The ADESTE+ Conference will take place online dealing with a range of questions and issues around organisational change in order for cultural organisations to become more audience focused. The concept of audience development is transversal, extending from the framing of cultural policy to issues of cultural rights, access and participation. Increasing cultural participation is a crucial challenge for an inclusive and open European society, and growing audiences depends on the ability of a cultural organisation to place the audience at the centre of its practice. However, this theme has taken on greater significance and new urgency as the crisis forces us to address the role of cultural organisations in this changed world. Our empty, silent spaces challenge us to consider if or how the cultural sector will recover, how cultural engagement has changed and what we need to reconsider in the way we work. Now more than ever our actual or potential audience has to be at the forefront of our thinking.

European Conference will explore the questions and offer debates for a larger number of people in 6 online episodes which will be held according to the following schedule: 15th of June 2020, 31st of August 2020, 7th of September 2020, 14th of September 2020, 21st of September 2020 and 28th of September 2020. Conference is open to all.

The international and interdisciplinary European Conference is organized together with the ADESTE+ Summer School by Kultura Nova Foundation (Zagreb, Croatia) in partnership with Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc in Rijeka and in collaboration with ADESTE+ partners. The Summer School and Conference are part of the ADESTE+ large scale European project co-founded by Creative Europe Programme focused on research and development of innovative approaches to audience development. In the framework of the project 3 Summer Schools and Conferences are organized: after the 1st edition in Lisbon (Portugal), the second was initially scheduled to take place in Rijeka (Croatia) but due to COVID-19 epidemic will be held online, while third one is planned to take place in Turin (Italy).