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When the group of 9 festival leaders, mentors, and partners first met online in February 2025, the conversation quickly revealed the issues at the heart of this toolkit. The meeting was a space for personal introductions and for a collective mapping of the most urgent questions facing festivals today - questions that have shaped the structure, tone, and content of the pages that follow.
The meeting helped identify not only what participants needed to learn, but why a toolkit on collaborative festival practices in times of crisis matters. From that shared reflection, 5 core themes emerged which now form the backbone of the toolkit.
These challenges became the orientation points for the toolkit. Rather than offering fixed answers, each following chapter explores how festival leaders from different regions have addressed these questions - through practice, reflection, and collaboration.
Sustaining audiences and communities
How can festivals remain relevant and accessible when war, migration, or social instability disrupt cultural life?
How can they hold space for participation, connection, and care?
How can sustainability and social responsibility be integrated as creative and ethical opportunities that add value for audiences and communities?
Practising ethical and responsible curation
What does it mean to invite artists or audiences from conflict areas?
How can curatorial decisions respect vulnerability, freedom of expression, and diversity?
Navigating precarity and changing infrastructures
How can festivals survive amid political and financial uncertainty?
What new partnerships, collaborations, or alternative models can keep them resilient?
Placing people and care at the centre of leadership
How can festivals nurture their teams, artists, and audiences through empathy, humility, and flexibility?
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