To Everyone Who Made Festival 2026 Possible

And just like that, another International Eressos Women’s Festival has come to an end. And what an extraordinary eleven days it has been!

To every woman who travelled to Skala Eressos to be part of this year’s festival — thank you. Whether this was your first time with us or whether returning to Eressos in September has become part of the rhythm of your year, we are so grateful that you chose to spend this time here with us.

This festival exists because people show up, take part, support one another, fill the venues, join the workshops, dance, laugh, listen, perform, volunteer, organise, create and contribute in countless different ways.

Our heartfelt thanks go to all of the artists, performers, workshop leaders, speakers, DJs, facilitators and contributors who shared their work, ideas, music, stories and energy with us this year.

We are equally grateful to the many local venues and businesses who once again worked alongside us and welcomed our festival community so warmly. The International Eressos Women’s Festival could not happen without the support of the village around us, and we never take that for granted.

And of course, a huge thank you goes to our volunteers, who gave their time, energy and patience throughout the festival and helped keep an enormous number of moving parts running each day.

Behind the scenes, there is another whole layer of work that makes these eleven days possible.

In particular, we want to recognise Liz for the enormous amount of work she has put into this year’s festival, coordinating and supporting so much of the programme and helping carry it from planning through to delivery. Alongside her, Lainy helped keep the office running throughout these very busy days, Sara coordinated our wonderful team of volunteers, and Funda kept our social media and communications moving throughout the festival. Thank you as well to Antonia and Luisa for all their help with our design and printing needs.

A huge thank you also goes to the people who helped bring so many of our activities to life: Tamsin, for organising the incredible Alternative Fashion Show, which raised valuable funds for the Animal Welfare Fund; Phenix, for accompanying our visitors on the wine tours; Helene, for sharing Eressos through the local walks she led; and Dr Rebecca, Rosie and Jo, for leading our bike rides, with the bikes kindly provided by Titos of Lesvos Ride. We are equally grateful to Nikki and Hayden of Black Rock Dive Center for organising this year’s snorkelling trips.

And a special thank you to Giannis, who took care of the sound for our lunchtime and early evening live performances across the village throughout the festival.

The spaces in which our daytime programme takes place are just as important. We are deeply grateful to the Eresos Tourism Association for once again giving us access to their conference room at the Town Hall, and to the new Sappho Community Center, formerly Sappho Palace, for making both their indoor and outdoor spaces available to us. Between them, these venues hosted the vast majority of this year’s workshops and daytime activities, and their support made an enormous part of the festival programme possible.

And then there is Cine Sappho Magicnights, the heart of our evening programme.

A very special thank you to Michelle and the wonderful Ohana Saloon crew, who ran the cinema bar throughout the festival and helped make our main venue feel so welcoming and lively each evening, and to our friends at HXW for taking care of our sound and lighting and helping bring the stage to life night after night.

There is always far more work behind a festival than anyone sees from the outside, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone who helped make these eleven days possible. So many wonderful people contribute in so many different ways that, if we have unintentionally missed anyone from these acknowledgements, please accept our sincere apologies — your contribution is no less appreciated.

This year has also reminded us just how much the festival continues to grow. With that growth come new challenges, new lessons and new responsibilities, and over the coming weeks we will be taking some time to reflect properly on this year — on what worked well, what we can improve, and how we continue to protect the spirit and character of this very special gathering as it develops.

For now, though, we simply want to say thank you.

Thank you for being here.
Thank you for supporting the festival.
Thank you for supporting Skala Eressos.
And thank you for continuing to make this community what it is.

We are already looking ahead to the next chapter, and we will announce the dates for the 2027 International Eressos Women’s Festival before the end of this month.

Until then, safe travels home to everyone still making their way back, and to those of you staying a little longer in Eressos — enjoy every last moment.

With love and enormous gratitude,

Ioanna & Wendy
Sappho Women