Hay Festival Europa28 – The Project

A Hay Festival project funded by Wom@rts, highlighting the contribution of women in Europe across the fields of literature, science and the arts. Events will take place at Hay Festivals throughout 2018–2021, and Hay Festival Europa28 itself will take place in Rijeka, Croatia, 6–9 October 2020.

Hay Festival Europa28 – visions for the future

The city of Rijeka in Croatia has been designated Rijeka 2020 - European Capital of Culture. Hay Festival will organise a four-day festival in Rijeka in October 2020, bringing together 28 prominent female authors, thinkers, writers and scientists. One participant will be chosen from each EU country, across genres and generations, to discuss their visions of the future for Europe.

Europa28 will be celebrated at Hay Festivals in 2019 and 2020, with many of the 28 participants speaking at events at the Festivals in Wales and worldwide. Each participant will also be commissioned to write an essay on the theme of 'visions for the future', which will be published in an anthology in Croatian, English and Spanish.

Europa28 works in collaboration with the Festival of the European Short Story and the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka. It is funded by Wom@rts and the European Union, Creative Europe.

About Wom@rts

Wom@rts highlights the contribution of women in European cultural heritage and diversity. It tackles gender inequality by supporting their presence in the field from a cross-sectoral perspective, promoting a wide range of mobility actions, knowledge, tools, training activities and events.

Wom@rts is a European project promoted by the following network of public and private non-for profit organisations and supported by the European Commission through its Creative Europe Programme:

1. Santiago de Compostela City Council – Auditorio de Galicia (ES)
2. WIFT (Women in Film and Television), Scandinavian network (FI)
3. Viesoji istaiga Vilniaus rotuse – Vilnius City Council (LT)
4. Centre audiovisuel Simone de Beauvoir (FR)
5. Communauté d'Agglomération du Grand Angoulême (FR)
6. Limerick Institute of Technology – Limerick School of Arts & Design (IR)
7. Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts Ltd (UK)
8. Academy of Applied Arts University in Rijeka (HR)
9. UGM Maribor (SI)
10. Avilés City Council – Fundación Municipal de Cultura-Avilés (ES)

Through Wom@rts, the Commission supports a very ambitious initiative, which plans to overturn to some degree the very negative statistics related to the presence and recognition of women artists and cultural professionals.

In that context and over the next four years (between 2018 and 2021), Wom@rts will promote a series of activities, such as:

• The creation and promotion of a charter in defence of gender equality practices in culture and of a network of 'Ambassadors'; 
• Research and study to gather homogenous data on the situation; 
• The creation of an international online platform to promote women artists; 
• The organization of artistic residencies in the fields of engraving/printmaking, comics and digital/lense-based arts (mobility of emerging artists); 
• The opening and roaming of a commemorative exhibition of the 70th Anniversary of the publication of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex; 
• Masterclasses, workshops and conferences; 
• Training courses for creators and cultural entrepreneurs; and
• The participation of artists and intellectuals in different international cultural festivals, among other activities.