EUROPEAN FESTIVAL
Gadget ’ s OpenAir St . Gallen
EUROPEAN UNITY FOR FESTIVALS
Organisers of some of Europe ’ s biggest festivals including Christof Huber , chair of European festival association YOUROPE , discuss the many challenges facing the European festival industry and the moves being made to address them
CHRISTOPHER BARRETT
A
highly experienced live event promoter and festival operator , Christof Huber has been a board member of European festival association YOUROPE since it was launched in 1998 , and has been its chair since 2021 . The organisation currently represents some 130 festivals scattered across 26 countries .
A busy man , Huber is also a partner in Switzerland ’ s Gadget Entertainment Group where he is director of festivals . Part of Eventim Live , the company ’ s festival roster includes the 30,000-capacity OpenAir St . Gallen , one of Switzerland ’ s biggest and longestrunning open air festivals . Huber also oversees the company ’ s Summerdays Festival ( cap . 12,000 ) in Arbon , Seaside Festival ( 10,000 ) in Spiez , Schaffhausen ’ s 6,500-capacity Stars in Town , and the
Christof Huber
Unique Moments ( 3,000 ) show series in the courtyard at the National Museum in Zurich .
December saw the end of YOUROPE ’ s three-year Future-Fit Festivals ’ ( 3F ) project , co-funded by the EU . The financial support from Brussels enabled the festival association to stage events including the European Festival Awards and 3F Conferences , and funded initiatives including the European Festival Report & Survey , European Green Festival Roadmap 2030 , Diversity & Inclusion Toolset , 3F Safety Report and Festivals for Ukraine Toolkit .
On the back of that activity , the association has received a further three years of funding , and so the Future-Fit Festivals 2.0 ( 3F 2.0 ) has been born . YOUROPE has promised to use the income to create six central publications including an Extreme Weather Toolbox , a Fair Ticketing Guide , and a Diversity , Equity and Inclusion Roadmap .
“ The 3F funding was the first we received since YOUROPE was launched and it changed the association , because we launched many additional projects as a result , and so the team and office grew alongside the expanded workload ,” accessaa . co . uk 27