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Catalytic Conversations
III: DESIGNS ON THE FUTURE SPEAKERS
Jordi Albareda Ahmed El Attar Rose Fenton Veronika Liebl
Founder and Director, FairSaturday, Spain Director, Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival, Egypt Freelance Arts Producer and Advisor, UK Co-Director, Ars Electronica Festival;
Director of Organization/Finance Ars Electronica Festival/ Prix/Exhibitions, Austria
The forced break in our regular cycle of festival programming provides an unanticipated opportunity to think about the future. In the third catalytic conversation, participants questioned the desire or even the ability to return to “normality” and wondered if festivals might have different priorities moving forward. Many questioned the pre-COVID-19 status quo, asking if the systems in place were really working and – if so – for whom they were working. To a certain extent, COVID-19 was regarded as a catalyst – a canary in the coalmine – for highlighting the systemic injustices in how festivals operate (which are often a reflection of the injustices seen in society at large). In designing the future of festivals, participants wondered if it was possible to find solutions that work for all festivals – regardless of size, geographic location, art form or focus – as well as solutions that help heal the planet and its inhabitants. is the value we bring to our community? How might “What we link in with civic structures across housing, health, education, local government and local commerce? ”
Participants were keen to revisit and reflect more deeply on festival values. Valuations based on product or traditional economic capital cannot be the only method for assessing a festival’s worth. While festivals can generate wealth, linking a festival’s value exclusively to economic gains is flawed (as the phenomenon of over-tourism has shown). Indeed, if this were the case and a festival’s value was solely determined by fiscal output through, say, tickets sold or tourism generated, then the logic would be to only program the most
