Workshop entitled Financing Classical Music: different funding opportunities and ways to achieve financial sustainability was held at the Križanke Knights’ Hall in Ljubljana, Slovenia from 4 until 6 October 2021 as the first set of activities of the EU project #synergy: Sharpening the capacities of the classical music industry in the Western Balkans. It was hosted by the Festival Ljubljana while Dubrovnik Summer Festival participated as one of the six project partners.

The workshop was held with the objective to address specific issues, exchange mutual experiences, and share individual know-how when it comes to finding different ways of financing cultural programs. The topic was presented and discussed by some of the highly respected Slovenian cultural managers: Mr Darko Brlek (Ljubljana Festival General and Art Director), Andrej Drapal (Management Consultant at Consensus d.o.o.), Blaž Peršin (Director of Ljubljana City Museum and Galleries) and Tibor Mihelič Syed (Managing director of the Slovenian Youth Theatre).

- Success of any financing starts with the audience. If there is no audience, you are just walking around and begging for money. The question is how to show the sponsors and the city or authorities, politicians that they are benefiting from it and not just giving you money. (...) Most festivals have the problem of depending on only one source. If you just play on the existing market, you are struggling. The market is expanding so you have to search. The role of financing, marketing, sponsoring is to expand it – Andrej Drapal pointed out during his presentation.

This was first out of six workshops that will be organized during the #synergy project. Next one, entitled Programing Classical Music: contemporary trends and innovative approaches in programming in accordance with the classical music market’s needs, is to be held in Kotor in November 2021. The final result of all the workshops conducted will be the Classical music production Guidebook, which will summarize and cover all the topics discussed.

The project #synergy: Sharpening the capacities of the classical music industry in the Western Balkans is co-funded by the EU Creative Europe programme and brings together six important festivals from the region: the KotorArt Don Branko’s Music Days (Montenegro), Dubrovnik Summer Festival (Croatia), Belgrade Summer Festival (Serbia), Ljubljana Festival (Slovenia), Vox Baroque Festival (Albania), and the Chopin Piano Fest Prishtina (Kosovo). The project aims to provide new skills and connect cultural professionals, primarily those who work in the music festival and classical music sector, to encourage composers to write new pieces inspired by the local heritage of partner countries, as well as to facilitate networking and collaboration between young musicians, composers, and classical music organizations in the Western Balkans.