Additional Information
Drew Hemment is a festival creator and academic with decades of experience in the cultural sector. He founded the renowned FutureEverything Festival in the UK in 1995, which became a global reference for innovation in arts and technology. Currently, he serves as the Director of Festival Futures at the Edinburgh Future Institute, where he continues to push the boundaries of what festivals can achieve. Additionally, he leads the New Real project and holds a professorship in Data Arts and Society, while also collaborating with the Alan Turing Institute. PAN M 360 met Hemment right after his opening conference of Future Festivals Summit, officially launching MUTEK Forum 2024.
PAN M 360: Can you explain what Festival Futures and the Edinburgh Future Institute are about?
Drew Hemment: Yeah, sure. I’m mainly interested in looking at festivals in two different ways. First, I’m interested in future festivals—those that are about the future and also of the future. I think about the changes that festivals are going through, how we can support their resilience, and how we can champion festivals as the amazing creative spaces that we all know they can be. I also look at festivals as a way of thinking about and making futures. Just as some people create films to explore speculative futures, I see festivals as a space to explore, test, and experiment with ideas that can help us address challenges today and steer trajectories towards the kinds of futures we’d like to see.
PAN M 360: It might seem like a simple question, but how do you define a festival? What is a festival to you?
Drew Hemment: That’s a really good question. For me, a festival is not just about the mechanics like ticketing systems. It’s not the metrics that funders might count, like the number of hotel rooms booked by people visiting the festival. Those things don’t define a festival’s importance. To me, a festival is an idea, a community of people, a movement. It’s something so important that we have to do it. That’s what a festival is to me.
When I talk about festivals, I’m primarily referring to those that are interdisciplinary and committed to social change — not the large corporate festivals focused on big bands and massive stages. We’re currently witnessing a polarization where the big commercial giants dominate, leaving smaller, more innovative festivals struggling to survive. I passionately believe that festivals are the future, but we must fight for that future.
PAN M 360: In an international network like Future Festivals, we imagine many participants face similar challenges. However, are there any issues that are particularly local or specific to certain regions?
Drew Hemment: Absolutely. Unfortunately, it’s a common experience globally that things are becoming more challenging, especially with the current political climates, such as the rise of right-wing populism, neoliberalism, and the corrosive state of capitalism. These factors make it difficult to create nurturing and caring organizations and events, and sustainability becomes a major challenge. While many challenges are shared, there are also unique, localized issues. For example, in some regions, there’s an urgent need for conversations around indigenous knowledge. Different parts of the world face distinct social and political contexts, and festival makers respond to these in various ways. Their involvement in issues — whether related to artistic movements, technology, democracy, or other areas — also varies. So, while there are common themes, each festival and its makers are unique, with their own local challenges and interests.
PAN M 360: How important are the types of art practices that are showcased in a festival?
Drew Hemment: I love working across and between boundaries. My background is in music, but I’ve always been interested in social change and social activism. I’ve always been involved in technology and digital culture, both as a tool and as a topic—something that can be troubling or inspiring. My career has been about moving between electronic music, new media art, and digital art. I’m most excited by festivals that embrace the unexpected and are open to many different artistic expressions.
PAN M 360: You’ve been organizing festivals for a long time. How does your experience as a festival maker align with the methodology you’ve developed to study festivals?
Drew Hemment: It’s not just about studying festivals, it’s also about making them. In a way, I approach festivals as art projects. I’ve worked in design, and I believe in the power of sharing what you do and how you do it. Design is really good at finding ways to document, reflect on, evaluate, and improve the methods and tools you use. I developed “Festival as Lab” as a design methodology for developing festivals, particularly those engaged in social change and technology development. It’s about how we, as festival makers, can broker between different people, disciplines, and sectors. This methodology has been adopted by an international festivals network, including MUTEK, and has had an international influence. I believe in its power to enhance what we do and enable us to grow and share our work better.
PAN M 360: What role do you see Artificial Intelligence (AI) playing in the future of festivals?
Drew Hemment: AI is fascinating as both a technology and a science domain, but it also raises many ethical challenges. With the rise of large language models and algorithms, the world we live in and the world in which we make festivals are changing massively. Festivals must navigate this environment, finding new ways to engage with artists and audiences while also providing alternatives. Festivals are powerful because they bring people together face-to-face, breaking out of filter bubbles and fostering real, sometimes challenging, conversations that can lead to radical change and inspire powerful art.
PAN M 360: Finally, what’s your take on the idea that some festivals aren’t meant to last forever?
Drew Hemment: I’m a case study in this. I started a festival in 1995 and ran it for 25 years, but I reached a point where I felt the festival had come to a natural close. I transitioned the organization away from a festival format and handed it over to a new creative director. The organization now has a year-round program. My decision wasn’t because I don’t believe in festivals anymore, it’s because my passion led me to explore how the ways of working I developed in festivals could be applied in other areas. So, it wasn’t that the festival ended, but that new doors opened, and I couldn’t resist running through them.
The idea of a festival having a natural shelf life is appealing. I think it’s kind of beautiful if a festival arises and brings a community together for a period of time and then people let that go. This can be a different kind of gift, creating space for others to come in and create their gatherings and festivals. However, there’s also the challenge of sustaining festivals, especially in the current climate. I’m not sure how it is in Montreal, but in the UK and many parts of the world, smaller venues and festivals are under significant pressure. It’s essential that we support each other to ensure these spaces continue to thrive while caring for our well-being and the community.
