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Frans Timmermans confirmed for opening keynote at ESNS 2022

Frans Timmermans is confirmed for the opening keynote speech at the ESNS 2022 conference. As Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Timmermans is responsible for the Green Deal. The Green Deal is one of the topics Timmermans will address in his opening keynote. As ESNS underwrites that sustainability is no longer just a buzzword and holds it as an important policy focus festival-wide, Timmermans will dive deeper into taking green steps going forward, for the music industry. 

This aligns with the theme of the ESNS 2022 conference, Building Back Better Together. After almost two years of regulations around the pandemic, it is time to look forward and focus on how we can build the live industry back better, together.

Among other newly announced speakers and panels that will join the conference line-up, are: Mark Mulligan (MIDiA Research) will be speaking about the creator economy in ‘Slicing the Music Industry Funnel’; Music Moves Europe Awards nominee BLANKS joins Bandcamp, Erasmus University and Tunecore in ‘Why are fans loyal anyway?’; and ‘NFT’s: hype or future of the music industry’, with Colin Benders (Kyteman). Pepijn Lanen (Faberyayo of De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig) is one of the panellists of ‘How to build a family friendly music industry’. IMPALA’s Helen Smith will discuss the RAAP court ruling;  The impact of COVID-19 on the 2022 Festival Season with Marta Pallares (Primavera), Codruta Vulcu (ARTmania), Paul Reed (AIF), Christof Huber (Yourope) and Stephan Thanscheidt (FKP Scorpio). At ESNS 2022 we will talk about how Brexit affects the music market, Europe’s Green New Deal as well as accessibility and inclusion. ESNS invited inspiring people dedicated to diversity within the music industry; Freyja Lawson, Sakina Saouti, Malle Kaas and Kobi Ampoma will join the Omroep Zwart panel ‘Diversity in the backstage’. In collaboration with Erasmus University we introduce ESNS Science talking about the resilience of people and companies in the sector.

Previously, ESNS announced a keynote interview with longtime record executive Merck Mercuriadis by Helienne Lindvall, as well as a keynote address by Urgenda director and ‘leading global thinker’ Marjan Minnesma, while Anne Löhr will be running the Mental Health Help Desk and Heather Shaw and Cortney Harding tell all about the Metaverse.

Due to the uncertainty around the COVID-19 regulations, we are moving some of the panels and keynotes to ESNS 2023, which includes the keynote interviews with Sub Pop’s Pavitt & Poneman, Peter Weening (Vera), Matt Schwarz (DreamHaus) and André de Raaff. Our focus on Spain will also be postponed to 2023, as ESNS wants to guarantee the quality that the showcase festival and conference is known for.

ESNS takes place – entirely online – from January 19 – 22, 2022. Tickets for the digital conference are available for €99,- via www.esns.nl/tickets. The festival will be available – free of charge – with sessions recorded by Dutch broadcaster NTR in collaboration with NPO 3FM, to be broadcast by NPO 3FM, NPO 3 and the digital festival platform, hosted by VPRO 3VOOR12.

About ESNS
ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) is the key exchange for emerging European music talent, with a proven track record of helping to break new acts on the international music scene, with now well-known names such as Alma, Altin Gün, Arlo Parks, Aurora, Black Country, New Road, Celeste, Dua Lipa, Fontaines D.C., girl in red, Hinds, Idles, Mavi Phoenix, Meduza, Melanas, Oscar and the Wolf, Pip Blom, Podium, Pongo, Shame and Sigrid.
The conference side of the event attracts more than 4,000 entertainment industry professionals from all sections of the industry, including representatives of over 400 European festivals. Each year, ESNS stages more than 350 showcases all over the city of Groningen as well as offering a comprehensive and focused conference programme of around 150 panels and keynotes, alongside multiple networking opportunities.


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