It’s time to move on. Since 2006 we only focused on Berlin as the potential first host city of The Festival. But - nothing in life is more constant than change.

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Six great reasons for Barcelona

1) Barcelona

Barcelona is a metropolitan city widely loved and admired by people from all over Europe. The weather conditions in June/July are superb for a cultural festival. Football, food, fun - Barcelona speaks for itself.

2) Forum

With the massive Forum right next to the Mediterranean Sea Barcelona offers a unique and fantastic event location.

3) TEDx

On July 7 2010, we had the fantastic opportunity to present this project at TEDx Barcelona. Since then almost 40,000 people have watched the speech on the TEDx channel on YouTube.

Volunteers have translated this talk into 13 languages from Dutch to Russian, from Portuguese to Romanian.

This TEDx presentation continues to be our principal promo tool.

See the TEDx presentation on The Festival…

4) Singulars

On May 30 2011, we could present The Festival on the popular Catalan interview show Singulars. 87,000 people followed the program live. Our Facebook fan number went up by 33% in just one day. Local people wrote many extremely uplifting comments. When the host of the show, Jaume Barberà, said, “Estic convençut,” wow, that was great!

See the Singulars show dedicated to The Festival…

5) The Festival. One Day, One Europe

On July 24 2011, we went offline for the first time. Around 80 Europe lovers gathered at the beach of Barcelona. We will repeat this event in summer 2012 in Barcelona and Berlin on the same day. Plato says, the most difficult part of a task is the beginning. We have started.

Read more about this most European beach day…

6) Passionate social entrepreneurs

A number of highly motivated social entrepreneurs from Barcelona have joined the project. Social entrepreneurs with strong Catalan roots and big European hearts. This will enable us to access the right people in the right local institutions.

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Next steps

In the months to come we will promote The Festival project among important institutions in Barcelona. Follow the progess on www.facebook.com/thefestival!

Thank you so much for your support

Europe needs you more than ever!

Natalia Kim, founder and manager of Promopress based in Barcelona has been interested in cooperating with us for a long time. With The Festival project on local Catalan TV, with the first One Day, One Europe event realized in Barcelona her moment has arrived.

Natalia explains to us why she is convinced that Barcelona would or will be a fantastic host city for the first edition of The Festival. One Week, One Europe.

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The Festival // Natalia, you are Swedish and you live in Barcelona. How does it feel to be European?

Natalia Kim // I believe the concept “European” is finally becoming a reality, you feel you “belong” to a continent, not only to a country. I think the idea of “European” and the beginning of “globalization” started a long time ago… like when we first beat the borders using our “Interrail” passes. Sleeping on trains by night and discovering new countries, cities and, above all, new and interesting people, every day.

The Festival // No wonder you love The Festival project… Apart from its beautiful horizon - why do you think Barcelona would be a great host city?

Natalia Kim // Barcelona is so easy to reach, by air, road or sea; and once here there is such a vast choice of ways to find a place to stay. From hotels “Grand Luxe” to cozy youth hostels; in the heart of the city or in any neighbour city or village. And it’s a metropolis with almost any cultural option you can dream of, for any taste, age and wallet. All within reach… and all frequented by a lot of people from all corners of Europe and the rest of the world. People of all kinds come here for business, for fun, looking for an opportunity.

The Festival // The majority of Catalan people are pro-European. I guess this helps…

Natalia Kim // Most Catalans have since “forever” felt a belonging to the rest of Europe, among other reasons because it’s so close to France - which is also partly Catalan - and they are very proud for being and to be considered a very openminded society.

The Festival //After our appearances on Singulars, a Catalan interview show on TV, and APM, plus our first European picnic- what are the next steps to approach the City of Barcelona with this project?

Natalia Kim // Apart from using viral marketing spreading the message, I believe it should be fairly easy to make this project interesting for opinion leaders and media; communication campaigns in Catalan, not only to the press but to the citizens; and collaborations with local groups that are active, both the ones that promote the city and multicultural ones.

The Festival // Thank you so much, Natalia. We’ll see how you can help pushing public relations in the city with that beautiful horizon…

Do you remember your first time? Do you remember the innocence you felt before? Do you remember the insecurity you sensed not being sure whether you were doing the right thing?

You did it anyway.

When we did it for the first time on that beach of Barcelona on July 23 2011 we’d had the same feelings. Insecurity, innocence, doubt. But - we did it anyway.

Today, one day later, we are more than happy about it.

After almost five years of moving this European project online and in face-to-face meetings only, we invited Europe fans to The Festival. One Day, One Europe - a European picnic on the beach.

In the end we were some 80+ The Festival lovers from Spain, Italy, Poland, the UK, Germany. But also Europe lovers from Peru, Colombia, Canada, …

It’s a first step. Even if there were no grass roots on that beach, we all could feel them. We all made new friends. We all loved the spirit. We all promised to spread the word. This is how a movement of ideas turns into a movement of hearts.

