EFFEA Call #3 marks the closing chapter of the first Creative Europe funding cycle of the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA) and accompanies the continued development of a new generation of artistic collaborations across borders, shaped by care, exchange and artistic risk.
A year of discovery
EFFEA Call #3 supported 58 emerging artists and 160 festivals across 35 countries and 18 artistic disciplines. Between 1 June 2024 and 31 May 2025, a wide range of artistic processes, institutional realities and local contexts were sustained and connected through the shared framework of the call and its wider European conversation. Festivals and emerging artists from across Europe and beyond entered into a common commitment: to slow down production, to work beyond single festival editions, and to create conditions in which artistic processes could unfold with trust, time and mutual responsibility. This also meant navigating structural challenges and a shifting lancscape, from funding constraints to questions of working conditions, artistic autonomy, inclusivity, and shifting priorities around sustainability.
EFFEA Generation #3 unfolded through 58 residencies, each led by a festival working in collaboration with at least two partner festivals from other countries, to support emerging artists—defined not by age or formal training, but by their potential for international breakthrough. Artists moved through different institutional and cultural environments within a single residency, encountering varied working cultures, curatorial approaches and publics. Residencies functioned as shared learning environments in which artists and festivals negotiated roles, expectations and responsibilities. As one festival reflected, “collaboration is the name of the game”, pointing to a broader shift away from hierarchical models towards more horizontal, co-creative relationships between artists and programmers. Artists were not positioned solely as recipients of support, nor were festivals neutral hosts; instead, collaboration required ongoing dialogue, transparency and mutual adjustment.
Audiences were part of this process. Across different locations, audiences encountered emerging artistic work at various stages—through workshops, open rehearsals, discussions, presentations and performances. These encounters shaped both the development of the work and its reception. In some cases, audiences were not just spectators but active participants, contributing to processes of co-creation and shared meaning-making.
In June 2024, artists, festivals, EFFEA Jury members, EFFEA Platform Members and partners met at the outset of the implementation phase at the EFFEA Generation #3 Intake Seminar. The focus was on understanding the diversity of the 58 projects and the different relational and working paths they would take—local and transnational, process‑driven and presentation‑based, intimate and public.
Nearly a year later, as the residency period approached its conclusion, the EFFEA Outtake Seminar offered a space to reflect collectively on experiences around transnational collaboration, its benefits and challenges, and its impact on artistic development, festival practices and future opportunities.
EFFEA Call #3 leaves behind a constellation of traces—residencies, films, stories and a new Duty of Care Protocol—offering insight into how festivals and artists worked, learned and evolved together.
Stories From the Field
Each residency resulted in an EFFEA Film documenting the collaboration over the course of the year: rehearsals, exchanges, encounters with audiences and the everyday labour of artistic development. These films extend the life of the residencies, providing artists and festivals with tools and references for future collaborations, and contributing to an evolving archive of otherwise ephemeral processes.
EFFEA Call #3 YouTube playlist
Alongside the films, artists and festivals shared their experiences through EFFEA Stories. Written in their own voices, these reflections capture what sits between formal reporting and final presentation: negotiations, learning processes, challenges, shifts in perspective and more.
The EFFEA Duty of Care Protocol Generation #3 draws a collective reflection on responsibility, care and working conditions based on residency experiences. It highlights key areas shaping contemporary festival practice—from inclusivity and fair remuneration to well-being, environmental responsibility and new collaborative models.
Download the Duty of Care Protocol
This generation was carried forward by many hands: artists who were willing to trust and share unfinished ideas; festivals that opened their doors, calendars, teams and audiences to uncertainty; partners, platform members, jury members, and audiences who listened closely, engaged with care and curiosity throughout the process. What has emerged continues now in ongoing collaborations, evolving practices, and the questions that will carry into future work.
A Brief Timeline
- November 2023: First whispers—a third call was coming.
- January–March 2024: Application phase.
- May 2024: Results announcement.
- June 2024: The cohort gathered online for the Intake Seminar, marking the official launch of the implementation phase.
- April 2025: Ten months later, the cycle closed with the Outtake Seminar on 15 April.
EFFEA is an initiative of the European Festivals Association, co-funded by the European Union.