Cistermúsica elected member of the European Festivals Association

From now on Alcobaça Music Festival integrates the European reference institution on the following of its internationalization path

Cistermúsica - Alcobaça Music Festival was elected as a member of the European Festivals Association (EFA), after approval by its Council and after a favorable vote by the General Assembly, that met at Estoril Palace Hotel, this Monday, under the Arts Festival Summit 2019, the annual EFA meeting.

The summit is taking place for the first time in Lisbon, between April 14 and 17, and gathers about 250 festival producers from around the world. Both Cistermúsica and Gravíssimo!, festivals from the production range of Alcobaça Music Academy, and both holders of the European recognition label EFFE, are represented in this edition, whose theme is "Senses, Places and Destinations or Arts Festivals, Cities, Communities & Cultural Tourism", with the intention of addressing the role of artists and festivals in a joint vision for the cities of the future.

Rui Morais, executive director of Cistermúsica, considered the joining to the EFA "a historic moment for the festival, which proves the international prestige achieved in recent years." He also noted that EFA "is an association whose members are some of the best European festivals, which, in addition to giving a certain visibility to the Cistermúsica, will allow the festival to share ideas and good practices with cultural organizations of reference".

EFA was founded in 1952 and, as a European institution, jointly promotes its members, fostering creation and coproduction, relationships and international exchange, with the premise of the dissemination of high quality artistic expressions. It has currently 111 members, representing 43 countries and, until this date, only one Portuguese festival, the Lisbon Estoril Music Festival, belonged to the organization.

Eleven new members are now joining the EFA. Along with Cistermúsica, two other Portuguese festivals - Dias da Música (CCB/Belém) and Terras Sem Sombra (Alentejo) - are now members of the association.