YOUROPE – The European Festival Association, together with Music Saves Ukraine, the humanitarian initiative created by Ukrainian Association of Music Events (UAME), released a new toolkit. It is titled “Festivals for Ukraine” and provides information about various measures and activities festival organisers can employ to use their festivals as a platform for raising funds and awareness for important causes.
The Festivals For Ukraine Toolkit was developed as part of YOUROPE’s three-year project “Future-Fit Festivals” (3F). The tools featured in this publication have been tested, iterated upon and successfully implemented by Music Saves Ukraine since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Based on cooperation projects with YOUROPE and many of its member festivals as well as other European music festivals and events thousands of people were reached and significant funds were raised, which were used responsibly and effectively by Music Saves Ukraine to provide humanitarian aid in Ukraine. Many of those measures and activities are also used on the initiatives current festival tour across Europe.
The toolkit contains step-by-step guides, case studies and advice on how to implement various schemes and activities within events and festivals It is public and free to use for any festival or cultural event and can be viewed online or downloaded as a PDF.
While the toolkit is based on case studies related to Music Saves Ukraine, the tools described possess a high degree of transferability and can easily be used to advance and raise for any other charitable cause: refugee aid, environmental action, inclusion and diversity, etc.
The toolkit provides background on YOUROPE, its social awareness initiative Take A Stand as well as on UAME’s Music Saves Ukraine initiative and their mission. The main part features sections on fundraising and awareness-raising tools like artist bookings, discussion panels and speeches, special performances, bottles recycling, cup deposit and guest list donations, charity merchandise, auctions and raffles and others. The last part tells about special projects like Music Ambassadors Tour and Pohoda Loves Ukraine, which together with the festival collaborations helped Music Saves Ukraine further in their mission of raising funds and awareness for Ukraine
The toolkit is the result of a collaboration between the teams of YOUROPE’s 3F project and the Music Saves Ukraine initiative. It also features quotes and materials provided by various YOUROPE member festivals among those ARTmania (RO), Das Fest (DE), Les Eurockeennes de Belfort (FR), OpenAir St.Gallen (CH), Pohoda Festival (SK), Superbloom (DE), Sziget (HU).
The Toolkit can be found here:
