forum opened with a musical greeting featuring Prokofiev's Piano Quintet. Music also provided a starting point for reflecting on the wider role of festivals and their relationship with society.
In a conversation between Mario Hossen - Artistic Director of the Varna Summer International Music Festival & internationally recognised violinist - and Vladimir Jurowski - one of today's most sought-after conductors acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment - they discussed the historical relationship between music and society. “Music was always in service of something else in society. Music served religion. Music served the power. Music served the money.”
From this history, the discussion moved towards what music can offer today. For Jurowski, music creates a temporary shared space for performers and audiences: “The space exists only while the music is sounding and is shared by everyone who enters it.” Although this space disappears when the music ends, the experience remains through memory.
This perspective provided a fitting starting point for the Forum: festivals are not only places where cultural activities take place, but spaces where people meet, share experiences and create memories together.
Making heritage live
This question of memory was closely connected to the history of the Varna Summer International Music Festival, which celebrated its 100th anniversary during the Forum.
Plamena Tsoneva presented the festival's development and its place in Varna's cultural identity. Over a century, its programme has expanded from symphonic and chamber music to opera and ballet, while also including concerts, exhibitions, book presentations and discussions. But a long history also raises questions about responsibility.
“History brings not only prestige but also profound responsibility to the audience,” Tsoneva explained.
The Forum's discussion on identity and heritage explored how festivals can carry this responsibility while remaining relevant to contemporary audiences. Rather than treating heritage as something fixed, participants stressed the importance of reinterpreting it and creating connections with contemporary artistic creation. As Alexandra Bobes (France Festivals) put it, “the most important is how to reinterpret, how to create connection with the contemporary creation, and how to create links with the audiences.”
Neyko Genchev, Deputy Mayor of Veliko Tarnovo Municipality, similarly argued that “a living festival should allow its performers to […] interpret, to explore, to even challenge the heritage in order to create something new.”
The conversation also opened up questions of representation and transmission: “Who is deciding for what is heritage, and heritage for whom?”
Making space for new generations
While heritage connects festivals to the past, emerging artists bring new perspectives and possibilities for the future.
The Forum therefore turned to the challenges of supporting artists who are not yet widely known. Festivals have to balance artistic risk with audience expectations: established artists can help attract audiences, while emerging artists can bring new ideas, artistic languages and perspectives. Supporting these artists can also mean going beyond providing a stage. Participants discussed the importance of mentoring, visibility, networking and international mobility, as well as the need to build longer-term relationships with artists. As Alexandra Bobes (France Festivals) noted, “When we talk about emerging artists, it's a cycle, a very long cycle.”
The discussion also highlighted the responsibility festivals have in deciding whose voices and perspectives reach audiences.
For Juriaan Cooiman (Culturescapes), “The power we hold in our hands to produce art and cultural events, it has a huge responsibility to all those [...] people who are not seen in our society.”
From exchange to action
The Forum was not only about discussing these challenges. It also explored how festivals can work together to respond to them.
European cooperation can create opportunities that individual festivals may not be able to offer alone, from international mobility to co-productions and artistic residencies. Donika Rudi Berishaj, EFFEA Project Director, presented the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA), an initiative of EFA co-funded by the European Union. By connecting festivals across Europe, EFFEA gives emerging artists opportunities to develop their work while creating new relationships between festivals.
The next EFFEA Call is open from 1 September to 3 November 2026 and will support around 50 residencies, bringing together at least 150 festivals and emerging artists across Europe.
A conversation that ends with music
After two days of conversations about heritage, identity, emerging artists and European cooperation, the Forum came back to the experience that had opened it: music. The final concert featured the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, with Julia Fischer as violin soloist. The programme included Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major and Brahms' Symphony No. 2.
Coming together once again as listeners offered a simple conclusion to the Forum. Festivals may look at the past through their heritage, invest in the future through new generations of artists, and build connections through European cooperation. But at their heart, they remain spaces where people meet through culture.
The next EFA Denis de Rougemont Forum will take place at ReMusica Festival in Prishtina, Kosovo, from 19 to 22 October 2027.
