I Meeting of Directors of Photography Festivals of Spain and visual creators of the Valencian Community

On November 17, 18 and 19, 2019, the First Meeting of Directors of Photography Festivals at the state level and of visual creators took place at the Centro del Carmen de Cultura Contemporánea, dependent on the Valencian Consortium of Museums of the Generalitat Valenciana of the Valencian Community.

This first Meeting was possible thanks to the support of Consorci de Museus and was attended by eleven Festival Directors from all over Spain and more than thirty audiovisual creators from the Valencian Community.

The meeting had as objectives: to generate dialogue, analysis of problems and search for solutions, lines of action, training of directors and creators in grants and institutional aid, as well as a productive exchange between the attendees.

To carry out this we carry out the following activities:

TALKS

• Creative Europe, a European Union program aimed at promoting the cultural and creative sectors, providing support to artists, professionals and cultural organizations through grants, awards and scholarships.
• Marketing for festivals Taught by Vanessa García, BA in Business Administration, marketing specialist and master in digital marketing. Development of comprehensive marketing strategies and account manager at Cul de Sac agency (she directs the Turia beer and Campo Viejo winery accounts, among others). Also, Marketing Manager for PhotOn Festival.
• CHEBEC program, hacking the economy through culture. Raúl Abeledo, Principal Investigator of the Chebec program, managed by the Econcult UVEG Research Unit, and current Academic Director of the Cultural Observatory of the University of Valencia.
  
  

NETWORKING DIRECTORS OF FESTIVALS AND VISUAL CREATORS

• Two Networking sessions were held between Festival Directors to analyze the current state of Photography Festivals in Spain, their strengths and weaknesses, generate synergies and establish a common roadmap.
• We shared a networking session between Directors and Visual Creators. It was time to listen to the claims and suggestions that creators demand of festivals. what do you need? How can festivals improve?

Their proposals were varied, but one claim rang out above the others: innovation in festival proposals.

DIRECTORXS AND VISUAL CREATORS P2P MEETINGS

At the I FER FOC we made a first approach to what, later on, could become a reference Photography Fair.

Visual Creators showed their projects to all the assistant Directors. We are pleased to report that at least four exhibitions and as many exchanges have taken place as a result of this meeting. Unfortunately, the Pandemic paralyzed the rest of the collaborations agreed during the Meeting.

FOC SURVEY

The FOC organization, in order to prepare for the 1st Meeting, launched an open survey to all Photography Festivals in Spain one month before the event.

The results of the first survey were presented at a press conference at the beginning of the conference.

Days after the closing of the I Meeting, a second survey was launched that included data that was put into value during the networking sessions.

The analysis of the two surveys was presented at the FOC Conference in February 2020.