It was our first time. It will not be the last time. With the time you gained security, confidence, know-how. We are on the same track.

Thanks to all first timers! Thanks to all The Festival supporters!

Viva Europa!

There is a before May 30 2011 and an after May 30 2011. On that day, for the first time, we could present The Festival project on a public TV station.

We were invited by the renowned Catalan journalist Jaume Barberà who hosts the weekly interview show Singulars on C33.

Jaume and his program coordinator Susana had seen our TEDxBarcelona talk on how to create a European spirit from July 2010 (Thank you, José Cruset!!!). They really liked the idea and that’s already the end of the story. They invited Florian to participate in Singulars.

During a lunch where they got to know each other, Jaume and Susana heard about the I am European song. The presenter was excited to hear about the tune and, instantly, he asked Florian if he could perform it on the show in Catalan.

17 Facebook posts with some Catalan friends later the first verse was done - in Catalan!

During a preliminary session at the TV3 studios they recorded the lyrics. The great Singulars team also adapted the video to make it fit 100% with the new lyrics.

What they had also prepared in the meantime was a reportage featuring four Europeans living and working in Barcelona to show that for quite a number of us Europe is already an every day thing.

The show itself topped the average number of viewers by 10%.

Thanks to the outstanding team of Singulars. We owe you big time!

Enjoy the show!

For the first time we get together in the real world. We will celebrate a European Picnic!

Bring along typical food, bring along typical drinks. Bring along your guitars. That’s it. Very spontaneous, very pragmatic, very natural.

This is the beginning. More “One Day, One Europe” events in other cities to come.

Join the European crowd on facebook! Share the European spirit, join the European Picnic at the beach of Barcelona on July 23!

Twitter: #eurospirit

This means that our NGO vehicle is about to be launched.

Founding members of the I am European e.V. are: Konstanze Agatz, Elke Müller, Sascha Wolf, Boris Jarosch, Peter Langer, Thomas Peters, and Florian Mück - the guys who have worked on The Festival since 2006.

This important step offers three key benefits:

1. Active members - We can invite followers to join the Association and become an active part of this movement
2. Credibility - Based on an NGO platform we can connect people and thus nurture the European spirit with much more credibility
3. Public funding - Public support of The Festival is now an option

We will keep you posted on future developments.

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The Preamble of the Association Articles of the I am European e.V. reads,

Since the signing of the Treaty of Rome on March 25 1957 the European integration process has been mainly driven by political initiatives.

The decline of economical barriers, the increase of mobility, a joint currency, the fortification of central political institutions - these accomplishments have played an important role in the European integration process.

Yet, despite all the accomplishments these initiatives have always focused more on the integration of member states while little has been done in the field of integrating us - the European people. As Andreu Mateu from Barcelona puts it: „We have one joint currency. We have mobility. We have joint legislation. But where is the joint spirit?“

‘I am European e.V.’ offers a platform [The Festival] where people from all over Europe can get together and live and experience a European spirit together.

The vision of the I am European e.V.’ is: Europe grows together through its people.”

In May 2011, for the first time, we will have the fantastic opportunity to present the European movement The Festival on TV. Florian has been invited by the producers of the weekly Catalan interview show Singulars to engage its spectators with a different perspective on Europe.

For the director and presenter of this program, Jaume Barberà, it’s already the third season of offering an interview space to people who are - in their majority - not well known to the broader public, but who stand out thanks to their personal or professional accomplishments.

The exact date will be published soon - please stay tuned on @thefestival2012!

We are extremely pleased and honored to welcome a new Official Ambassador on this European “train” - and the first Official Ambassador for Macedonia, Kiril Dzajkovski! We believe that artists like Kiril who merge diverse cultural sound experiences into something new, open-minded, are a fantastic musical asset for The Festival… Thanks to Lina Ugrinovska for making this happen!

About Kiril

Kiril (Dzajkovski) is a Macedonian composer and producer, regarded as one of the pioneers of Balkan electronica and the most successful and respected electronic artist from the Balkan region today.

His style of mixing electronica and Macedonian and Balkan ethnic music influences dates back to the early nineties and had received fantastic reviews around the world ever since.

Kiril’s tracks have been included on numerous compilations worldwide and remixed by people like Bushwacka, Dreadzone, Danny Briottet (Renegade Soundwave), Nathan Coles and many others.

Kiril performs live with a 10 piece band and in the last three years has performed as a headlining act at the biggest music festivals in the Balkan region ( Exit, InMusic Festival, Greenfest, Urbanfest etc).

He is also an accomplished composer of film and theatre music.

Kiril’s new album, due out early 2011 is again an eclectic and sophisticated mix of breakbeat/dub/electro grooves with Balkan ethnic melodies and instrumentation, featuring a selection of amazing international vocal talent. The first single from the album features the vocals of the UK MC Ras Tweed (Kruder & Dorfmeister, Rockers Hi-FI, Overproof Soundsystem), a veteran on the European dub-electro scene and the legendary Macedonian singer Esma Redzepova, often regarded as the Queen of Roma music worldwide.

