“The first Ars Electronica begins on September 18, 1979. 20 artists and scientists from all over the world gather at this new “Festival for Art, Technology and Society” in Linz to discuss the Digital Revolution and its possible consequences. This Ars Electronica is small, but groundbreaking. The initiative for this came from Hannes Leopoldseder (AT), director of the Upper Austria regional studio of the Austrian Broadcasting Company (ORF), who is passionate about everything that has to do with the future. Together with the electronic musician Hubert Bognermayr (AT), the music producer Ulli A. Rützel (AT) and the cyberneticist and physicist Herbert W. Franke (AT), he lays the foundation stone for a festival that will become the world’s largest and most important of its kind.” (Art, Technology, Society, 2021)23.

23 Ars Electronica, “Mission,” About Ars Electronica, accessed January 16, 2023, https://ars.electronica.art/about/en/

‘’Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival is at the forefront of Africa’s culture and technology scene. Explore what we stand for and how our journey evolves. The Fak'ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival is rooted in showcasing and developing skills in technology, art and culture in Africa. Founded in 2014 as a collaboration between the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct and the Wits School of Arts, Digital Arts Department, the festival takes as it starting point the idea that in order for innovation with technology to succeed, a strong connection needs to be made to African cultural practices and creative encounters’’ (Fak’ugesi Africa Digital Innovation Festival, 2021)24.

24 “About Fak'Ugesi Festival,” About | Fak'ugesi, accessed January 16, 2023, https://fakugesi.co.za/about/

‘’Re-connect Online is a new digital festival with an open call/ new work for the digital space, in response to the lockdown situation in Iran. The organizers consulted a lawyer to check restrictions. Funding was done through a Facebook page, but because of economic sanctions, access to this money is limited. They are thinking of shifting it away from Iran. Also, in the next editions, which are already being foreseen, they would like to have in place a software to bring different platforms together. They have been using Instagram as a platform’’ (Re-connect Festival, 2021)25.

Speaker

Sepehr Sharifzadeh: www.nhtheatreagency.com

Sepehr is a Tehran based independent producer, curator, and festival organizer, he was an alumni of the Atelier for Young Festival and Cultural Managers in Shanghai in 2017. He has studied M.A. of Puppetry at University of Tehran with his Thesis on "Standardization of Puppet Theater Festival based on PMBOK method" and has co-founded the first International Theater agency in Iran; aiming to facilitate the cultural exchange between Iran and the world through performance. He recently co-founded the "Re-connect Online performance Festival" in light of Coronavirus global pandemic.

Purpose

Re-connect is about creating a new digital festival with an open call. New work is specifically created for the digital space.

Curation

The lack of policy on digital creations and festival in Iran raised many question

Sepehr explains how they dealt with curating a digital festival, taking into account the social and moral codes

• Designing an open call

• Approaching artists who would volunteer

Audience

For this first edition they opted for widely known platforms Facebook, Instagram and Youtube.

Financial Sustainability 

This is the first Pro Bono edition for the festival, meaning it is based on volunteer work. The context in Iran would not allow to monetize digital formats. In order to have a sustainable funding system the Online Festival would have to be moved out of Iran, to for example a partner organization in San Francisco.

25 “Reconnect Festival,” About, accessed, January 16, 2023, https://www.reconnectfestival.com/about

Nestled between the historic twin towns of Ballina-Killaloe, St. Flannan’s Cathedral welcomes the 9th Annual Killaloe Music Festival on June 4th-6th 2021. This year’s reimagined programme will invite an international audience through a very special series of free live stream events.

Artistic Director, Katherine Hunka has created a festival like no other, supporting Irish musicians from around the globe to join in the celebration of music.

Placing artistic experimentation and collaboration at its core, GIFT’s annual three-day festival offers a supportive platform for artists to come together, to push the boundaries of their practice. International in scope and interconnected in approach, GIFT is a carefully curated conversation, providing a meeting point for meaningful exchange between artists and audiences based in Northeast England, and the wider world.

Founded in 2011 by Festival Director Kate Craddock, in response to a gap in the regional cultural offer, GIFT is committed to presenting contemporary and experimental practices that otherwise wouldn’t be seen in the Northeast.

The festival supports artists at all stages of their careers, enabling them to use GIFT as a space to come together, to take risks, and test out new ideas. We embed opportunities for audiences to get involved, and to connect with artists and their work across all festival activities.

GIFT links otherwise disparate organisations and locations - with events traversing the culturally regenerated Gateshead quayside and the commercially redeveloped town centre - and beyond. GIFT serves as a direct response to a location in transition and flux (GIFT Festival, 2021)26.

Speaker 

Kate Craddock. Kate is Founder and Festival Director of GIFT: Gateshead International Festival of Theatre, an annual artist-led festival celebrating contemporary theatre. She is based in Newcastle, North-East England. Through GIFT, Kate presents a program of contemporary theatre and performance that otherwise would not have a platform in North East England. Kate works closely with partners including BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Gateshead Council to deliver GIFT.

