The EBMA Festival Network (EFN) was formed in Buehl, Germany, during the 3rd European Bluegrass Summit, on 19th February 2011. The network had been discussed at the summit the year before and the EBMA board had done some preliminary work to get it off the ground.

What is the EFN?

The EBMA Festival Network is a networking and promotional tool for the member festivals and an effort to improve the bluegrass festival scene in Europe and encourage the various festivals to book bands from across Europe and abroad. It is administrated by EBMA, mostly through an EFN designated section on the EBMA website, www.ebma.org. On this site you will find a short description of the member festivals, the festival dates, various contact information and a link to the respective website.

Benefits for bluegrass fans

On the EBMA website you will find most of the bluegrass festivals and festivals with significant bluegrass content in Europe. These events are all worth travelling to from any country and can be sorted by name, country or festival dates and accessed from the website. Member festivals are, in addition to booking foreign bands, also committed to programme traditional bluegrass festival activities, like workshops, seminars, children activities, jamming and camping facilities, trade booths and similar activities, if possible.
Benefits for bluegrass bands
All touring bands, from both Europe and elsewhere, can reach all member festivals through one common e-mail address, efn.ebma( at )bluegrassfestivals.eu. They can also target specific festivals, sorting them on name, festival dates or by country, and make them aware of when they are available. And member festivals are all committed to booking foreign bands.

Benefits for European bluegrass festivals

The EFN is a networking and promotional tool for the member festivals. Bluegrass festivals have been the lifeline of bluegrass music through the years, and they still are. Member festivals will be notified by touring bands that are available, have a common e-mail address for contact with all the other members, a membership contact list for use between members and a closed discussion forum, special rates for promotion through the printed magazine, Bluegrass Europe , and some similar EBMA benefits. EBMA will promote the EFN as a brand name and the member festivals through the Bluegrass Europe, the European Bluegrass Blog, the European Bluegrass Directory, e-mailed newsletters and in other printed material when available. Member festivals will definitely be more visible outside their own country through the EBMA/EFN efforts.

Dagfinn Pedersen (April 2011)