// www.kiril.com.mk // Kiril on MySpace

Check out Kiril’s hit release “Raise Up Your Hand” featuring Ras Tweed & Esma…

Kiril in the news

“Exotic and brilliant, Kiril does things with music that just shouldn’t be possible. KIRIL is , without any doubt, a musical genius and a true alchemist of sound. And Homebound is a masterpiece of sonic artistry and perfection.” – ELECTROAGE

“Fantastic stereophonic production that jumps from speaker to speaker on your stereo grabs you by the collar and moves your body to the beat of the music involuntarily. Absolutely great.” — ARTS WEEKLY MAGAZINE

“Kiril is a great example of genuine talent operating outside of the dance manistream that won’t degenerate into complex noise loops. Innovative composition coupled with signature Macedonian accents warrant this piece a very high mark in my personal collection.” — COOL AND STRANGE MUSIC MAGAZINE

“The combination of traditional elements with excellent drum’n'beats works extremely well.” — JAZZ FM RADIO UK

“An excellent release from a very talented artist.” — NET RADIO

“Sounds like a soundclash between DEAD CAN DANCE and BREAKBEAT ERA via Ennio Morricone and Lalo Schifrin. Fantastic.” — SURF 107.2 RADIO

“Presenting his first solo album, KIRIL mixes drum’n'bass and break-beat schemes with exotic melodies from the Balkans and cooks this up into a groovy stew with chunks of acid jazz, funk, ambient and dub. The sound of Macedonian chants and the traditional instruments introduce a unique new ‘world music’.” — TOKYO JOURNAL MAGAZINE

Contact

PASSWORD PRODUCTION
booking*publishing*promotion*
event/artist management

Str. Vladimir Komarov No. 6/3 -16
1000 Skopje, Macedonia

Tel. +389 2 27 75 430

www.password.mk

For our new “moving” landing page at thefestival.eu we need YOU!

Do you live in Berlin? Do you like to support this project from the very front row? We will cast and film five volunteers - YOU will be our first visual contact for any person interested in this project.

Wicked? Then contact us today through Facebook or email - info [at] thefestival.eu.

Thank you!

© Steven Haberland - Photo with Peter Maffay for Heinz Erhardt Tribute Album 2009

Her grandfather gave the smile back to a nation. She wants to help give Europe a smile.

We are extremely happy about our latest supporter - Nicola Tyszkiewicz. The granddaughter of Heinz Erhardt found us by coincidence. 30 minutes on the phone later Nicola will help promote The Festival and contribute in multiple ways.

As a welcome gift Nicola gave us this interview…

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The Festival // Nicola, great that you contacted us. How did you hear about this European movement?

Nicola // I was looking for new ideas, contacts and festivals for my artists when I stumbled over your website. My first impression was that anyone who launches such a big project with such a long-term preparation and such a robust concept - they must be interesting. That’s why I called.

The Festival // Your family comes from Riga, your children go to a French school. Sounds like a European family…

Nicola // My family descend from Riga. My mother and my grandfather, Heinz Erhardt, were born there. My grandmother’s father was an Italian diplomat. I married a Pole and since Poles have a special relationship with the French, all four daughters attanded the Lycee Francaise Hambourg. This is, by the way, how they could communicate with their family and cousins in Warsaw.

The Festival // Talking about your granddad - how was it like growing up so close to the show biz?

Nicola // At an early stage of my life it taught me how to deal with sensitive people, special timings, other ways of handling stuff, and exceptional ideas. Until his retirement my father was solo cellist at the State Opera of Hamburg. He would never be home at ‘normal’ times. In between he was on tour with James Last or Alfred Hause. He was in Japan 27 times!

The career of my grandfather Heinz Erhardt had indeed a strong influence on our lives. The world was not as connected as today, but probably richer in content. I grew up with journeys, theater perfomances, press meetings, premieres, and photo shootings. It was part of my life to deal with photographers jumping at me from behind the hedge.

The Festival // Are you part of the show biz yourself today?

Nicola // You might say so. I produce a lot. I organize shows, go on tour with artists or run tour productions. For more than five years I headed production management at MTV/VH-1. Doing that, almost automatically, you become part of the show biz.

The Festival // Duncan Townsend is your favorite artist right now. With his European story he should be part of this movement, shouldn’t he?

Nicola // Definitely! Duncan was born in the Emirates and returned to England at the age of 8. In 2005 he stranded in Hamburg where he moves up the shaky ladder of success in this tough business - step by step. I love to tease him comparing his career start with the one of the Beatles. Today, Duncan Townsend is an established musician, singer and composer who performs live a lot. Duncan is a ‘hog in the limelight’ - you will see - it’s a promise!

The Festival // Great, we’ll hook up with him then. Thank you for this interview and welcome to the European movement!

Nicola // Thank you, guys! I love this project and I’ll do my best to support it wherever I can.