Purpose

GIFT is about trying to get people together and give them an opportunity to connect. Bringing artists and audiences together, supporting artists through a creative dialogue moving from a real-life program to a digital space. Moving to a digital space makes the experience more accessible and available for all. It becomes more collaborative in a way.

Possibilities 

There is already an existing community/audience and key artists that have been engaged with the festival before, now they need to be moved to the digital space. But there is also the possibility of a new community that you can engage – globally/ internationally etc. Past, well recorded shows can always be uploaded.

Audience

A couple of things that were taken into account:

• Accessibility: Online festivals need to be accessible in terms of impairments and disabilities

• Computer illiteracy problem: It makes the economic gap even more apparent because some people do not have access to devices. A film festival in Ireland is thinking of bringing the films on CD for audience members who might be less computer literate

In order to engage conversation with the audience a lot of works were being reimagined.

Testimonies

“Making a theatre festival work solely online requires a heavy dose of trust, ingenuity and imagination. Impressively, all of the artists originally commissioned are still involved in GIFT, offering a variety of adapted, pre- recorded and deliciously low-fi experimental work.” – Kate Wyver - The Guardian. Full article available via The Guardian

26 Gift Festival, About, accessed January 16, 2023, https://www.giftfestival.co.uk.

“FOLDA began in 2018 in Kingston, Ontario. It has grown each year since its inception and continues to seek new and innovative ways of supporting digital practice. We’ve grown quickly over the past 2 years and are grateful for the continued support of our audiences’’ (The Festival of Live Digital Art, 2021)27.

Purpose

We aim to be an exciting incubator for an emerging art form where audience feedback plays a key role throughout the creative process. (Folda History, sd)28. Moving to a digital space makes the experience more accessible and available for all. It becomes more collaborative in a way.

Curation

The festival incorporates a three-stage iterative development model borrowed from software design to present and engage with these works:

• ALPHA: Performances in their earliest stages, ready for internal testing, but require audience feedback to spark the next stage of development.

• BETA: Performances ready for public testing to refine the audience experience.

• GO: Performances ready for production release. Audience input contributes to improvements and bug fixes just like your favourite app.

Works in ALPHA one year, can return to FOLDA to as a GO the following year. Works in BETA can be picked up by other presenters to be GO at other festivals. (Folda History, sd)29

Possibilities

This approach makes FOLDA unique by providing artists with creative opportunities that support work in various stages of development, matching the demands of how digitally-engaged performance is created. It allows presenters the opportunity to engage with and track work throughout their development process, offering more organic and informed partnerships to develop works beyond the festival.” (Folda History, sd)30

27 “The Festival of Live Digital Art,” FOLDA, accessed November 3, 2021, https://www.folda.ca/about-us/.

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid.

30 Ibid.

BOUGE B 2021 sweeps you up in an online and offline edition in which new talent, installation art and performance take centre stage. Jointly curated by our Creative Associate Jan Martens, this alternative version of the festival promises to transport you to virtual and hypnotic realms.

You can experience Jan Fedinger, Anne-Lise Brevers and Siska Baeck & Maya Callaert online in OnLive screenings. You’ll discover the work of Anne-Lise Brevers on our blog. And for Karel Burssens you need to come in person to deSingel. For Karel Burssens you’ll need to reserve in advance.

In light of the COVID measures, it will not be possible for us to feature the originally curated work by Baptiste Cazaux, Anne-Lene Nöldner, Femke Gyselinck, Cherish Menzo, Michele Rizzo and Steven Michel. Neither, sadly, can we present the concerts by Fulco, Namid & Sondervan, Robbing Millions, Rrucculla and Dyce. Unfortunately the lockdown is also keeping BOUGE B under its spell.

The Chicago Humanities Festival connects people to the ideas that shape and define us, and promotes the lifelong exploration of what it means to be human.

We present smart and entertaining programming about ideas that matter. We shape ideas, helping our audiences see the world differently. We help them challenge the boundaries of contemporary knowledge and culture. We help them understand what it means to be human.

Over the past several years, we have grown from a one-day celebration of the humanities into a year-round festival of arts and ideas. We present more than 100 events annually, in venues across the Chicago area (from Evanston to Englewood, the Loop to the South Shore), including two festivals (Fall Festival, Spring Festival), and partnerships with the region’s most prestigious cultural institutions and universities.

‘’Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF) is an International Festival which celebrates digital culture through an annual gathering bringing together a global community of artists and audiences. Athens Digital Arts Festival aims to encourage, stimulate and promote all aspects of digital creativity by hosting local as well as international artists and communities.

Through its multidisciplinary program Athens Digital Arts Festival offers a wide range of exhibitions, screenings, live performances, workshops and international tributes showcasing artworks that display distinctive characteristics of the digital medium and reflect on its language and aesthetics.

