Nurturing Creativity -
Contrast - Challenge - Change
Nurturing Creativity is a necessary challenge for both young cities as well as the more established ones - and the same can be said of festivals. By focusing on this challenge the IFEA Europe 2008 conference can become an important learning ground for both newcomers and the more experienced, since all those involved in events and festivals need to be constantly prepared to change.
Audience Europe at IFEA Conference
Festivals exist ultimately for the benefit of their audiences. That’s the starting point for Audiences Europe - examining and discussing where and how audiences fit into our strategic thinking.
In programming, timing, and pricing events, we start with a clear vision of what the festival might mean to our audience, who the audience is, and what difference the festival experience might make in their lives.
Audiences Europe Network is a European Network for cultural professionals and its mission is to facilitate positive change in the ways in which the cultural sector across Europe engages with audiences. A track within this conference is dedicated to Audiences Europe offering possibilities and opportunities for discussion, reflection and analysis which can make a positive impact in our daily work.
It works on a strategic level and gives opportunities for senior cultural practitioners to access policy making, research, cultural observatories, social impact studies and debate. On the practical side it gives opportunities for all levels of cultural producers and manager to access a range of practical activities designed to improve professional practice.
Program
Wednesday 27 February
16:00 – 18:00 Check in – Registration at the City Hall, Tjarnargata 11. 11:00 – 16:00 Masterclass: Sponsorship. Sylvia Allen. Sylvia Allen successfully leads one of the United States top marketing organizations in the field of sports and special events. Sylvia was a Program Developer and Manager for Sports, Event and Entertainment Marketing program at New York University’s Management Institute. She developed marketing, public relations, advertising and sponsorship programs for a diversity of clients including Qwest Dex, AT&T, Silver Fox Club, the Garden State Arts Center, Pan American Sports, Riverfest, and numerous New York and New Jersey Downtown Improvement Associations. She is currently Adjunct Associate Professor of Marketing at New York University and wrote and delivered over five hundred seminars on marketing and sponsorship throughout the world.Price: € 100 11:00 – 16:00
Masterclass: So, what might others really think about you? Allan Xenius Grige.An eye-opening and useful cross-cultural competency seminar for arts managers. Experienced managers will know that the strangest misunderstandings might occur when you deal with artists and agents from other countries. Also in an arts organisations home environment, attracting emigrant populations to events or having recent expatriates work as staff or volunteers might be challenging. Even if contracts or verbal agreement seem clear, people from different cultures have different beliefs, make different assumptions, and have different culturally based work style preferences that might not be evident until unanticipated problems unfold. Misunderstandings often come from faulty assumptions, based on different cultural values and norms. They can be avoided by training the staff of arts organisations on how to deal with people from other cultures. As an arts manager, you must ask yourself: To what extent does my organisation - and not just the senior management - have an international mindset? Does my staff know how to treat other nationals and foreign markets right when it comes to correspondence and negotiation prior to events, when providing on-location services to foreign agents and artists, and are we doing the best we can when including foreign nationals on staff or see immigrant populations as target groups for our events? Having spent more than 24 years in international environments, and using recognized theories on cross-cultural communication, Allan Xenius Grige sets the frame for an engaging group training program and discussion on cross-cultural issues relevant to arts organisations who work in international environments. Allan Xenius Grige is owner of CACC, Copenhagen Arts & Culture Consult (www.cacc.dk), and Chairman of IFEA Europe. Price: € 100
14:00 – 16:00 A cultural tour through the very hub of Reykjavík.Would you like to become acquainted with Reykjavík in a special way? Visit unusual and original places? A walk with Cultural Companion Birna will make that a possibility. Birna´s knowledge of the cultural dimensions of both country and people, along with her connections to the very hub of downtown Reykjavík make her the perfect companion.Experience Reykjavík downtown through the cat´s eyes by following its paths. Bits and pieces about the past and the present of Reykjavík´s alleys, streets and its people. The cat is awake when others sleep, therefore early hours are not excluded!
