Together in Care: Well-being of Artists and Festivals
Reflection session on the well-being of artists and festivals organised by the European Festivals Association (EFA).
“To me, the very essence of a festival is about care: care for the artists, for the audience, and for the team. But also care for our societies, for the next generation, and for the places that are often overlooked-the peripheries (…) care must be part of our design from the start. That well-being is not an afterthought, but a founding principle. And that culture in nature, away from the centre, can be transformative.”
Paul Dujardin, Honorary Member of EFA
In a session dedicated to reflecting on well-being across the festival landscape, artists and festival makers came together to explore how care can be more meaningfully and structurally embedded into festivals. The conversation took place in the framework of the Creative Europe supported project CARE Culture for Mental Health and focused on how relationships are built and sustained - within teams, between artists and festivals, as well as with their local communities. This topic has become an important one for festivals in the last years. EFA has explored new formats and spaces to deepen discussions and exchange expertise on various aspects of health and well-being.
Through personal testimonies, festival directors and artists offered insights into how care is practiced in their contexts, and the challenges it continues to face. One director spoke from a post-conflict region, where a festival was created to reconnect people through music during a time of deep social division. Developed by local composers, the festival focuses on contemporary music and provides a platform for emerging and often unknown artists from the region, while also inviting international guests. Another artistic director described her experience reshaping a long-standing international festival by inviting artists into curatorial roles instead of being ‘just’ on stage and working with residents from an often marginalised neighbourhood to co-create the programme.
From the perspective of another festival director, care is about hospitality and inclusion - not only welcoming artists as professionals, but as people. Support extended into everyday life: organising childcare during the festival time, encouraging family participation, and promoting accessibility for all audiences. This approach reflected a broader aim to ensure that cultural engagement was not just for a few but open to many, especially in rural or underrepresented communities not only in the city but also around the country.
Artists echoed these principles, sharing how meaningful connection, listening, and time were vital to feeling seen and supported. For one, care meant creating a shared “home” where both artist and community felt welcomed and involved. The other artist described how tight festival timelines - often shaped by external funding constraints - can create a rushed and stressful environment, limiting artists’ ability to truly engage with the programme, the place, or each other. This artist also acknowledged that for those involved in organising, this pressure is even greater. She noted that more spacious planning allows for deeper connections and a greater sense of belonging. At the same time, she raised concerns about the blurred boundaries that sometimes emerge in informal festival settings, where the celebratory atmosphere can lead to inappropriate behaviour - especially towards women - and where clear mechanisms to address such issues are often lacking.
The session ended with smaller group reflections on practices of care and the barriers to sustaining them. In the conclusion, a simple idea resonated: to offer less but allow more time. Time to connect, to listen, to be present.
by Ana Benavides Otero
Credits
This session was part of the CARE – Culture for Mental Health project (2024–2027), led by Cluj Cultural Centre in partnership with the European Festivals Association, Društvo Asociacija, Culture Action Europe, Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture, ARTS for HEALTH AUSTRIA (AfHA), and Bozar Center for Fine Arts Bruxelles, funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.