MOST is an absolute must!

Published on 16 December '22

Music

From 25 to 28 January, Bozar will be overflowing with the vibrant artistic creation of South-east Europe at the See Festival. The event has been made possible thanks to the involvement of MOST, a European project aimed at boosting the Balkan music market on the international scene. What's on? What are the results of a project like this one? Focus on MOST and its relationship to Bozar.

What exactly is MOST?

MOST is a project supported by Creative Europe - the European Commission's programme to support the cultural and audiovisual sectors. It is run by Hangvető - a Budapest-based production house - and relies on a network of 11 partner organisations all over Europe, from Bulgaria to the UK via Belgium, including Songlines magazine, WOMEX (Piranha Arts) and Bozar.

What role does it play?

MOST's mission is to boost the Balkan music market by connecting and supporting the global music scene. In fact, MOST (the word means "bridge" in many Balkan languages) builds up a connection between the Balkans and the global music market. It provides 4 different training programmes for 4 specific sectors in the music industry: Balkan Music Export for musicians, Festival and Club Exchange for event organisers, including Bozar, Management Training for budding managers, and finally Urban Hub for project managers and other people working in the music industry.

So what is Bozar doing in all this?

Well, as part of the Festival and Club Exchange section, Bozar invites 20 representatives from European festivals and clubs: 10 from the Balkans and 10 from the EU. Delegates come to two days of professional meetings aimed at expanding their professional network and the artistic scope of their festivals by means of conferences and exchanges with Belgian programmers and European programme directors.

Bozar is also committed to the development and sharing of professional practices by temporarily hosting a young Serbian project manager, Aleksandra Pavlović, as part of the Management Training section.

For the See Festival, Bozar is co-financed by MOST and is inviting two bands whose careers have been boosted by the project: Perija and Divanhana. These groups show how the Balkans is a place where identities and traditions come together and are passed down from one generation to the next. In the festival, Bozar shows how this part of Europe, which is in direct contact with the Mediterranean and Turkey, integrates these traditions and showcases them in the various different cultures of the Peninsula. Underlying the programming of the See Festival is a desire to change the way we look at this part of the world.