The 30th Edition of Eurosonic Noorderslag will be the conclusion of the 5 year Central Eastern European Talent Exchange Programme (CEETEP) project, with the Central East European regions taking centre stage as the focus for 2016. Together with 18 CEETEP festivals in the CEE region and selected CEE media partners, Eurosonic Noorderslag and co-organisers Sziget and Exit Festival developed a plan to encourage the circulation of CEE artists and repertoire in Central and Eastern Europe, both at festivals and in the media. By working together, the CEETEP festivals and their media partners have helped more CEE artists perform across borders within Central Eastern Europe, and via shows at Eurosonic Noorderslag, throughout the whole of Europe and beyond.

Fruzsina Szép (Director of Festival Coordination and Public Affairs Berlin Festival and Lollapalooza Berlin - former programme director of Sziget (HU); “My deep wish has always been to strengthen the circulation of artistic repertoire and the cooperation and exchange of know-how between the cultural workers, festivals and media in the CEE. In January 2016 we will unite all the positive energies and the region which we call Central and Eastern Europe and we will become ONE within the stages of Europe. January 2016 at Eurosonic a long time dream will come true… I can only say that I´m so happy, honoured and thankful to be part of making the CEETEP project possible.”

Peter Smidt (creative director Eurosonic Noorderslag): “With more or less half of the European people living in what we call Central Eastern Europe, Eurosonic Noorderslag feels it is crucial to make much more and better connections between Western Europe and Central Eastern Europe. We are curious for all talents in this large area and would like to facilitate much more and better business relations between music professionals and media.”

All girl indie rock trio from Croatia, Puncke gained 2 festival shows at EXIT in Serbia and Sziget in Hungary as part of the programme and was invited to perform at Eurosonic Noorderslag. “We had an amazing time during Eurosonic Festival. It was a great chance to present our music far from home and afterwards we got some calls from booking agents in Germany and Poland. Sziget and Exit were excellent, there was a lot of great feedback and we got the opportunity to experience these two huge festivals.”

Guna Zucika from Barinstorm in Latvia also speaks highly of the initiative. “Both bands I work with - Prata Vetra and Carnival Youth has been on CEETEP and with the best results the years they took part. Prata Vetra played in 2013 and Carnival Youth in 2014 and in both cases we managed to be on top 3 acts of the programme that secured automatic slot at Eurosonic,” explains Guna. “With Prata Vetra we played festivals like Sziget in Hungary and Rock For People in Czech Republic. The icing on the cake was possibility to play at European Festival Awards during Eurosonic. Speaking of Carnival Youth who only released debut album last year – CEETEP programme actually secured their first ever festival slots outside of native Latvia on stages like Open’er in Poland and Sziget in Hungary. I can definitely say the CEETEP programme has been instrumental to get new audiences and building new networks since I have been to CEETEP managers meetings and trainings at Exit Festival.”

The 30th Edition of Eurosonic Noorderslag will be the conclusion of the 5 year Central Eastern European Talent Exchange Programme (CEETEP) project, with the Central East European regions taking centre stage as the focus for 2016. Together with 18 CEETEP festivals in the CEE region and selected CEE media partners, Eurosonic Noorderslag and co-organisers Sziget and Exit Festival developed a plan to encourage the circulation of CEE artists and repertoire in Central and Eastern Europe, both at festivals and in the media. By working together, the CEETEP festivals and their media partners have helped more CEE artists perform across borders within Central Eastern Europe, and via shows at Eurosonic Noorderslag, throughout the whole of Europe and beyond.

Fruzsina Szép (Director of Festival Coordination and Public Affairs Berlin Festival and Lollapalooza Berlin - former programme director of Sziget (HU); “My deep wish has always been to strengthen the circulation of artistic repertoire and the cooperation and exchange of know-how between the cultural workers, festivals and media in the CEE. In January 2016 we will unite all the positive energies and the region which we call Central and Eastern Europe and we will become ONE within the stages of Europe. January 2016 at Eurosonic a long time dream will come true… I can only say that I´m so happy, honoured and thankful to be part of making the CEETEP project possible.”

Peter Smidt (creative director Eurosonic Noorderslag): “With more or less half of the European people living in what we call Central Eastern Europe, Eurosonic Noorderslag feels it is crucial to make much more and better connections between Western Europe and Central Eastern Europe. We are curious for all talents in this large area and would like to facilitate much more and better business relations between music professionals and media.”

All girl indie rock trio from Croatia, Puncke gained 2 festival shows at EXIT in Serbia and Sziget in Hungary as part of the programme and was invited to perform at Eurosonic Noorderslag. “We had an amazing time during Eurosonic Festival. It was a great chance to present our music far from home and afterwards we got some calls from booking agents in Germany and Poland. Sziget and Exit were excellent, there was a lot of great feedback and we got the opportunity to experience these two huge festivals.”

Guna Zucika from Barinstorm in Latvia also speaks highly of the initiative. “Both bands I work with - Prata Vetra and Carnival Youth has been on CEETEP and with the best results the years they took part. Prata Vetra played in 2013 and Carnival Youth in 2014 and in both cases we managed to be on top 3 acts of the programme that secured automatic slot at Eurosonic,” explains Guna. “With Prata Vetra we played festivals like Sziget in Hungary and Rock For People in Czech Republic. The icing on the cake was possibility to play at European Festival Awards during Eurosonic. Speaking of Carnival Youth who only released debut album last year – CEETEP programme actually secured their first ever festival slots outside of native Latvia on stages like Open’er in Poland and Sziget in Hungary. I can definitely say the CEETEP programme has been instrumental to get new audiences and building new networks since I have been to CEETEP managers meetings and trainings at Exit Festival.”