Athens Video Art Festival was founded in 2005 with the intention to offer a platform to video art, installations and live performances. Within the following 10 years, the Festival gradually evolved and included more art forms, such as web art, interactive installations, animation, digital image, performances, applications and workshops, exploring creative aspects of technology and digital culture.

In 2012, the Festival introduced the subtitle “International Festival of Digital Arts & New Media” in order to communicate the wide spectrum of its activities and events. As of January 2015, the Festival changed its name into Athens Digital Arts Festival (Athens Digital Arts Festival, 2021) 31.

31 “Athens Digital Arts Festival - ADAF,” About us, accessed January 16, 2023, https://www.adaf.gr/.

Nite hotel. National Interdisciplinary Theater I Online theater platform

Swan Lake: The Game: https://vimeo.com/471118219

Speaker 

Guy Weizman

Curation 

Many questions were raised after the lockdown.

After refusing to stream the results of a two-year long process, they decided to include a film crew on stage with the performers and experiment.

Execution 

They started developing virtual theater, a 3D website:

The Nite Hotel: A place that includes the most basic ideas of a theater which includes following elements:

• Meeting people;

• Watching performances;

• Leave inspired.

A virtual theater, a gallery space that includes a context program and a virtual bar where people could meet each other and talk.

Possibilities and collaborations 

Experiencing community: Being fortunate with the funding of the Dutch government and having a digital platform gave the to create “The 24-hour Carousel”: reaching out to many different organizations all over the world and share their platform with these artists and creators.

Bacardi NH7: One of the most anticipated music festivals in the Indian calendar, Bacardi NH7 Weekender is about the music, the vibe, and a true festival experience.

Speaker 

Gunyan Arya

Curation 

This is the only festival of its kind in India. The original festival consisted of multiple stages with different genres and a massive food court in the middle. When taking this online all these aspects had to be translated.

Sustainability  

They rely on their brand partners as ticket revenue in India is very low

"FarOFFa appears as a proposition that seeks to expand public access to the capital's artistic productions, in their diversity of languages, themes and discourses.

The aim is to bring visibility to the countless collectives that tirelessly produce a vibrant and provocative cultural scene. And also create new modes of production that strengthen the resistance of art in Brazil. FarOFFa seeks to constitute itself as a management model and a collective space of possibilities for the dissemination and circulation of creations, ideas and artistic encounters’’ (FarOffa Festival, 2021)32.

Speakers 

Pedro de Freitas Gabi Gonçalves

Gabi: Curation 

FarOFFa is not festival but rather a “meeting”

The most important thing about FarOFFa is that all of its crew members are producers, hey co-create on fund themselves. This brings independency and artistic freedom.

Pedro: Curation  

FarOFFa is a reflection on how they, as a cultural environment, want to be treated.

Pedro discusses how the independency of FarOFFa gives them freedom and power in production and development.

Collaborations with artists 

They started out with 30 artists and ended up with 170, due to the strong feeling of togetherness of community.

32 “FarOffa Festival,” FarOffa, accessed  January 16, 2023, https://en.faroffa.com.br/novo

“MIRA is a digital arts festival based on three interconnected areas: exhibition, dissemination and education, and is held annually in Barcelona (since 2011) and Berlin (since 2016). Focused on the intersection between arts and digital culture, the festival features a programme comprised of audiovisual shows in both traditional and full dome formats, digital art installations, screenings, conferences and workshops’’ (Mira Digital Arts Fesival, 2021).33

33 ‘’Mira Digital Arts Festival,” MIRA, accessed January 16, 2023, https://mirafestival.com/en/

Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), in collaboration with Manchester International Festival (MIF), Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) and Philharmonia Orchestra will stage a live performance of Dream using motion capture as the culmination of a major piece of cutting-edge research and development (R&D).

The pioneering collaboration explores how audiences could experience live performance in the future in addition to a regular visit to a performance venue. Dream was due to open in Spring 2020 as an in person and online live performance and has been recreated during the pandemic for online audiences whilst theatres remained closed. The project is one of four Audience of the Future Demonstrator projects, supported by the government Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund which is delivered by UK Research and Innovation.

Marshmallow Laser Feast are the immersive art collective bringing you closer to nature. Coventry is this year’s UK City of Culture, and as part of an ambitious bid to become the greenest ever recipient of the award has launched a flagship programme of environmentally-minded artists. At the heart of this initiative known as Green Futures are Marshmallow Laser Feast, one of the country’s leading immersive art collectives whose ambitious installation attempts to dissolve any barriers between ourselves and the natural world.

The goal of this project is bringing audience as close to music as possible. The creation of digital concert hall does not aim to replace the real one. Concert attendance is a process of multiple layers. It covers live participation, real-time emotions, social life, possibility of sharing impressions here and now, historical atmosphere of the hall itself.

Filmocracy has thousands of the best independent films and hosts multiple virtual film festivals every month from around the world. Each virtual film festival has its own unique festival village complete with original programming, panels, director Q&A’s, and live networking opportunities. It’s never been easier to walk the red carpet! You have to create an account to enter the network.