Skanu Mezs
Skaņu Mežs is a festival for adventurous (innovative, experimental, avant-garde, etc.) music. It happens in Riga, Latvia since 2003.
The festival usually happens in the beginning of October, whereas one-off events by Skaņu Mežs happen more often.
Acknowledging that all forms of modern music possess an experimental dimension, there is always a wide variety of musical genres represented at the festival – from electro-acoustic music, free improvisation, contemporary composition and noise to interesting shifts in dance music, hip-hop and rock or metal.
Skaņu Mežs is a member of festival network ICAS (International Cities of Advanced Sound).
Skaņu Mežs has co-created the SHAPE platform as well, and acts as one of its two coordinators.
Among many others, Skaņu Mežs has presented Autechre, Merzbow, Swans, Liars, Blixa Bargeld, Battles, Bernard Parmegiani, Pierre Henry, Roscoe Mitchell, Christian Wolff, Francois Bayle, Wadada Leo Smith, Laurel Halo, Julia Holter, James Holden, Zebra Katz, Shabazz Palaces, Evan Parker, AMM, Peter Brötzmann and Lustmord.
OUT.RA/Out.Fest
OUT.RA is a non-profit and non-partisan cultural association founded in January 2009, following previous programming projects carried out under the Searching Records label. OUT.RA celebrates music that seeks to transcend genres and styles, presenting live shows, movie screenings, workshops and residencies.
OUT.RA operates from their main office in Barreiro (Lisbon South Bay), once Portugal’s main industry and railway hub and a city of unmatched identity, to which OUT.RA strives to contribute, whether through the event programming itself or through the temporary venues it seeks to open up to the city, preserving Barreiro’s memory and spaces of heritage value widely unknown to audiences at large.
OUT.RA is also the producer behind OUT.FEST – Barreiro International Exploratory Music Festival, happening each year since 2004.
Kontraklang
Kontraklang is a monthly concert series for contemporary music in Berlin. It showcases the diversity of the various contemporary music scenes in Berlin and functions as a local and international forum for their current movements.
In addition to chamber music, it presents neighbouring approaches in sound art, composer-performer practices, multimedia work and contemporary music theatre. Their eclectic and dynamic program takes into account diverse styles, generations and gender balance, aiming at a broad audience. Kontraklang thus not only displays the artistic diversity of contemporary music in Berlin and worldwide, but it actively supports and promotes it.
Wilde Westen
Wilde Westen is a multi-genre concert and festival organization in the south-west of Flandres (Belgium). It is active in the domains of classical music, contemporary music, jazz, pop, rock, non-western music and sound art. Wilde Westen organises 3 festivals, one sound art exhibition and numerous concerts per year (all together approx. 120 concerts per year). The three festivals are Sonic City (adventurous music festival curated by musicians), Flanders Festival Kortrijk (classical and composed contemporaray music) and Bos (multi-genre festival in a natural domain). Wilde Westen is the engine of an intense music experience in the Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai and attracted approx. 27.000 visitors in 2017. The activities are developed in close collaboration with regional and Flemish colleagues. Wilde Westen is also partner in trans-border and European networks.”