European Festival Association YOUROPE is to host its first European Festival Summit on 18-20 November in Karlsruhe, Germany.

The event will focus on a range of key subjects, across a series of panel sessions, with a lineup of speakers including festival creators and specialists from sectors such as AI, cyber security, and climate research.

YOUROPE, which represents some of Europe’s biggest festivals, will centre the conference content around the theme of making festivals fit for the future. Its general secretary Holger Jan Schmidt said, “Within our network, we have spent the past three years looking at the resilience, responsibility and relevance of festivals from a variety of perspectives in our project 3F Future-Fit-Festivals.

“Now is the perfect time to bring the European festival family and experts from the wider sector to the same place to delve deeper into these topics and also to set a path for the future together. We are looking forward to 48 fantastic hours in Karlsruhe with leading professionals from live events, science, and specialised areas.”

Session topics will iinclude The Future of the Festival Sector, Festivals and Generation Z, Extreme Weather at Festivals, Festivals and AI, and European Funding for Festivals.

The first confirmed speakers include:

Mika Christoffersen | Roskilde Festival (DK)

Kara Djurhuus | Roskilde Festival (DK)

Eugenie “EJ” Encalarde | Festival Productions Inc., New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (US)

Eric van Eerdenburg | Mojo Concerts / Lowlands Festival (NL)

Prof. Dr. Sascha Frühholz | Universität Zürich (CH)

Sabine Funk | IBIT GmbH & YES Group (DE)

Christof Huber | Gadget abc / YOUROPE (CH)

Michal Kaščák | Pohoda Festival (SK)

Mariana Macedo | Boom Festival / Good Mood (PT)

Arnaud Meerssemann | AEG presents France (FR)

Claire O’Neill | A Greener Future (UK)

Achim Ostertag | Summer Breeze Open Air (DE)

Holger Jan Schmidt | YOUROPE (DE)

Lea Stöver | Creative Europe Desk, Germany (DE)

Prof. Dr. York Sure-Vetter | KIT – Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE)

Linnéa Svensson | GO Group (NO)

Max Thinius | Futurneo (DE)

Daniel Vollmer | AppSphere AG (DE)

Manfred von Hebel | Jugend für Europa / Erasmus+ (DE)

Martin Wacker | Karlsruhe Marketing & Event GmbH / DAS FEST (DE)

Prof. Ian Woodward | SDU – University of South Denmark (DK)

LinkedIn