GrassrEUts, a transnational cultural cooperation project, has successfully concluded, giving promising musicians the opportunity to perform at renowned international festivals, including EXIT in Serbia, Sea Star in Croatia, Sziget in Hungary, NOS Alive in Portugal and Jazz à Carthage in Tunisia. Alongside showcasing new musical voices through audience voting, the project placed a strong emphasis on sustainability and social inclusion.
Launched in November 2024 with the support of the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, GrassrEUts aimed to promote music from Europe and neighbouring countries on international stages. The project connected diverse local music scenes and festivals, while also involving Ukrainian artists through the Music Saves Ukraine initiative, helping them strengthen their international presence and continue their artistic work despite the challenges they face.
At the heart of GrassrEUts was a multi-stage music competition designed to showcase new musical voices from Europe and neighbouring regions. The competition began in 2025 with national selections, in which five acts from each participating country were chosen to perform at a local festival. At EXIT 2025, the selected artists were Luke Black, Naked, Tebra, Lanna and Innēr Sense.
A key feature of the process was its community-driven approach: audiences voted for the winners of the national competitions, determining which acts would go on to perform at international festivals. Participants could also win festival tickets by sharing ideas for improving inclusion and sustainability.
Following the national selections, two standout acts from each country were given the opportunity to perform at international festivals within the partner network during 2026. These performances introduced their music to new audiences and helped them further develop their careers. This year, Luke Black, Serbia’s representative at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, performed at Sziget, while Innēr Sense, a Belgrade-based multi-genre techno project, appeared at Tunisia’s Jazz à Carthage Festival.
At Croatia’s Sea Star Festival, the Hungarian shoegaze/post-rock band Sonya and Portuguese artist Libra took to the stage. At Jazz à Carthage in Tunisia, alongside Innēr Sense, the project also featured Mão Cabeça, a Portuguese band whose sound moves between alternative indie rock and indie pop. At Portugal’s NOS Alive, performers included Sonya, Maria Lui, a Ukrainian singer and music producer, and Saya Noé, a Hungarian-Malaysian singer-songwriter and producer who blends alternative pop and electronic music. At Sziget, alongside Luke Black, the line-up featured Libra and Illbucks, a Tunisian rapper, singer, songwriter and producer whose work combines hip-hop, rap, R&B and jazz. Also performing were Yarima, an independent Ukrainian R&B artist, and Soudeni, a Tunisian performer who blends pop, disco, dream pop, traditional Tunisian sounds and contemporary Arab influences.
GrassrEUts also addressed current challenges in improving festival sustainability, drawing on the expertise of KUN Centre for Equality and Diversity in the fields of inclusion and gender equality.
The project brought together the following partner organisations and their respective platforms and festivals: EXIT Foundation (EXIT Festival), Serbia; Sziget Kulturális Menedzser Iroda Zrt. (Sziget Festival), Hungary; Everything Is New (NOS Alive), Portugal; Scoop Organisation (Jazz à Carthage), Tunisia; Ukrainian Association of Music Events (Music Saves Ukraine), Ukraine; and KUN Centre for Equality and Diversity, Norway.
