Thank you for applying to the fourth call of the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists - EFFEA
The fourth EFFEA Call has drawn an extraordinary response from artists and festivals across Europe and beyond: A total of 148 applications were received, featuring 437 artists (individual/ collectives) and 489 festivals from 42 countries and 19 artistic disciplines, a vivid reflection of the scale and diversity of the emerging voices ready to breakthrough on international stages, and of the festivals that believe and are eager to support them.
Participation was truly pan-European, with festivals from across the continent, from Southern and Western Europe to the Balkans, the Baltics, and the Nordic countries, joining the call. Italy, Greece, Germany, and Portugal were among the most active countries, alongside vibrant representation from Central and Eastern Europe. In terms of artistic fields, music, theatre, dance, and visual arts were the most represented. Yet the variety extended far beyond these: proposals spanned digital arts, storytelling, heritage, street arts, circus, folklore, film, photography, and more, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of artistic practices and festivals.
Since the pre-announcement in June 2025, the open call (1 September–3 November 2025) sparked months of activity, exchange, and collaboration between emerging artists and festival makers.
Together with EFFEA Platform Members and Creative Europe Desks, we hosted 8 online and in-person networking and information sessions, reaching over 1,000 participants. These gatherings helped forge new cross-border partnerships and encouraged festivals to jointly present the work of emerging artists. Many of the applications received show collaborations that go beyond the required three participating festivals per residency.
Beyond the formal sessions, EFFEA’s digital and community tools became active spaces for collaboration. A key networking and matchmaking hub throughout the call was FestivalFinder.eu. Once listed on the platform, festivals could easily be discovered by others through filters such as country, artistic discipline, theme, or festival dates, enabling them to identify potential partners and reach out directly. The open call motivated over 760 festivals to register or update their profiles on FestivalFinder.eu between June and October 2025.
The Facebook Community offered a more informal and interactive space. Festivals and artists were encouraged to join and post about their work, share what they were looking for in the context of EFFEA, ask questions, and connect with others in the group. This community grew to 1400 members and became a lively forum for exchange, supporting visibility and dialogue.
To complement these tools, EFFEA also circulated a shared contact list where festivals and artists could add their names, contact details, and indicate what they were looking for. By the end of the call, 79 festivals and 115 emerging artists had filled in their information. The list became a practical networking tool that many used to reach out directly to one another, resulting in new partnerships and conversations that developed independently alongside the official EFFEA process.
The EFFEA Jury is now reviewing all submitted applications. The selected projects will be revealed in December 2025 on the EFFEA website and social media channels. The EFA team will contact the leading festivals, so keep an eye on your email inbox for updates.
If you did not manage to join this round, there is good news: With the backing of Creative Europe, EFFEA will keep nurturing the next generations of emerging artists and festival collaborations. Every year will bring a new open call and the next one expected in September 2026.
Connect with us
EFFEA website
EFFEA Facebook
EFFEA Facebook Community
Send us an email: info@european-festivals.eu
EFFEA is an initiative of the European Festivals Association, co-funded by the European Union, implemented in partnership with the EFFEA Platform Members: Croatian Composers Society (Croatia), Culture Matters (Czechia), PLMF Arts Management (Estonia), France Festivals (France), Festival Friends (Germany), Stichting Caucasus Foundation (Georgia), Summa Artium Kultúra Támogató Nonprofit Kft. (Hungary), Association of Irish Festival Events (Ireland), ItaliaFestival (Italy), ARC Research and Consultancy Ltd. (Malta), Asociația Centrul Cultural Clujean (Romania), ArtLink (Serbia), Sweden Festivals (Sweden), Development Centre "Democracy through Culture" (Ukraine). Associated Partners: Culture Action Europe, European Music Council, Pearle* Live Performance Europe, Circostrada, IETM, On the Move, European Dance Development Network, Művészetek Völgye Nonprofit Kft.