Wow, what a whirlwind of a year it’s been! UPBEAT has been buzzing louder than ever, proving that when we join forces, we’re way more than the sum of our parts.
This year, our UPBEAT family grew with some amazing new members (welcome aboard, legends!). We hit up all the big fairs and music hubs (did we see you there?), sharpened our business skills, and launched UPBEAT Universe, our brand-new digital tool designed to fuel our mission.
“Personally for me, the best part of all this hard work was meeting devoted music professionals and making new connections who all have the same goal as UPBEAT: to support the career of emerging artists across Europe.” – as our project lead Veronika Vajda put it.
The UPBEAT team had a busy 2024! To put our year in numbers:
- We welcomed 6 new members: MENT, Babel MusicXP, Ship, Napoli World, Fira B!, SoAlive and 10 new associated partners: ESTAM, Goulash Disko, One Caucasus, Mumush, Polja, Maré, Trefpunt, Sicily Music Conference, Valmiermuiža, Todo Mundo – doubling our size within a year, thank you for joining us!
- We handed the Best New Talent award to French-Congolese Fanie Fayar, who shot a Blogotheque video as part of her prize,
- we awarded the Future Festival title to Music Meeting (NL) for their consistent efforts towards sustainability, in both programming and production,
- we supported 200 artists to perform at 26 festivals in 20 countries,
- we set off the Expert Expose series giving pro-tips and hands-on advice to festival organizers in a direct exchange with experts Ben Mandelson, Chris Eckman, Ruth Koleva, Martyna van Nieuwland, Araceli Tzigane, Darek Mazzone and so forth,
- in our bid to set a standard for green industry practices, we compiled UPBEAT’s Sustainability Guide and Fair Trade Guide,
- Last but not least, we gave our platform a digital extension: UPBEAT Universe, a great matchmaking hub connecting artists and promoters, enhancing visibility and connectivity, powered by gigmit.
UPBEAT’s original span comes to a halt in 2025, but to leave the best news last: our platform has been afforded a new 4-year term by Creative Europe, to further our goals.
It’s been a busy, exciting, and inspiring ride, and we’re so pumped to keep the momentum going into next year. Thank you all who joined us on the journey, showed interest in or appreciation for UPBEAT’s agenda! See you in 2025!
