Thank you for applying to the fifth call of the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists - EFFEA !
For another year, the EFFEA Call continues to support emerging artists and provide opportunities for them. This year, in its fifth edition, the EFFEA Call has received the highest number of applications over the years and continues to grow.
A total of 160 applications were received, featuring 420 artists (individuals/collectives) and 516 festivals (in total) from 43 countries and 16 different artistic disciplines, surpassing previous years and reaching the highest number of festivals engaged in applying for the EFFEA Call. This highlights the growing diversity of emerging artists ready to bring their work to international stages, as well as the increasing number of festivals willing to support them and provide new opportunities for them.
EFFEA aims to support artists from Europe and beyond, has received applications from countries across every corner of Europe, with festivals from new countries and territories, such as Gibraltar, participating for the first time. Overall, for another year, Italy leads in the number of applications received (59), followed by France (37), Germany (29), Spain (28) and Greece (27).
In Call #5, there has been a significant increase in applications from several countries that were not as present before, such as: the Netherlands (26), Belgium (23), Hungary (20), Slovenia (19), Serbia (18), Bulgaria and the UK (16 each), Lithuania and Poland (15 each), Romania and Sweden (13 each), and Austria (12). These countries were not among last year's leading countries, showing a broader geographical distribution of applications.
In terms of artistic fields, this year applicants were specifically asked to identify the main artistic discipline of their residency or festival to provide a clearer picture of the discipline that the artists will be working in. As a result, the applications received showed less variety in artistic disciplines than in previous years, but nevertheless, focusing on more specific disciplines and targeting them. Overall, applications were received across 16 different artistic disciplines, with Music (71), Theatre (26) and Dance (23) being the three leading artistic disciplines this year, followed by Circus (7), Digital Arts (6), Visual Arts (6), and Street Arts, Film and Literature (4 each).
The Call #5 announcement was officially made in June 2026, and the open call ran for approximately three months (1 September - 3 November 2026). Throughout this period, the initiative encouraged emerging artists and festival makers to create something unique and collaborate with each other. EFA, along with the EFFEA Platform Members and Creative Europe Desks, organised 13 sessions to promote the EFFEA Call, including information sessions, networking meetings and Q&As, both online and in person. These sessions aimed to guide applicants through the application process, answer questions, and create connections between artists and festivals seeking international partners.
Apart from the formal sessions, EFFEA's digital platforms and media became spaces to promote the call and encourage collaboration. FestivalFinder.eu served as a useful tool for festival makers and artists to search for partners, as they could be easily discovered by others through filters such as country, artistic discipline, theme or festival dates, enabling them to identify potential partners and reach out directly. During the EFFEA Call #5 period, a total of 631 festivals registered on the FestivalFinder.eu platform.
In addition, the EFFEA Facebook Community served as a more informal space to start conversations, exchange ideas and seek potential partners. Festivals and artists were encouraged to join and share their work, ask questions and connect with each other. It was also a space to share updates and reminders about the call and help members find all the information they needed. Today, this Facebook community has over 1,600 members and has become a place that supports dialogue and the exchange of ideas, encouraging new partnerships and collaborations.
The EFFEA Jury is now reviewing all submitted applications for Call #5, and the selected projects will be announced in December 2026 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, EFFEA will open another call in September 2027, thanks to the support of Creative Europe. This will provide another opportunity to support the next generation of emerging artists and encourage collaboration between festivals, contributing to their growth. Thus, if you are still considering it, take this as your sign and become one of the EFFEA Artists next year!
Connect with us
EFFEA website
EFFEA Facebook
EFFEA Facebook Community
Send us an email: info@european-festivals.eu
Our Partners
The European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists is an initiative of the European Festivals Association co-funded by the European Union.
EFFEA Platform Members
Croatian Composers Society (Croatia), Culture Matters (Czechia), PLMF Arts Management (Estonia), France Festivals (France), Stichting Caucasus Foundation (Georgia), German Centre - International Theatre Institute (Germany), Summa Artium Kultúra Támogató (Hungary), Association of Irish Festival Events (Ireland), ItaliaFestival (Italy), Kosovar Center for New Music (Kosovo), ARC Research and Consultancy (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.