Risk and Relevance

Reimagining the Big Festival Model

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What is actually at risk for the big international festival right now — its finances, its artistic nerve, its political footing, or simply the public’s attention? As public subsidy tightens across many arts economies and “economic impact” and tourism figures increasingly judge a festival’s worth, the panel asks whether chasing sponsorship and box office quietly hollows out the very risk a festival exists to take. Growth has long been the default — more days, more shows, more visitors — but is degrowth now a serious option, and could a deliberately smaller festival be a better one?

The conversation presses on harder questions too. Is genuine artistic risk even possible when budgets are this tight, or does precarity make everyone more conservative just when boldness is needed? Festivals are increasingly pushed to take positions on wars, boycotts, and the nationality of artists — is a festival a neutral platform, or must it take a stance, and where does it draw the line on whose money and whose agenda it will accept? Meanwhile, a model built on flying artists and audiences across the world collides with climate responsibility. Does the time-limited festival still serve the artists, audiences, and cities it transforms — and what survives the next decade?

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Handan Uzal Dündar  ·  Programming & Operations Manager, Istanbul Theatre Festival, İKSV (TUR)

Roy Luxford  ·  Creative Director, Edinburgh International Festival (GBR)

So Kwok-Wan  ·  Associate Programme Director, Hong Kong Arts Festival (CHN)

Vicențiu Rahău  ·  Creative Director, FITS (ROU)

Moderator — Alicia Adams  ·  Founder, URUCUM Global Arts (USA)

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Event in English, with translation into Romanian
Duration: 1h 15min