Workshop on Audience Development per MIOB – Moving Images Open Borders

MIOB – Moving Images Open Borders is an association of seven European Cinema Festivals, active since 2017 and co-funded by the Creative Europe Media programme for the purpose of developing strategies for sustainable, long-term cooperation.

The association member festivals differ in terms of size and location (they are based in Austria, France, Germany, Lithuania, Italy, Serbia and Spain), but share numerous approaches as regards audience targets and artistic direction. They therefore saw MIOB as an opportunity to work on common denominators to promote themselves and improve the quality of their offering.

MIOB has several objectives, including promoting and circulating European films, supporting young talent, spreading European values and cultivating audience development strategies.

In order to work on the latter, the association decided to rely on BAM! for support to balance the member festivals’ different levels of audience development expertise and to outline useful methods and tools for working individually and as a network.

BAM! responded to this need by organising a one-day in-person workshop for all the MIOB festivals gathered at the Trieste Film Festival: a festival that is part of the association.

The meeting was preceded by discussions with the network to outline objectives and map the characteristics of the participants. On site, after an initial theoretical part to align skill levels and establish a common vocabulary, the priority targets and available resources were explored through individual and group exercises.
The work concluded with a final recap and discussion among the various participants, which was then encapsulated in a final report delivered to the association.