Departure: Reykjavík Tourist Information Office, Aðalstræti 2.
Notice: Comfortable shoes are recommended, a scarf might be handy and a raincoat is safer than an umbrella, as you never know how the wind is blowing in Reykjavík.
18:00 Welcome Reception. City Hall.
ProgramThursday
28 February
8:30-9:30 Choir practice. All delegates are invited to join the IFEA Conference Choir. Nothing brings people together like a song. So both Thursday and Friday will start with a sing-a-long led by Iceland’s best known organist and choir conductor, Hörður Áskelsson. Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House.
9:30-9:50 Welcoming Remarks.Allan X. Grige, Chairman IFEA EuropeSvanhildur Konráðsdóttir, Director of the Department of Culture and Tourism of the City of Reykjavík.Maria Nusser Wagner, Head of Public Relations, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 9.50-10.50
Keynote: The Future of European Festivals and Events: An Atlas for 21st Century Eventologists.Dr. Joe Goldblatt, CSEP, one of the premiere educators in the global festivals and events industry, will add one more credential to his long resume when he joins the teaching staff of Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland in January, 2008. Dr. Goldblatt provides both a creative and insightful perspective of our field, based upon a lifetime of experience. Dr. Goldblatt serves on the IFEA Global Roundtable Council; was the founding president of the International Special Events Society; and created the first master’s degree and professional certificate program in the field of event management at George Washington University, in addition to programs at Johnson & Wales University and Temple University.He has authored, co-authored or edited 19 books and hundreds of articles on event management topics and has won numerous lifetime career achievement awards.Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House.
10:50-11:20 Coffee break.
11:20-12:20 Keynote: Reykjavík Arts Festival: Nurturing Creativity for 37 years. Þórunn Sigurðardóttir has been the director of the Reykjavík Arts Festival since 2001. She was the director of Reykjavík – European City of Culture in 2000. She has been closely connected to the theatre for many years, writing, directing as well as acting. Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House.
12:20 – 13:45 Lunch and IFEA Europe Annual Genereal Meeting. Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House.
14:00 – 15:00 Paralell Workshops: Creative Marketing: More Adventurous, More Loyal – The Nirvana of Audience Development.With Richard Hadley – Independent Consultant and Trainer. You can think of audience development in two distinct and parallel ways: getting audiences to be more adventurous and getting them to attend more often - or even for the first time. In this workshop Richard Hadley outlines a planning model for audience development and considers the different strategies involved. Richard is a UK-based cultural consultant who has run specialist audience development agencies, is a seasoned trainer, and founding member of Audiences Europe Network. (Discussion and questions on the issues raised in the workshop will be continued in the follow-on Round Table session).Location announced later.
Creatively Managing Creativity:Pete Van de Putte CFEE President, Dfest – Dixie Flag Event Services Team. Assembling a team of creative people is one thing. Managing them so as to bring out each member’s talents and empower them to assert their creativity can be a daunting task. Pete Van de Putte, President of dfest – Dixie Flag Event Services Team and 2008 Chair if the IFEA World Board will present techniques he uses to recruit creative people for his team and to manage them through encouragement, empowerment, and enthusiasm. Location announced later.
Intercultural Creativity: “The place I call home” - An exploration of the social political landscapes that have come to inform cultural change in the contemporary arts.Madani Younis, artistic director, freedom studios. Madani Younis studied on the MPhil in Playwriting at the University of Birmingham and has worked nationally and internationally as a Director, Writer and Practitioner. Appointed in 2002 as the Director of the Red Ladder Theatre Company’s Asian Theatre School / Freedom Studios. South Bank Show Award Winner 2006. GG2 Diversity and Leadership Award 2006- Film, TV & Theatre Award Winner. (www.freedomstudios.co.uk). Location announced later.
Creative vision: Imagineering: a way to understand and create meaningful experiences.Moniek Hover is a senior lecturer in Imagineering at NHTV International University of Applied Sciences, Academy for Leisure. She is head of the Imagineering Competency Group. She is also responsible for the research program on leisure experience and experiential instruments, which has been running since 2004. Location announced later.
