Welcome to the Events and Festivals Professional Excellence Framework. This framework represents the culmination of extensive research, consultation, and collaboration between academic and industry experts.
Our aim is to create something that truly reflects the diversity of roles, contexts, and professional pathways in our field. This version of the framework is therefore being presented as a beta version for public consultation.
We want your thoughts, your perspectives, and your experiences to help refine it further. Please take this as both a welcome and an open invitation to contribute to shaping a global standard for professional excellence in events and festivals.
EVENTS AND FESTIVALS PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE FRAMEWORK (EF-PEF)
SUBMIT YOUR FEEDBACK FOR THE EF-PEF PUBLIC CONSULTATION
We have produced a short video to introduce you to the BETA framework and it’s different parts. We’d love for you to take the time to review the entire framework carefully and share your thoughts.
Start by going through all the slides — the presentation begins with a top-level overview before unpacking each part of the framework in more detail. Some of the diagrams contain fine detail, so you may need to zoom in. To make this easier, we’ll also provide a downloadable PDF version, available here.
We welcome all types of feedback — from high-level reflections to specific suggestions. For example, you might want to: Highlight areas where content could be expanded or clarified; Suggest missing topics or alternative terminology; Comment on the overall design and usability; Share ideas on how the framework might be applied in practice; Or simply let us know how useful you think it will be for your organisation or role.
Every piece of feedback helps us improve. We’ll also honour those who contribute by acknowledging their input in our published methodology — unless you prefer to remain anonymous. This consultation is a genuine invitation to co-create a shared professional language for excellence across the global events and festivals sector.
Currently, there’s no single international or cross-sector professional development framework that resonates across the entire events and festivals ecosystem. Existing frameworks tend to focus on particular sectors, subjects, or regions, meaning they lack global coherence and inclusivity.
Similarly, there’s no professional recognition or reward system that operates internationally and across sectors. This gap has made it difficult to benchmark excellence, recognise progression, and design consistent development pathways.
The CEF Professional Excellence Framework aims to change that. It provides the foundation for CEF’s forthcoming Fellowship System, launching in 2026, which will include five fellowship levels: Associate Fellow, Fellow, Senior Fellow, National Fellow, and International Fellow.
Beyond that, the framework will underpin every CEF course, resource, and initiative, ensuring that all our work is explicitly mapped to defined professional competencies. This will help individuals and organisations identify development needs and plan training with clarity.
From 2026, we’ll also introduce a series of “professional lenses.” These will honour the diversity of roles across the events and festivals industry — from planners and producers to strategists and policymakers — showing how each role maps onto the framework.
CEF is uniquely positioned to deliver this work, supported by a world-class international and cross-sector advisory board that integrates deep expertise from both academia and industry. Together, we’re building a robust, future-facing framework for professional growth, recognition, and excellence.
