Applications are now open for the ASEAN-UK Festival Management Training Programme. Take this unique opportunity to enhance your skills in Festival Management! 

The programme is a 4-week immersive course designed to the needs of the Southeast Asian festival sector, aimed at supporting new and existing festivals in the region and addressed the skills gaps in festival management, with particular emphasis on audience development, innovative business modelling, sponsorship & marketing, sustainability, leadership, and digital transformation of festivals. The programme will bring together guest speakers from the UK and across the Southeast Asia region.   

The programme is delivered by Edinburgh Napier University and Jogja Festivals as part of the ASEAN-UK Advancing Creative Economy programme (ACE). The ASEAN-UK Advancing Creative Economy programme is delivered by the British Council with co-funding from UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office and in partnership with the ASEAN Secretariat.   

We are looking for festival professionals with a proven interest and experience in the festival sector.  

  • Festival directors and managers 
  • promoters and programmers  
  • creative and cultural producers and curators 
  • policymakers and other practitioners working in the festival sector 

We particularly welcome submissions from a diverse range of professionals: including women, gender minorities, disabled people and people from underrepresented groups. We would welcome both emerging and established level professionals.   

Please note that this opportunity is not suitable for artists unless they are involved in other influencing roles in the festival sector in a professional capacity. 

Programme Overview

The programme will consist of weekly 3,5 hours sessions covering themes/topics relevant to the festival sector. Each session will start with reflections on previous learning or content to stimulate discussion on what happened previously and what comes next. The sessions will be interactive and have a mixture of lecture, workshop, debate, discussion and breakout room activities. These are supplemented by group discussion/activity/guest speaker presentation or panel discussion, and participants will have access to an interactive online training environment and Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) called Moodle.  

Timeline    

Date 

Activity 

Notes 

12 June 2025 

Participants announcement 

Orientation Guide distributed 

16 June 2025, 
08.00 – 11.30 AM BST 

Start of Programme – Session 1 

  • Introduction and Festival Planning and Operations  
  • Creative Programming 
      

Virtual sessions 

23 June 2025,  
08.00 – 11.30 AM BST 

Session 2  

  • Festival Finances and Risks 
  • Delivering Sustainable Festivals 

Virtual sessions 

26 June 2025 
08.00 – 11.30 AM BST 

Session 3 

  • Partnerships, Sponsorship and Business Development 
  • Leadership and Governance 

Virtual sessions 

30 June 2025 
08.00 – 11.30 AM BST 

Session 4 

  • Audience Development/EDI 
  • Festival Marketing and Digital Innovation 

Virtual sessions 

1 or 4 July 2025 
08.00 – 10.00 BST 

Online ASEAN Festival Forum 

 
Future proofing festivals: how to build resilience in the ASEAN region 

Virtual session, open to public 

Eligibility

We are looking for up to 60 festival managers and programmers from the ASEAN region who:  

  • are from ASEAN member states: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, The Philippines, Viet Nam and Timor Leste.   
  • applicants who can demonstrate active festival/or arts experience in a middle to senior level role, and have at least 3-5 years experience of working within the festivals sector  
  • festival directors, organisers, founders, entrepreneurs, producers, curators, cultural managers and policymakers involved in festival and event development across ASEAN region. Festivals can be single artform, cross-artform, or multidisciplinary.   
  • Applicants can come from a range of artistic and curatorial leadership to organisational management, business development, marketing, fundraising, HR and policy development in the festival sector  
  • Participants must join all four sessions to receive the certificate of course completion. Non-attendance of 2 or more sessions will lead to non-completion of the training.  
  • The training will be delivered in English. Participants are expected to have a proficient level of English to take part in the training.    

Note: For festival typology to refer to ASEAN Festival Mapping report – eg focus is on arts and cultural festivals, not traditional/ religious festivals 

How to apply

To apply, please carefully read the Open Call briefing document in its entirety and complete the Application Form via Microsoft Forms: https://forms.office.com/e/UQgxChVPWJ by 4 June 2025, 23:59 GMT.  

Please note that you may need to create a Microsoft account in order to start and complete the application process. Applications must be in English.  

Key dates

26 May – 4 June   

Open Call  

4 June 2025  

Open Call submission deadline  

10 June 2025  

Selection Announcement  

16 June 2025  

Programme Start 

16, 23, 26, 30 June 2025  

Programme Live Sessions  

1 or 4 July 2025  

Online ASEAN Festivals Forum  

Mid July 2025  

Certificates issued 

 

Access support for writing your application

If you identify as disabled, you are welcome to contact us ace2@britishcouncil.org for possible support we may offer to assist with making your application.  

If you would like information contained in this invitation letter or Expression of Interest form in any other format, please contact the British Council team by email ace2@britishcouncil.org    

Contact

If you have any questions about the course, please contact ace2@britishcouncil.org  

External links