We believe the performing arts can help us cross the national, cultural and linguistic borders that so often divide us. BE FESTIVAL is a celebration of the difference and variety within Europe, but also of the universal languages and experiences that unite us.
For this reason BE FESTIVAL offers shows that can speak to everyone: that can move, delight, charm and provoke us all, no matter where we come from and what languages we speak.
Partnership and participation were crucial to our first festival, and they are central to our mission. BE FESTIVAL is an organisation dedicated to bringing people together in unique and imaginative ways, encouraging them to share, discover and celebrate both their differences and similarities.
In times of economic instability such principles of collaboration, participation and exchange are deeply important, and as artists we have a responsibility to put them into creative practice.
Firstly, despite reduced budgets we must still foster great art and make it accessible to as many as possible. This can be achieved by the creation of strong partnerships and the sharing of resources and risk.
Secondly, it is important to build meaningful connections between people of diverse backgrounds. Through recognition of shared values and experiences, suspicions and fears associated with the ‘unknown’ and the ‘foreign’ are dissolved. And as periods of economic crisis are so often associated with a rise in racial and cultural tensions or prejudices, now it is more important than ever to celebrate all that we share.
