Get to know your hosts, YOUROPE, and your fellow participants. Oh, and we want to play a game with you… It’s very simple and fun, promised!

Hosts: Marta Pallarès (Head of Communications at Primavera Sound, YOUROPE board member), Mika Christoffersen (Head of DEI & Behavior at Roskilde Festival), Isabel Roudsarabi (Co-founder and managing director at Höme – For Festivals)

This short talk shares new findings from SoAlive’s ongoing study on geographical underrepresentation with a focus on the Balkans/South East Europe. We map the structural gaps that keep artists and professionals at the ‘periphery’ – opaque selection pipelines, mobility constraints, curation/language bias, and network/data invisibility – and show how these translate into fewer bookings and weaker circulation. The emphasis is on practical fixes that DEI teams and programmers can adopt this season: paired curation, transparent criteria and juries, micro-mobility support, and inclusion of South Eastern European venues/data in European networks. The goal is simple: turn “bridge-building” into measurable commitments that move artists across borders, not just ideas across panels.

Speaker: Ruth Koleva (Head of Program at SoAlive Music Conference / Sofia Live Festival)

Is universal accessibility an illusion? When you are trying to make your festival more accessible and inclusive, you’ll find that measures sometimes clash with the safety of festival participants. In these cases, it’s often the safety team’s unpopular job to say: “no, we can’t do it”. In this panel, crowd safety experts from YOUROPE’s Event Safety (YES) Group discuss where at festivals the needs of the individual come into conflict with the needs of the many. Should people in wheelchairs be let into the thick of the crowd? Should service and emotional support animals be allowed on festival sites? And can improvements for the few bring benefits for the many? Let’s look at DEI through the eyes of safety teams!

Speakers: Isabel Roudsarabi (host; co-founder and managing director at Höme – For Festivals), Morten Therkildsen (Director of Safety at Roskilde Festival Group / YES Group), Alexandra von Samson (Master craftswoman for event technology / YES Group), Roxana Luca (ARTmania / Emagic / Pozitif Live / YES Group)

Description to follow

Speaker: Mika Christoffersen (Head of DEI & Behavior at Roskilde Festival)

In this interactive training session, Jannick will cover the topics of psychological safety and socially responsible communication. As a participant, you will leave with practical tools for leading team cultures that enable all critical voices to speak up and be heard, as well as insights into how to constructively engage with external stakeholders on social justice and sustainability causes.

Trainer: Jannick Friis Christensen (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Researcher & Professional)

If you’re feeling curious about Sofia, we’ve got you covered! In this one-hour walking tour, experienced local guides will show us around the most important landmarks and interesting places of the inner city. Meeting point: tba. Free for the participants of our seminar.

We will end the walking tour in a restaurant that captures the spirit of Bulgarian cuisine. Recommended by our friends of SoAlive Music Conference! Get to know your fellow participants more closely, finish a thought from the first day of the seminar, or simply enjoy some delicious food and drinks. Please note: the food is on us, but drinks are on everyone’s own expense. You are free to join both the tour and the dinner, or just one of them.

What did we learn on day 1 of the seminar? And what does day 2 have in store for you? Let’s find out!

Host: Marta Pallarès (Head of Communications at Primavera Sound, YOUROPE board member)

Colours without Barriers is an inclusion project of the Colours of Ostrava festival, launched in 2011. Over the years it has grown from mobility support to a comprehensive program for visitors with visual, hearing and mental disabilities, as well as people on the autism spectrum. The project provides barrier-free access, assistance services, sign language interpretation, relaxation zones, and other tailored solutions. Colours without Barriers has become a European benchmark for accessibility at large cultural events, proving that music and culture should be fully open to everyone.

Speaker: Pavla Slivova (Head of Booking & Artist Liaisons, Colours of Ostrava)

Barriers preventing people from joining our events come in many shapes and sizes. This can be a lack of suitable transport to the event, physical obstacles on the site, no available space to take care of special needs, high costs for tickets or on-site services, an unwelcoming atmosphere, outdated structures and policies in our organizations, and much more. In this session, you have the opportunity to discuss specific barriers that exist at your festival with the group to find good practices from other events that might help you – or even completely new solutions.

Host: Mika Christoffersen (Head of DEI & Behavior at Roskilde Festival)

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, festival promoters and suppliers have been fighting with rising production costs, artist fees, and the cost of living crisis. However, they cannot just pass on any extra costs 1:1 to their customers – otherwise festival tickets and services would simply become too expensive and the events unaffordable for their audiences. So, what can you do to keep events affordable? We will start this workshop by giving you a short introduction with some good practice example from the festival sector to inspire you. Then it’s up to you to come up with creative solutions together with your fellow participants!

Host: Isabel Roudsarabi (Co-founder and managing director at Höme – For Festivals)

In this panel, our speakers will illuminate how gender balance is lived (or not lived) in the European music industry, drawing on data from academic and industry research. They will present possible solutions for more gender balance, like GENiE, an online database of over 500 gender equality initiatives across the continent.

We will take a closer look at the situation in the Eastern European music industry, where firmly-established traditional gender roles often prevent women from taking over leadership roles. Our speakers will bring in their own experiences of gender stereotypes impacting their work. They call for a systematic change that normalizes women in leadership roles and values competence over other factors like gender. To help with this change, they support initiatives like the mentoring program Women in Music, which you will also learn about in this panel.

Speakers: Gergana Milovska (Sofia Live Festival / SoAlive Music Conference), Grace Goodwin (Founder of the GENiE database), Roxana Luca (ARTmania / Emagic / Pozitif Live / YES Group)

This workshop consists of three parts: a presentation on the EXIT Festival case study, a session on dealing with stress in the music industry, and an open conversation about the mental health of the participants.

EXIT Festival places mental health at the core of its identity, offering year-round psychological support for staff, on-site counseling for visitors, and campaigns such as “Life Is Live” to promote digital detox and youth wellbeing. This presentation highlights how EXIT integrates mental health into every level of its work – through practical initiatives, strategic partnerships, and measurable results – demonstrating how festivals can serve as platforms for healing, connection, and community care.

Stress and relationships are common challenges for both artists and music industry professionals, especially in the fast-paced world of festivals. In this interactive session, Rosana Corbacho (M.I. Therapy founder) will explore key stressors, share tools to prevent burnout, and offer insights into building healthier teams. Participants will be invited to share experiences and reflections, making the workshop a space for connection and practical learning.

Speakers: Tanja Njezic (Secretary General of EXIT Festival), Rosana Corbacho (Psychologist / Founder of M.I. Therapy)

Before we part ways, let’s take a look at what we have learned. What are your most important takeaways? What do you want to implement when you get home to your festival?

Host: Marta Pallarès (Head of Communications at Primavera Sound, YOUROPE board member)