The season a festival opens on

A festival with several seasons has to open on one of them. Until now that was always the newest one. You can now star a season instead, and the festival opens there for everybody in your organization.

It is one star per festival, set from the season switcher in the top bar, and it takes about two seconds.

Where the star is

The season switcher is the second button in the top bar of every festival screen — the one showing the season's name beside the festival's. Open it and each season in the list carries a star at its right-hand end:

• Press a hollow star to make that season the default. Any star that was filled goes hollow at the same moment — a festival has one default, not several.
• Press the filled star to clear it. The festival goes back to opening on its newest season, which is where it started.
• The star does not navigate. Pressing it sets the default and leaves you where you are; the season's name is the link, exactly as before.

Hovering a star says which of the two it will do — "Open this festival on this season." on a hollow one, "Opens this festival. Press to clear." on the filled one.

Who can set it

The same people who can add a season: organization owners and organization admins. If you cannot see + Add new season at the bottom of the switcher, you have no stars either.

Everybody else still gets the behaviour. A coordinator, a programmer or a viewer opening the festival lands on the starred season like everyone else — they simply have nothing to press. There is no read-only star and nothing announces which season is the default to them; it shows in where the festival opens.

Where it takes effect

Every way into a festival honours the star, including signing in when that lands you on a festival. There is no route that still opens the newest season while a star is set:

• Signing in, when you can open only one festival. Whatever your account is for, that festival opens on its starred season. With two or more you land on your organization's Overview instead, and the star decides where each festival opens from the switcher and the Festivals list. See Where you land after logging in.
• The festival switcher in the top bar — every festival's row goes to that festival's starred season.
• The Festivals list at the bottom of the left navigation on your organization's screens. See Your festivals list.
• Your organization's own address, /org/<organization>, which is what the Organizations rows in your account menu use — when you can open only one festival there; with two or more it opens the Overview. See Working in two organizations.

The Overview does not use the star. It lists every season still underway — not Completed or Archived — as a row of its own, and each row opens that season. See Your organization's Overview.

What it does not change is any address you already have. Every season keeps its own permanent address and every link and bookmark you have saved still opens exactly the season it names. The star decides where the unaddressed routes above take you, and nothing else.

What happens to an archived season

A starred season that is archived is ignored, and the festival opens on its newest season again. It is not un-starred: archived seasons leave the switcher anyway, so a star on one would point at a page missing from your own dropdown.

Un-archive it and it is the default again, with nothing to re-press. The star was never thrown away — it was only overlooked while the season was out of the way.

See Archive the season.

Things worth knowing

• One default per festival, and it belongs to the festival rather than to you. A colleague sees the season you starred, and starring a different one replaces your choice with theirs. The last press wins, with no warning and no conflict to resolve.
• A festival with one season can be starred, and the result is the same either way. Harmless, and it stops the control disappearing and reappearing as seasons come and go.
• A refusal is silent. If your access changed while the switcher was open, the star simply does not move and nothing is said. Reload the page.
• Nothing else about a season changes. Starring is not opening, closing, archiving or completing anything — a Completed season can be the default if that is genuinely where your team's work is.
• This is not a personal setting. There is no "always open me on this season" of your own, and no per-person override.

Related guides

• Logging in — where each kind of account lands.
• Your organization's Overview — where you land with two or more festivals, and which lists every season underway.
• The Season overview — the dashboard a festival opens on.
• Finishing setup — what that dashboard adds while the season is still a draft.
• Season and festival actions — starting the next season, and archiving a finished one.
• Your festivals list — the other list that follows the star.
• Working in two organizations — where each organization's row takes you.