15:00 – 15:30 Coffee Break. Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House.
15:30-17:45 Round tables.The round table talks will give conference delegates and lecturers to meet each other and discuss topics such as sponsoring, creative use of venues, transantlantic exchange, street theatre, project exchange, international volunteers and much more. Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House.
19:00 Pure Energy Dinner. Buses from Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House to Reykjavík Energy new power plant on Hellisheiði for a welcoming dinner.
ProgramFriday
29 February
8:30-9:00 Choir practice. All delegates are invited to join the IFEA Conference Choir. Nothing brings people together like a song. So both Thursday and Friday will start with a sing-a-long led by Iceland’s best known organist and choir conductor, Hörður Áskelsson. Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House.
9:00-10:00 Keynote: Artistic Festivals: How Creative, How Intercultural?
Dr Dragan Klaic. Starting with a critical analysis of the fashionable discourse on creativity and intercultural dialogue, Klaic sketches changes in the function and value of international artistic festivals, revealing complex processes behind those highly visible events. Better festivals invests consciously in own developmental impact and seek multifaceted engagements with various constituencies. Festivals emerge as a celebration of arts and artists as well as a mode to reinforce the civil society through a dialectic of local and global that each festival has to articulate on its own terms. Klaic will map realms in which artistic festivals can enhance the intercultural competence of own staff, participants and audiences.
Dr Dragan Klaic is a theater scholar and cultural analyst. He serves as a Permanent Fellow of Felix Meritis Foundation in Amsterdam and has been teaching courses in Arts and Cultural Policy at the Leiden University Faculty of Creative & Performing Arts since 2003. He is lecturing widely at the universities, speaking at conferences and symposia and serving as advisor, editor, researcher and trainer. In the 2007-2008 academic year Dr Klaic teaches the course ‘Cultural policies and cultural systems in Europe.’ (See www.draganklaic.eu).
10:00-10:20 Coffee break. Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House.
10:20-11:20 Keynote: Creating the BBC Electric Proms.Lorna Clarke is the Festival Director of the BBC Electric Proms as well as being Head of Programs at BBC 1Xtra. Lorna Clarke has achieved much in her 23 year career since her first job as a BBC News reporter in 1984. She has been a documentary producer for BBC Radio 4, worked on the launch team for Kiss FM and then went on to become Head of BBC Talent. Her most recent achievement has been to create and launch the BBC Electric Proms, a music festival which challenges artists to create new music moments which has hosted over 150 artists in just the first two years, including James Brown, Paul McCartney, Ray Davies, Sigur Ros and Mark Ronson. In addition to her role as Festival Director for the BBC Electric Proms, Lorna is also Head of Programmes for 1Xtra, the home of new black music.Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House.
11:20-11:35 IFEA and you: Allan X. Grige, Chairman IFEA Europe. 11:35-12:45
Lunch. 13:00 - 14:00
Paralell workshops:
Using the web to open up your festival:
The web gives you the chance to open up your festival so visitors can create an experience that lives beyond attending. Find out how to make your festival live for months - from connecting people before the festival to encouraging them to share their experiences, photos and video after the event – while marketing it for free.
