Mercredi 23 Janvier 2008 11:37:36 pm

EuropeanFestival Research Project announces 2 research workshops in 2008

European Festival Research Project

announces 2 research workshops to take place in 2008

URBAN IMPACT OF ARTISTIC FESTIVALS
Helsinki, April 11-12 2008, hosted by the City of Helsinki Culture Office

and

FESTIVALS OF THEATER FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH
Moscow, October 31 - November 1, 2008, hosted by the Big Break, Moscow International Festival of Theater for Children

and invites researchers to submit proposals for inclusion in the workshops' programs.


The European Festival Research Project (EFRP) is an international, interdisciplinary consortium, focused on the dynamics of artistic festivals today and seeking to understand the current explosion of festivals and its implications and perspectives. EFRP is working to develop a critical mass of research papers, studies, publications and debates and through these to articulate tentative conclusions, trends, forecasts and recommendations for festival operators, public authorities as subsidy givers and potential sponsors. All research outcomes are being made accessible in a public depository at the web site of the European Festival Association (http://www.efa-aef.org/efahome/efrp.cfm). Periodically EFRP holds intensive research workshops on specific topics where research is presented and discussed. Such workshops have taken place in Nitra (2005), Leicester and Le Man (2006) and Barcelona (2007). In 2008, EFRP research workshops are planned for Helsinki (April 11-2), on the urban impact of artistic festivals, and in Moscow (31 October-1 November), on the festivals of theater for children. An edited book on festival politics, programming, impact and governance will be produced by the consortium and associated researchers in 2008/9

For both workshops, EFRP is looking for comparative and longitudinal research and exploration of specific issues and topics, not presentations of specific festivals as such. Presentations centered on one single festival will be considered only if they highlight some emblematic feature or practice of broader significance.

Interested researchers should submit a 100-150 word summary of their presentation to Dr Dragan Klaic (Leiden University), Chair of the EFRP (draganklaic@gmail.com) by February 25 for the Helsinki workshop and May 15 for the Moscow workshop.

Researchers selected for the workshop program will be informed by March 3, 2008 (Helsinki) and May 20 (Moscow) and asked to prepare a 15 min oral presentation in English, based on a power point of a maximum of 10 slides. Power point presentations should be sent by March 31 (Helsinki) and September 1st (Moscow). Researchers agree that EFRP places their powerpoints at the EFRP public depository at the web site of European Festival Association.

For both workshops, the local host organization will provide hotel accommodation and meals to a limited number of presenters.
Presenters are expected to cover their own travel expenses.

Presentations will be thematically clustered and there will be ample time for discussion.
Before sending propsals, potential presenters are invite to read carefully the conceptual framework bellow.

URBAN IMPACT OF ARTISTIC FESTIVALS
Helsinki, April 11-12 2008

The City of Helsinki runs, funds and encourages a great panoply of festivals. They are considered an important feature of the city’s urban life and engage various constituencies. In 2007 the City of Helsinki published a book of studies on various Helsinki festivals (in Finnish) and is now developing a comprehensive festival strategy.

The premise of the Helsinki research workshop is that artistic festivals taking place in metropolitan areas
revitalize urban life and increase the social interaction of various groups of inhabitants
remap the mental image of the city that its inhabitants carry
attract inhabitants to less familiar zones and alter how they use the resources of their city
offset the traditional concentration of cultural resources and cultural events in the historic and commercial centers of the city by focusing on less prestigious, peripheral zones
seek, find, appropriate and test unusual locations and turn them to occasional or continuous cultural use
highlight some less popular neighborhoods and initiate their socio-economic regeneration
engage and reinforce the infrastructures of the civil society and especially local neighborhood associations
develop and implement actions that enhance cultural diversity and develop intercultural competence of citizens
develop the cultural memory of inhabitants by the evocative power of their cultural programs and highlight the dynamics of urban transformation
offer visitors unusual, unexpected and unconventional ways to engage with the specific features of the city, its neighborhoods, citizens and their resources.

The EFRP Helsinki workshop seeks to feature and debate interesting research on festivals which reveal such impacts, focusing on the

varying concepts of urban festivals, their formulae, content and spin offs
capacity of artistic festivals to include, engage and mobilize residents and their groups and associations, help them develop social capital and make them co-creators of cultural policies and cultural production
public attention that is thanks to the festivals focused on specific neighborhoods and public debates initiated on the sensitive issues of urban development
strengthening of intercultural and intergenerational dialogue among residents and the development of new audiences
strategies of conversion, renovation and recycling of dysfunctional and abandoned spaces and sites through cultural production and programming and site-specific events
economic boost given by the festivals to specific neighbourhoods
cooperative engagement of existing cultural institutions within the festival concept and program.

City of Helsinki Cultural Office, Administration, Postal address: P.O. Box 4710, 00099 CITY OF HELSINKI. Fax: +358-(0)9- 310 37009, switchboard:+358-(0)9 310 1060. www.kulttuuri.hel.fi .

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FESTIVALS OF THEATER FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH
Moscow, October 31- November 1, 2008

Big Break is a new international festival of theater for children, that took place for the first time in November 2007. It is an initiative of Eduard Boyakov, the founder of the well-known Golden Mask Festival and currently Artistic Director of Moscow theater Praktika, specializing in the production of new Russian and foreign plays. The mission of Big Break Festival is to develop the theater for children in Russia and reinforce its communication and cooperation with creators abroad.

The starting premise of the Moscow research workshop is that theater for children festivals
stimulate artistic developments in this specific type of theater and enhance the diversity of the repertoire for the young audiences
enhance communication of the performing artists with the educators and help integrate theater in the educational processes
strengthen the position of theater for children in relation to other sorts of theater for adults, offset its marginalization and place it on the ongoing cultural policy agenda
challenge the performers and the audiences to probe communication beyond cultures and languages.
position theatre as an instrument of aesthetic education
provide a debating forum for the key issues of theatre for children
generate interest of the media and the authorities for the theatre for children
encourage playwrights to write for children.

Consequently, the Moscow workshop seeks to feature and debate interesting research results on this type of festivals, focusing on the

varying concepts of festivals, their formuale, content and spin offs
capacity of festivals to enhance cultural-political debate, nourish a dialogue between the artists and educators and stimulate the artistic discourse among the performing arts professionals
experiences that empower children as suave spectators and enhance their intercultural competence
methods used to enhance distribution of theater productions for children
international collaboration in this segment of theater work.

Teatr PRAKTIKA, Bolshoi Kozihinskiy pereulok, #30 (Mayakovskaya metro station); Bookings: + 7 495 544 55 45, Contact: +7 495 699 44 92, metro Tverskaya, Pushkinskaya, www.praktikatheatre.ru/en/, www.bigbreakfest.ru (in English).