The Festival | One Week. One Europe. | Berlin 2012

Barcelona, July 21 2010 // The 7th of July 2010 will always remain a milestone for The Festival project. This is the day when we really “went public” for the first time. We presented the project at TEDxBarcelona. 600 TED fans confirmed with their positive reactions throughout the entire presentation that The Festival is definitely an idea worth spreading. Thank you, TEDxBarcelona!

Hungary might be considered a small country, but it has a lot to offer. Only think about their cuisine: Pörkölt, gulyás, pepper, tokaji… yummy! Since the beginnings of the rise of information technologies Hungarians have also been very active in the world of electronic music. One of the headliner groups of the Hungarian electronic music scene is Zagar. - Today, incredible European coincidences made it possible to bring Zagar and The Festival together…

Dear Friends, Partners, Supporters, Fans, Addicts and Lovers of The Festival!

In 2009 we experienced a whole lot of enthusiasm and support for The Festival. After three years our vision has remained the same - to create the first communication platform for Europeans to meet on a non-political level…

The night of the 6th of September 1997 was the night that changed the way I looked at Europe forever… I had arrived to the beautiful city of Barcelona a couple of days beforehand. The summer still covered this Mediterranean town with its hot and humid sheet. Barcelona had exceeded my best expectations, for I had never been to the city of Mediterranean wonders. Gaudí’s crazy constructions, the warm summer beaches, the picturesque Barrio Gótico. Straight away I felt at home. There I was, an ERASMUS student far away from home. Great!

More than any regulation, norm, treaty, or even a common currency could ever accomplish, music has always touched the hearts of people. We needed a song, a hymn for our pro-European movement. There has never been an uplifting, authentic, pro-European song out there which could hit the dance floors across the continent. We needed a producer…

“I know that we are still far away from a European identity or even a European citizenship. Nevertheless, it’s always been a dream of mine. I am proud of my European roots, and The Festival is an important step to make this tree of togetherness grow stronger and bigger. I agree with the team behind The Festival; we can only create a shared European feeling among our people, if we unite. I don’t know where you are going to be in July 2011. I will be in Berlin and support this movement. See you there. Love, Sarah”

“I am European” is the movement slogan of The Festival. Based on this slogan we wanted to create a design which can serve as an umbrella for everyone who feels European, but which also implies the national background of the person who wears it. For all 34 Home Zones, for people from Austria to people from the UK.

Today a successful international screenwriter and TV format developer, Steve Blame’s career started at MTV, where he was MTV News Editor and Presenter between 1987 and 1994. During his time at MTV he was best known for his journalism, making serious issues accessible to a younger audience, and for getting the best out of laconic pop stars. He interviewed a wide range of people, from Madonna to McCartney, to Gorbachev, Delors, Peres, and even the Dalai Lama.

For the first time, a private organization spreads the word of The Festival to the 5,000 recipients of its quarterly newsletter. Floris Catering from Berlin shows its visionary business approach by dedicating part of their December newsletter to The Festival.

Since October 6, our project office is fully operational. Located right next to the river Spree and across the entertainment giants Universal and MTV, the core team shares office space with Multitask, the event marketing agency and strategic partner of The Festival GmbH.