Andrew Baron has worked for the BBC in the UK for ten years starting with the infamous Radio 1 Roadshows. After beginning on the radio side he moved into the online/interactive side of Radio 1 before working exclusively on music event coverage in 2006/7. He’s produced BBC websites for Glastonbury, Reading Festival, Live Earth, Live 8 and Concert for Diana. He was also part of the core teams who organise and run Radio 1’s Big Weekend (a massive free two day music festival) and BBC Electric Proms. There he lead the interactive element of the festivals which included live webcasts, performances on-demand, online marketing, integration with web2.0 websites (MySpace, Facebook, last.fm and Flickr), ticketing, interactive TV, photos, podcasts and blogs. He was also involved in making Radio 1’s Big Weekend the first virtual festival in Second Life and the subject of a live ARG (Alternative Reality Game). http://www.bbc.co.uk/electricproms/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/bigweekend/
Creativity Management: Can creativity be managed? Well at least it can be stimulated, optimized and used by a city. Johan Moerman explains the Rotterdam model that is based on interaction between the needs of the city and the creativity of festival organisers. He will give examples of projects where the creativity of festival organisers changed the city. He will also talk about Festilab, a competition that generated 226 idea’s for new festivals. Johan Moerman is managing director of Rotterdam Festivals, the organisation that is responsible for the event policy and -coordination in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He has more then 20 years of experience in the festival industry and is a board member of several international networks and cultural organisations, such as IFEA (world) and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Gergiev Festival. Before starting Rotterdam festivals Johan Moerman was deputy director of the Rotterdam Arts council. Location announced later
Chaos, Cultural Codes and Creativity:Max Dager is the director of the Reykjavik Nordic House, the architect Alvar Aaltos smallest monumental building, programming performing arts and exhibitions together with seminars and conferences. His background as an entrepreneur in the cultural field, includes for example experiences with producing performing arts as diverse as impresario for Vietnamese cultural heritage, to puppet festivals and the founding of the avant garde circus group Cirkus Cirkör and their developing of a leading contemporary circus-center in Europe. After moving to Iceland, he also is acting to create a cultural- & knowledge-center on globalization and environmental issues in the far north of the country on the outskirts of civilisation, with the Arctic at close.Max will share his thoughts on pros and cons on cultural globalization, on creative industry, branding matters and the possibilities and necessity to reach out to new and diverse audiences. He will forward his experiences in working in different cultures, with different cultural codes, and with the challenge of networking. Location to be announced later.
Creative Vision: “The German Protestant Kirchentag – a lay movement as sustainable festival of culture, faith and socio-political time-check”.Dipl.-Ing. Sarah Schad, M.A. Founded in 1949, the German Protestant Kirchentag was a movement of Protestant lay people who wanted to maintain their independence from the official church. They were seeking for a Christian faith combining both spirituality and responsibility for society and the world. Every two years the Kirchentag moves to a new location and creates five days of a great festival in a German city. Besides high-ranking figures from political, academic, social and church life, or popular professional artists, there is plenty of scope for unknown song-writers, amateur cabaret groups or people giving first-hand reports on their daily lives. This variety is what makes the Kirchentag so stimulating and lively. The presentation gives a closer look at history, structure and the creative motor of the Kirchentag. Its special character as well its contribution to sustainability, environment and society are highlighted.Sarah Schad studied Audiovisual Media and European Studies in Stuttgart, Berlin, Madrid and Cracow. Since 2006 she has been working for the German Protestant Kirchentag where she was first responsible for international matters. Currently she is assisting the CEO. Sarah Schad (Confirmed and everything ready). Location announced later.
14:00 - 14:30 Coffee Break.
14:45 - 15:45 Paralell workshops:
Creativity Management: Ira Rosen is President of Entertainment On Location, Inc. (EOL) a full-service entertainment production and consulting company with offices in Philadelphia and New Jersey. Mr. Rosen has spoken and written extensively on many industry topics including tourism and the festival industry, corporate sponsorship, and the operational management of special events, He also currently serves on the New Jersey Governor’s Council for the Tourism Industry Association and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Garden State Film Festival. Location announced later.
