Three invitations for your festival in September
For many, September is synonymous with the reawakening of the artistic season. Whether your festival is preparing for its next edition or reflecting on recent successes, we hope the proposals below offer a window of opportunities to reconnect and re-engage with others through the European Festivals Association (EFA).
Be seen and connect with purpose
Through FestivalFinder.eu - the go-to platform for festival makers and everyone passionate about the arts to explore festivals across Europe.
In July 2025, we announced all the updates that were made to our FestivalFinder.eu platform. We invite you to take advantage of one of those new features: when updating or registering your festival edition, you can now assign up to three focus topics that reflect your values and areas of engagement. These help audiences and fellow festivals discover you more easily and help you foster meaningful collaborations with like-minded peers.
Available topics include: Artistic Freedom · Cultural Heritage · Diversity, Equity & Inclusion · Emerging Artists · Environmental Sustainability · Health & Well Being · Innovation & Emerging Technologies · Migration · Mobility · Public Spaces · Rural & Remote Contexts · Social Engagement · Young Audiences
Through ongoing meetings - EFA is actively engaging with these topics:
- Health & Well Being: As part of the Creative Europe-supported project CARE – Culture for Mental Health, we are exploring how the arts can improve the health and well-being across generations. Tomorrow, 17 September, our partner Culture Action Europe hosts an online roundtable on Arts on Prescription.
- Social Engagement: The Berlin Conference 2025 (6–7 November) will focus on how arts and culture strengthen democratic resilience across Europe, fostering civic participation and creative responses to societal challenges. More info.
Collaborate across borders
Through the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA): EFFEA Call #4 is open for applications until 3 November 2025. Around 50 residencies will be supported in 2026, encouraging festivals to form cross-border partnerships and support emerging artists.
Residency categories:
- EFFEA Discovery (€8.000): Festivals support artists at the early stages of their careers.
- EFFEA Springboard (€15.000): Festivals support artists established locally who are ready to expand internationally.
Registration on FestivalFinder.eu is required to apply for EFFEA. Use the topics feature to find partners who share your vision, and build stronger, more compelling residency proposals.
Join one of our upcoming info, networking, and Q&A sessions in September and October: see here.
Belong to a trusted network
Through the European Festivals Association (EFA): Since 1952, EFA has been evolving as a platform for dialogue, collaboration, and exchange among festivals across Europe and beyond.
EFA membership is open to a wide range of organisations: individual festivals, venues that run festivals, as well as national/regional festival associations and international cultural networks.
Whether you are seeking visibility, advocacy, or a network of peers you can reach out to, exchange ideas and collaborate with, EFA offers a space where your relationships with fellow festival makers, artists, policy makers and cultural stakeholders can flourish.
Upcoming deadline: 21 November 2025, in time to be presented at our Catch Up Autumn meeting on 4 December 2025.
Need help?
Contact us at email hidden; JavaScript is required. We are here to support you.