Today, Sónar announces its involvement in The Independent Movement for Electronic Scenes; an exciting new partnership between 10 of the most innovative festivals in Europe, co-funded by the European Union. 

Over the next three years, the partner festivals will commission a series of new performances that bring together established and emerging artists from music, visual art, and research. These performances will be premiered and then toured throughout the partner festivals and beyond. Additionally, the festivals will share programming and best working practices, with co-curated artists and talks and dedicated knowledge exchange activities. The overarching objective of the TIMES cooperation is to improve the sustainability of the independent music sector - environmentally, economically, and creatively - through closer collaboration.  

The festivals taking part in this new cooperation come from almost every corner of Europe. Each has a unique history and identity and each has contributed significantly to the evolution of electronic music and digital culture. In working  together, each of the partners has chosen collaboration over competition, in order to develop a shared response to shared challenges, to support the creation and dissemination of new art, and to support, promote and improve diversity and sustainability within the music sector.

TIMES Partners: 

Berlin Atonal (DE), Creative Broadcast (RO), Elevate (AT), Insomnia (NO), Le Guess Who? (NL), Arty Farty / Nuits sonores (FR), Sónar (ES), Terraforma (IT), Reworks (GR), Semibreve (PT), Unsound (PL) 

While today marks the official kick off for the project, Sónar has already been at work behind the scenes, co-curating a programme of music and talks at the recent edition of Elevate festival in Graz, Austria, featuring Ryoji Ikeda, Colleen, Kode9 and journalist Shawn Reynaldo. 

Sónar 2024 has invited guest curators Berlin Atonal, Nuits sonores and Reworks to contribute to its programme of music and discourse this June, with more information to follow. 

For more information on the TIMES project, head to the website, or follow the project on Instagram here.