FESTIVALS WITH A MIGRATION AGENDA: PHILOSOPHY, IMPACT AND THE SOCIO- POLITICAL ROLE OF ART Martha Bouziouri Puzzle Festival Artistic Director / Social Researcher EFRP RESEARCH WORKSHOP: ARTISTIC FESTIVALS WITH A SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL AGENDA POZNAN, POLAND, APRIL 2010

THE EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK Migration flows increasing in Europe Muliticultural pluralism or social exclusion? Intercultural Dialogue 2008: A trans-national policy perspective Art as a cross - border tool Cultural initiatives with political content on cultural diversity (minorities, diaspora, globalization, interculturality)

MAPPING THE EUROPEAN INITIATIVES: THINGS TO CONSIDER How easy is for a festival with a migration agenda to Survive and gain sustainability Be identified Be independent Attract the audience Gain publicity Escape locality – achieve inter- nationality

MIGRATION FESTIVALS: TOWARDS A COMMON TYPOLOGY Dual character: celebration(fest) - demonstration(manifest) Art is not necessarily the epicenter of the event Parallel activities (workshops, seminars, debates, round tables, bazaars, informative stands) Free entrance or low price tickets Held in open air (streets, squares, parks) Informal atmosphere Participation of volunteers Audience from different social and cultural background

MIGRATION FESTIVALS: ROLE AND SIGNIFICANCE Provide a tool for social understanding and intercultural dialogue Stress the positive and creative aspect of migration (diversity as celebration - not as a problematic situation) Turn multicultural (simple tolerance) into intercultural (communication, mutual comprehension and shared responsibility) Stimulate awareness and involvement in the civil society Incorporate local, regional, national and international (the “glocal” ideal)

THE GREEK CASE: EXAMPLES OF MIGRATION FESTIVALS IN ATHENS Antiracist festival (since 1996) 2G (second generation) Multicultural Festival (2009) Wherever World and Music ( ) Athina Festival of Cultures (2008) Intercultural Festival (2004) 1 st Festival of National Communities (campaign: No to racism from the baby’s cot) (2007) Festival of Immigrants (2008)

THE GREEK MIGRATION FESTIVALS BASIC CHARACTERISTICS Organised by local authorities or NGO’s Participation or co-operation of migrant communities Funded by EU Programmes Low price or no ticket Random and not repeated on a regular basis Supportive and informative character Parallel activities Gain low publicity by the media Attract mainly young audiences Focus on the socio-political dimension of migration Art is a substantial, b-side activity Voluntary participation of Greek famous artists as a gesture of solidarity Artistic activities usually come from the amateurs Professional immigrant artists: A) rarely participate B) remain anonymous C) emphasis on their ethnic and political background - not on their artistic identity

THE PUZZLE FESTIVAL INITIATIVE: INNOVATIVE KEY POINTS Puzzle Festival: independent artistic festival for the professional immigrant artists of Athens Stands as an artistic festival with a political agenda rather than a social event accompanied by an artistic line up Promotes the profile of immigrants as equals and not in terms of an exotic or bad treated minority Provides not a gesture of solidarity but a recognition of the cultural wealth of professional immigrant artists Encourages the co-operation between immigrants and Greek artists

MIGRATION FESTIVALS: THE POLITICAL ROLE OF ART "..may open the way for the conception of an international culture, not based on the exoticism of multiculturalism or the diversity of cultures but on the inscription and articulation of culture's hybridity [...]it is the in between space that carries the burden of the meaning of culture” Homi, K.Bhabha, The Location of Culture The juxtaposition of different customs, backgrounds and techniques is a fertile coincidence for artistic hybridity and development Art is a privileged field for consideration about identity owns no place (the artist inhabits inside the journey) is a free space where creation, interculturality, imagination and experience meet looses the concrete shape of identity and locality speaks an international language that empowers mutual understanding and co- operation promotes critical thought, deeper awareness, reflection and sense of civic engagement

CONSIDERATIONS An effective plan towards integration, equality and cultural ex-change requires long-term procedures national policies strategic synergies every day familiarization with the presence of the “Other” a democratic “public space” for civil debate and for the development of cultural activities establishment of networks

EPILOGUE Migrants should not be reminded only in occasional events through the lens of “diversity” and only then become visible, in a specific place and for a specific time. Careful management by the dominant majority of the identity of the “Other” is crucial in order not to capture it within the allowed limits of its diversity. Sometimes, trying to avoid the discrimination, we end up to confirm it (marginalization of the diversity).