Eastern Talent Programme To Close

A review of CEETEP is fixed for next January’s Eurosonic in Groningen, The Netherlands, but chances are that it will be reintegrated into the wider-reaching European Talent Exchange Programme.

When CEETEP was launched at Serbia’s Exit Festival in the summer of 2011, it was at a time when the cultural chiefs of some of the small central and eastern European countries preferred to hang on to their cultural budgets.

Persuading them that the money would be better spent if it were part of a larger pan-European pot necessitated giving them their own programme. However, it’s coming to an end despite the efforts of Exit director Ivan Milivojev and Fruzsina Szép, who last year moved from Hungary’s Sziget Festival to Germany’s Berlin Festival. Successes achieved by acts from central and eastern European territories include Estonia’s Ewert & The Two Dragons securing a dozen or so shows from the wider European Talent Exchange Programme.

This year’s ETEP is being led by French-Cuban twin sisters Ibeyi and London electronica trio Years & Years, who have each been confirmed for seven European festival slots. Two other British acts, Kate Tempest and Jack Garratt, and Danish songstress MØ have six shows apiece. So far this year’s programme has provided 47 acts from 15 countries with 97 festival appearances.