Dear PFF visitors,

I would like to share some thoughts about the Positive Futures Festival with you. Behind the festival is a team of music enthusiasts who get to know fascinating, and often unknown music acts, at the most diverse festivals in many different countries throughout the year. All these discoveries are compiled for the festival programme.

The result is the PFF, a festival for Outernational Music that takes place in various locations in Innsbruck. Our programme is not about genres or superstars. We offer a stage to underrepresented artists from various musical genres, countries and cultures. We see Outernational Music as a progressive, refreshing expression of a constantly changing world and we transcend perceived, metaphorical and real boundaries.

The PFF should become an international lighthouse for adventurous and inspiring art. It is very important to us to cooperate with creative collectives from Innsbruck and to offer young talents a platform as part of the festival. For 20265, we have invited EAT network, Talstation, Wissenschaft und Verantwortlichkeit (WuV), Theater präsent, as well as Kunst im öffentlichen Raum, Grund1535 and Bogengazette, to join us in organizing some evenings and content.

‘Empathy Over Opinion’ – our core message.  We live in a time in which nationalism, scapegoating and pigeonholing are the order of the day. We realize that we cannot change the world all at once.  However, if we start with ourselves and influence our environment through courage, empathy and open-mindedness towards unknown people from foreign countries and cultures, we are convinced that together we can move step by step towards a positive future.

What I would like to recommend for your visit to the Positive Futures Festival is something that has often brought me the most joy in my life: Embrace the unknown, new acts and performances, you will be surprised at what you experience.

Thank you to all the people involved in the festival, to our supporters and sponsors, to all the venues and those responsible for hosting us and to all the diverse sources of inspiration – without you, the Positive Futures Festival would not take place in this form.

I wish you a wonderful, eventful and inspiring festival. Stay open and curious.

On behalf of the entire PFF team.

Yours Martin

‘There is no teaching here, there is nothing to understand – only to feel.’

PFF Rabbit Hole System, or:

I can make a radio break

Communities cannot be created ad hoc. They don’t emerge on the drawing board, nor through calculation or algorithmic probability. They grow chaotically, meandering, digging burrows, and veering in unexpected directions. They charge themselves up, developing a mind and drive of their own.

charged up

had enough power and the drive

Rhizomes, fungi, and lichens have had their big moment in theoretical discourse in recent years, occupying a prominent position as metaphors for interconnectedness and relationality in art and society. In the case of the PFF, however, we prefer to stick with the image of an organically growing, ever-changing burrow. This burrow—let’s call it the PFF Rabbit Hole System—belongs to a polyphonic community and can be read in at least two ways. On the one hand, it drafts a topographical reimagining of our city, where creative and subculturally vital spaces have been eroding at a terrifying pace for several years now, but whose remaining venues must be marked all the more forcefully with permanent visibility. On the other hand, the PFF Rabbit Hole System maps out a lineup that—yours truly! ^[1] —is distinguished by a pronounced outernationality, outlining a polyphonic cartography of cultural and artistic practices.

fade into my choral grin

I am a trumpet and I have arrived

For the fourth edition of the PFF, we are leaning into collaborations more than ever and temporarily nesting in several rabbit holes that have never served as festival venues before. This year, for the first time, we are teaming up with Theater praesent, where the opening day of PFF will feature the latest play by last year’s salon guest, Thomas Köck. Another exciting first is the PFF Residency: together with Grund1535, we have invited the artist Rafaele Andrade. She will be working on new material in Rietz throughout October, presenting it both there and at the PFF. We are also featuring further collabs with KÖR, the EAT Network, and the Vienna-based collective Southgemacht, who will host one of their legendary Ausländer Haus! parties on the final night of the PFF. Alongside Clar Gallistl, we will reflect on our superpowers^[2] in the newly established PFF Sprechstunde. We will take over the Stadtbibliothek with the PFF Salon, where Sam Zamrik and Andreas Oberprantacher will discuss polyphony and the act of listening in a “messy world”. The new Bogengazette will be presented at Kulturbogen55 as part of the PFF, and—highlight, I swear!—PFF goes Schwarzmanderkirche.

I can make a radio

The PFF Rabbit Hole System is in full swing: We look to Mauritania and Northern Uganda, tuning into Griot Desert Blues and Gqom Industrial Afrofuturism. We look to the Levant and the Arab soundscape, opening our ears to Beirut Noise Rock and Avant-garde Shaabi. We look to more peripheral European regions, opening up to Minimalist Drone Folk from the Auvergne, Crank Wave Hypno Kraut from Lisbon, or Dream Pop Neo Flamenco from Alicante. We look to British countercultures, getting excited for Deconstructed Post Club, Queer Cabaret Rave, and Dark Industrial Ritual. We watch Murnau’s Nosferatu accompanied by a Southern Gothic Chamber Duo live score. We look to Ukraine and reimagine Hildegard von Bingen through Medieval Modular Mysticism.

I can make a radio break ^[3]

In this spirit: Welcome to PFF 2026.

Renate Plieseis

^[1]  This is how the cultural magazine komplex attested to us in 2025: “a lineup like a slap in the face.” We love it!

^[2]  Clar Gallistl: Soft Power, Vienna: Wasser Publishing, 2026.

^[3] Circuit des Yeux: “Canopy of Eden”, in: Halo On The Inside, 2025.

The Positive Futures Festival is planned and implemented according to the criteria of Green Events Tirol basic. All events are barrier-free accessible except the performance on Thursday Oct 15th at Pfarre Mariahilf and the concerts on Friday Oct 23rd and Saturday Oct 24th at Bartibae / St. Bartlmä 3.

Your contribution: Environment-friendly travel for a positive future. All venues can be reached by public transport and bicycle parking spaces are available.

Discounts apply to all visitors under the age of 25 as part of our presale. Free access to all events for holders of the Culture Pass Hunger for Art and Culture. Information on this can be found at https://www.hungeraufkunstundkultur.at .

Our catering for musicians and team consists of vegetarian and vegan food, which we procure locally and regionally as much as possible. Only reusable bottles, cutlery and cups are used for catering and serving.

If you have any questions about accessibility or anything else, please contact Martin Bleicher, info@positive-futures.at or call +43-664-5298718.

BE KIND. BE RESPECTFUL. BE SAFE.

The Positive Futures Festival is a shared space where we come together to celebrate music, art, and community. We are committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment for everyone. We have a zero-tolerance policy for harassment, discrimination, or violence of any kind.

REMEMBER TO:

Be Respectful. Treat everyone with kindness and honour boundaries.

Ask First. Consent is mandatory for any physical interaction.

Speak Up. If you see or experience something that makes you or someone else uncomfortable, tell us.

Cherish the Experience. Disruptive behaviour that interferes with the enjoyment or safety of others is not acceptable.

REPORTING:

Find a Staff Team member (in identifiable t-shirts) or Security.

We are here to listen without judgement.

To keep this festival safe and welcoming, anyone engaging in unacceptable behaviour may be asked to leave.