The Nordic-Baltic Festivals' Conference of 2017 brought together arts leaders from the region and beyond

The first ever dual-city event took place in Helsingør/Helsingborg (Denmark/Sweden) on 21-22 November 2017. The conference united managers and artistic directors of festivals as well as other arts professionals to exchange ideas and best practices, make new connections explore various possibilities for cooperation and attend a concert of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra as well as performances "A Thousand Tongues" and STØV.

The arts world really is a person-to-person business and if you don’t know somebody, you’re not that likely to start a cooperation with them, said the NBFP working group member Leelo Lehtla about the main purpose of the conference. The event was opened by Stella Hansen from Helsingør City Government, as well as conference hosts Fredrik Öjbro (Sweden), the head of business development at Dunkers Kulturhus Helsingborg and Trine Heller (Denmark), the programme coordinator for Passage Festival/Helsingør Teater. The keynote speech was given by an award winning and internationally recognised curator and cultural director; the programme director for Aarhus, the European Capital of Culture 2017, Juliana Engberg (Denmark). Discussion topics of the panels included engagement between festivals and the tourism industry and local communities.

In the spring 2017 NBFP launched its 3rd call for arts projects seeking new partnerships. This year five projects were selected and were all presented at the conference. In addition, there were 10 more short presentations by festivals introducing their activities and plans. We want to give festivals the chance to present themselves on stage as the presentations encourage other participants to approach them and therefore foster active communication during the conference said Lehtla.

The conference programme, delegate list and further information can be found on the NBFP website here: http://www.nordicbalticfestivals.org/conference

All panel discussions, presentations and many photos are uploaded on the NBFP facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/nordicbalticfestivals/

For more information please write to: info@nordicbalticfestivals.org

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The NBFP is a platform for arts festivals in the Nordic-Baltic area. It aims to foster cultural cooperation in the region, increase the capacity of festivals and explore the Nordic-Baltic identity in the arts.