EFN CONFERENCE 2026
Why We're Here
EFN's 2026 EFN Conference will take place over two full days on
Friday 13 & Saturday 14 November
in the beautiful Spanish city of Almeria
Click here for CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
– there is a special discount price for EFN Members
and discounts for Clasijazz members and students.
Within a few minutes of the conference venue the hotels offer special rates for the nights of 12, 13 & 14 November:
Hotel Costasol offers single rooms at €60.50/night,
twin rooms and double rooms (for single use) at €70.00/night.
To book, contact recepcion@hotelcostasol.com directly and quote European Folk Network (EFN) Conference
Hotel Embajador offers rooms at €50/night (or 56€/night with breakfast). To book contact: recepcion@hotelembajador.es directly and quote European Folk Network (EFN) Conference.
Travel: EFN recommends that conference delegates should arrive on Thursday 12 November and depart on Sunday 15. Almeria airport has some direct and transfer flights – but the main airport to consider is Malaga. We will announce travel possibilities from the airport in a few weeks’ time. Long-distance train services to Almeira can be booked from Madrid and Barcelona.
The conference is hosted by EFN Member Fundación Indaliana para la Música y las Artes – known as Clasijazz – in their superb self-contained venue which offers space for conference plenaries, breakout groups, catering and performance.
Clasijazz is a multidisciplinary cultural centre that promotes music and the arts at local, national, and international levels. Founded in 1998, it has grown into a space that functions simultaneously as a live music venue, an educational centre for music, dance and theatre, a jazz club, and a place where music, creativity, and community life meet.
DOWNLOAD THE FULL PROGRAMME HERE
Our 2026 Keynote speaker, the renowned traditional musician and educator from the North East of England Alistair Anderson (pictured), will open with reflections on Why We're Here - the values that traditional arts uphold – and why they are important. Following that, a panel of similarly experienced experts - including the German author and Rudolstadt festival organiser Bernhard Hanneken and Miklos Both, director of the Hungarian Heritage House in Budapest – will consider how the traditional arts and their values can be safeguarded against appropriation by political and nationalist extremism.
Education in the traditional arts – and the different ways it can be organised and effective - is another key topic . Panel and discussion sessions on education will feature three highly experienced European specialists: the Head of the Folk Music Department of Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Vilma Timonen (pictured right); the director of Feis Rois in the Scottish Highlands, Fiona Dalgetty (pictured above); and the educator, author and director of Muziekmozaiek in Flanders, Filip Verneert.
Renowned traditionalists Antonio Miron and Jose Moreno Vargas will present a picture of the traditions of music and dance in Andalusia. Other topics in the conference programme will include ‘Cross Pollination’: how is traditional music mixing with other genres (such as jazz or classical music) – and does it work? - with speakers including Transylvanian muli-genre singer Koszika Koszorus (pictured right),
Plus the conference’s unique ‘Open Mic’ sessions, in which any delegate can take the opportunity to make a short pitch about any subject they choose.
The 2026 programme will also give members and other delegates plenty of discussion and planning time in which practical Working Groups will be formed, to take action on topics of interest during the following year.
And, of course, there will be performances to enjoy each evening including Cuadro Flamenco with dancer Manuel Daif (pictured right) and Alboloduy folk music from Almeria with Grupo Folklórico El Galayo (pictured left).