Parades. Street´s Creativity:Jaume Bernadet. Member of Comediants since 1975. Actor, script writer, artistic director and co-director, specialization in direction of collective performances. Founder of Comediants’ Creation Center La Vinya, where some internationals street theatre courses take place, such as the FAI AR. He participated in the creation and development of numerous Comediants’ shows. He has also participated in the creation and design of books, LPs, objects, posters and learning materials. He has been an advisor and artistic director and codirector of many events such as: La magia del tiempo, daily parade for the 1992 World Expo in Seville, Closing ceremony for the 1992’ Olympics in Barcelona, Parade for the 1998 World Expo in Lisbon, Opening for the Spanish day in 2000 World Expo in Hannover, Opening of the Picasso Museum, Feliz cumpleaños, Picasso in Málaga, Parade and Tournament for Don Quijote’s 500 Anniversary in various Spanish Cities 2005, Opening ceremony for the Ryder Cup in Dublin, Ireland in 2006 and Opening ceremony for Eutopia International Festival of Young Creation in Cordoba in 2007. Location announced later.
“River//Cities - Creative Connections”.What is culture for? How to use culture as a tool for developing creativity?Where are the creative connections? How to increase the impact of culture? Where to find inspiration for culture? Can rivers bring creative means?Agnieszka Wlazeł, River//Cities Platform coordinator, Vice-President of Federation of Independent Filmmakers. Author of several films, which have been awarded many times. Originator and coordinator of many international film events and workshops supported through Youth Program of European Commission. Awarded with the Gold Medal by the World Independent Film Union UNICA for the entirety activity. Director and originator of OFF/ON Warsaw European Film Week (since 2004). Presently, she is working simultaneously on artistic season that connects the both banks of Vistula river and festival revisions, presenting independent culture of Warsaw. Location announced later.
Creative vision: The Great Fish day largest free food festival in Europe. How can small fishingvillage feed over 30.000 people.
Júlíus Júlíusson has ben the manager of the Great Fish day from the beginning 2001. He is from Dalvík small fishing village in the north. He has been closely connected to the amateur theatre in Iceland for many years, writing, acting and directing.
16:00-16:45 Audience Development stream
Panel: Finding Your Niche – Festivals, Events and Place Marketing
Participants: Johan Moerman, Maria Nusser-Wagner and Richard Hadley. What role do festivals play in building destination brands? How do they contribute to communicating the distinctive qualities of a city and region? What can festivals do to get themselves on the strategic radar of tourism planners and managers?
These and other questions will be considered by a lively panel of a audience development practitioners put together by IFEA partner organisation, Audiences Europe Network. This interactive session will focus on the key challenges of how festivals successfully engage with tourism networks – and what the benefits to both sides. An important supplementary issue in this is how ‘mainstream’ cultural institutions like museums and arts venues might develop a festivals/events program in order to reach new audiences – both in the home market and among visitors.
Join the discussion armed with your own opinions and experiences – this forum is about sharing, exchange and ideas!
16:45-17:00 Closing Remarks.
18:00 Blue Lagoon.
The conference ends with a unique combination of relaxation and refreshment at the incomparable Blue Lagoon. A soothing swim in the recreative waters will be followed by a culinary experience at the Blue Lagoon restaurant which marks the end of IFEA European Conference 2008. Don’t forget to bring your swimsuit. Buses from Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House.
The program is subject to change.
In Association with Festival Media Corporation
Visitors to Reykjavík experience easily the pure energy at the heart of Iceland‘s capital city – whether from the boiling thermal energy underground, the natural green energy within the city and around it, or the lively culture and fun-filled nightlife. The population of the Reykjavík Capital Area is about 200,000. Reykjavík is spread across a peninsula with a panoramic view of the mountains and the Atlantic Ocean on almost all sides. Reykjavík is probably closer than you think. Flight time is only 2–4 hours from Europe and 5–6 hours from east coast USA. Icelandair has a regular schedule of daily non-stop flights to Iceland from many major European and North American cities. www.icelandair.is Iceland Express connects Iceland on a daily basis with Copenhagen, London (Stansted) and other destinations in Europe. www.icelandexpress.is British Airways flies from London (Gatwick). www.ba.com Leifur Eiriksson Keflavik International Airport www.flugstod.is/english The Flybus drives regularly between Leifur Eiriksson Keflavík International Airport and Reykjavík. www.flybus.is Please have a look at www.ifeaeurope.com/reykjavik for hotel information.
