Discover the festivals and emerging artists selected through the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA) Call #4.
The European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA), an initiative of the European Festivals Association (EFA), has selected 50 emerging artists to participate in cross-border residency programmes hosted by 147 festivals, as a result of its fourth call.
Full list of selected projects
Running throughout 2026, the residencies will cover 18 artistic disciplines and take place in 34 countries. The programme is designed to strengthen European cultural co-operation by linking emerging artists with festival networks beyond their home countries, while prioritising longer-term professional development and audience engagement.
Festival programmes are often shaped by established names, which can limit the space available for new artistic voices. EFFEA addresses this imbalance actively by providing incentives for festivals to take the lead in discovering, supporting, and presenting emerging artists. Through its residency programme, the Fund encourages festivals to invest time, resources, and curatorial attention in new talent, creating the conditions for artistic development and international visibility. Emerging artists are defined not by age, but by their quality and potential importance to programmers and audiences and their prospects for international breakthrough. The artists selected include individuals, groups, and collectives across disciplines.
EFFEA residencies are built on collaboration between festivals. Each residency is co-produced by a lead festival in partnership with at least two festivals from different eligible countries, fostering exchange between programmers and their local contexts.
The Fund is delivered through two strands: Discovery residencies (€8,000) and Springboard residencies (€15,000), reflecting different stages of artistic development.
Beyond supporting artists and festivals, EFFEA residencies provide audiences and communities with new and unexpected encounters with the arts. Performances, workshops, and masterclasses engage local audiences directly, contributing to cultural vitality in each festival’s locality while broadening access to innovative artistic practices.
Detailed information on all selected residencies, participating artists, and festivals will be published shortly under the website section EFFEA Residencies, which already presents the projects supported through the first three EFFEA calls.
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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.