FEATS

Festival of European Anglophone Theatrical Societies

Selection procedure

Notepad

The Feats rules lay down the selection procedure, which ensures that the process is objective. Taken over a number of years each group has an equal chance of being invited; but in any given year certain groups have priority. Here’s how it works in practice.

Eligibility

Any amateur drama group based in continental Europe may ask to join the Feats community. New groups (groups that have never been involved in the festival before) are required to attend Feats and to contribute to the fringe before being considered eligible. (See Taking Part.)

In what follows, the term eligible denotes all groups that form the Feats community, and which may be accepted to perform in the main Feats festival. A complete list of eligible groups (presented in alphabetical order) can be consulted here.

Invitations

Invitations are sent out in two stages.

  1. As soon as feasible after the end of each festival (in practice, usually during July or August) next year’s host group contacts all eligible groups in the community to ask if they wish to be considered for invitation to Feats the following year. This is often known as the “expression of interest letter”, although inevitably it is now sent by e-mail. Groups that reply positively receive a follow-up (stage 2).
  2. Usually in August/September the host group contacts all groups that have expressed an interest and invites them formally to state their intention of taking part in next year’s Feats should they be selected.

Stage 1 serves to eliminate those groups that have no wish to participate in the next Feats, thereby simplifying stage 2 by reducing the number of groups to be considered.

The selection table

The selection table lists those groups that answer “yes” to the second stage of the invitation procedure. The order of the list is determined on the basis of a rota, with those groups that have performed in the festival most recently at the bottom. The table is maintained within the Feats Management System (FMS), which takes into consideration not only performances in the previous festival, but also in the four years before that. So for a year x, a group that took part in year x−1 but not in x−2 would be ranked above a group that had taken part in both years.

There are two exceptions to the application of the rota system:

  1. The previous year’s host group – assuming it wishes to participate – is automatically placed at the top of the table.
  2. Any new groups are placed after the previous year’s host but ahead of the groups selected in accordance with the rota.

Once the table has been sorted according to these criteria it is presented to the Feats steering committee for approval. The committee will identify:

  1. The first twelve groups in the list, who are automatically selected to perform.
  2. The next six in the list, who are named as reserves.

The host group contacts the selected groups confirming their selection and requesting payment of the entry fee and performance bond. At the same time it contacts the reserve groups, asking them if they are willing to be considered as reserves. Should any selected groups decline at this stage they will be replaced by the groups placed highest in the reserve list. (Reserves will also be asked to replace any group that drops out at a later date.)

List maintenance

Groups that have not responded to any of the invitation requests over a period of three years are struck off the list. Exceptions may be made where there is some knowledge that the group may still be active and where it is supposed that the failure to react may be the result of an oversight or a communication problem. In such cases the steering committee and/or the host committee will attempt to contact the group by other means (a contact form on its website, for example) to ascertain whether the group still wants to be associated with Feats.

This page is intended to explain and clarify how the Feats rules on the selection of participants are implemented. It should not be taken as binding, and in case of any discrepancy between this information and the Feats rules, the latter must be considered authoritative.