Festival Europa

On Saturday 18 May - five days before the Netherlands votes for the European Parliament elections - the University of Utrecht and TivoliVredenburg organise the Festival Europa in cooperation with a.o. deBuren.

Finally a festival about Europe for everyone! With a drink in your hand, come and listen to conversations with (former) politicians, journalists and scientists on the most important election themes and watch performances by musicians, theatre makers and writers on European art and culture. An unmissable festival for Eurolovers, Euro-sceptics and everyone in between!

The Brexit, the future of the euro, the refugee crisis and climate change are the talk of the town in politics and the media. What role do these themes play in other European countries, what is the influence of European policy and how can you exert influence yourself?

Festival Europa prepares you optimally for the European elections on 23 May in short lectures, interviews, a debate with the leaders, performances and experiments on themes such as security, populism, migration, sustainability and activism.

Speakers at the festival include Jan Terlouw, who will be interviewed about the importance of the EU in complex issues, and Lieke Marsman and Marjolein van Heemstra about activism in art. Talking about activism: the Flemish climate trustees Anuna De Wever and Kyra Gantois will come by to tell their story.

We also have several literary contributions, including by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Thomas Rueb and the French Mahir Güven. For the musical part, a performance by Amber Arcades is planned, but Festival Europa wouldn't live up to its name if we didn't broadcast the entire broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest on a big screen!