Festival & Club
Exchange

In the Festival & Club Exchange pillar we looked for events or cultural venues that have an eye for high quality programming, including world/global/folk/traditional music. In MOST Music, we created opportunities for them to connect and learn from each other, while being mentored by the best event experts in the market.

©ESTAM World Music Festival / Serbia

Balkan beyond exoticism

The Balkans are a breathtakingly beautiful, culturally and historically complex region of Europe. However, MOST wanted the European audience to look beyond the Balkan stereotype, and treat it not as exotic but as inspiring and intriguing where great art is being created right now. Contemporary festivals and event venues create amazing opportunities for mutual understanding. Sparking curiosity, communicating history and culture, emotion and roots – live world music can do all this! We believe in the power of music to mediate between cultures, and we wanted to support and connect those events and spaces who actively work on it – this was the core belief of the Festival & Club Exchange program.

©Pannonica Festival / Poland

From concert to community

The goal of the Festival & Club Exchange program was to foster a community of event organizers. As trivial as it sounds, real, personal relationships between European music event organizers is key. Each year we selected up to 20 festivals and clubs – all together 57 – and paired them up, one ‘Balkan’ festival with one from Western Europe. This exchange broadened the professional network and artistic scope of both parties and was overseen by a prominent expert of the field, so the mutual visits, the co-curation process and the exchange of best practices and artists brought the most benefit to everybody.