European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists - apply by 3rd November
EFFEA extends an open invitation for festivals to work across borders and create a network of colleagues with shared goals. It recognises that the future lies in the synergy of diverse perspectives and collective efforts. Through an EFFEA Residency, festivals join hands to foster the success of emerging artists.
The European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA) is an initiative of the European Festivals Association (EFA) supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, built to empower festivals and offer emerging artists a platform to establish themselves on the international stage. Applications for EFFEA Call 4 are open from 1st September to 3rd November 2025.
What is an EFFEA Residency?
The EFFEA Residency is an artist-in-residence programme aimed at fostering the international career of emerging artists in the seat of a minimum of 3 festivals. Co-produced by a leading festival in collaboration with partner festivals, each from a different eligible country, the residency provides emerging artists with dedicated time, space and support to explore their ideas and creative projects, whether original works or the evolution of existing ones. Within this framework, artists forge close ties with festival programmers, emphasising a commitment beyond a singular presentation. The goal is to establish lasting and meaningful connections between artists, festivals, and audiences.
Festivals act as fertile ground for tapping into and expanding talents. They are spaces of exchange between artists and the public, facilitating connections among artists themselves and with other professionals. Festivals are alchemists of innovation, curators of risk-taking endeavours, both guardians and intermediary springboards for artists across artistic disciplines.
There are two categories of residencies:
- EFFEA Discovery: Festivals support artists at the early stages of their careers but with a strong potential to break through internationally. Approximately 40 grants of 8.000€ are attributed to this category.
- EFFEA Springboard: Festivals support artists already established in their own country, ready to develop their career internationally. Approximately 10 grants of 15.000€ are attributed to this category.
Objectives
- Offer emerging artists more opportunities to present their work and develop their careers on an international level
- Offer festivals cross-border co-operation opportunities on the topic of emerging artists
- Offer audiences new and surprising encounters with emerging artists in their towns and cities through the platforms of their festivals
Benefits of EFFEA Fund
- Festivals - Expanded network of festivals; Collaboration with peers; New programmes and new artists; Financial support to promote the work of emerging artists at a European level.
- Emerging Artists - proposed by the festivals (The EFFEA Fund defines emerging artists not by age but by their novelty to programmers and audiences and their potential for international breakthrough. This includes individual artists and groups across various artistic disciplines).How? Time and space to develop ideas; Network of programmers and local artists in different countries; Residencies, seminars and workshops/ masterclasses; European visibility; Capacity-building; New presentation contexts.
- Audiences - access to new talents and repertoire; Access to diverse and interdisciplinary works.
Approximately 50 residencies will be selected involving 50 emerging artists (individuals/ groups/ collectives) in the seat of around 150 festivals, a leading festival in collaboration with a minimum of two partner festivals each.
Applications for EFFEA Call #4 are open from 1st September to 3rd November 2025 - apply here.