Through art and activism, the European Capital of Culture will round out the programmes dedicated to women’s creativity within the Heroines programme arch, in honour of Milca Tomić from Novi Sad – Serbian politician, editor and activist.

From 6 to 12 June, today’s heroines will show through various artistic expressions not only the influences of feminism at the international level and its legacy, but today’s struggle for a better position of women. Among them are European, regional and local musicians, actresses, writers, journalists, entrepreneurs and filmmakers.

Musician and presenter Ida Prester, designer Andrijana Vešović, better known as Zombijana, writers Tanja Stupar Trifunović and Ivana Maksić, bands Elemental and Pretty Loud, journalists Jovana Gligorijević, Vanja Đurić and many others, along with the Film Festival of Female Authors and Women’s Bazaar, will transform the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina and the bookstore Bulevar Books in the space for dialogue on the advancement of women within Autonomous Festival of Women – the first feminist festival in Novi Sad.

Female prose writers, poets, literary critics and editors in publishing houses will join the Heroines at the Zenith festival in the Zenit Books bookstore, and among them are Ognjenka Lakićević, Anamarija Grbić, Jelena Marinkov, Jelena Žugić, Maja Solar, Sonja Jankov, Mirjana Novaković, Ana Vucković, Katarina Mitrović , Nina Savčić, Andrea Popov Miletić, Sonja Veselinović, Aleksandra Rašić, Bojana Denić and Ljubica Pupezin. The Serbian National Theatre will be the meeting place of our renowned actresses Jasna Đuričić, Gordana Đurđević Dimić and Nataša Ninković, who will play the heroines of our past Marija Trandafil, Milica Stojadinović Srpkinja, Milica Tomić and Mileva Marić Einstein. They will answer questions to journalists Vesna Farkaš, Nataša Raketić and Aleksandra Popović from the perspective of the roles they play, within the ‘Journalists Ask the Heroines’ project.

Theatre in the Service of Equality

‘A Lullaby for Aleksija Rajčić’, a play about the inequality of women and the search for freedom on the other side of the law, was performed at the Serbian National Theatre. The play, based on the text by Đorđe Kosić, directed by Jug Đorđević, reveals patriarchal matrices and the cowardice that hides behind them. The Novi Sad Theatre also joined the Heroines programme arch with the play ‘When God Kicks You in the Belly’, written by Lovas Ildikó, directed by Urbán András.

Female Activism through Visual Art

Around one hundred women from ten partner countries participated in the creation of the concept and materials for the multimedia exhibition on the history of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Europe (WLM), which will be housed in the Archives of Vojvodina. The exhibition travels to partner cities and presents some of the most important events, women’s organizations, social milestones, biographies of famous and unknown marginalized women. The event is part of the ‘Rewomen – European Women’s Memory’, which includes a two-day international conference on ‘Legacy of the Movement for the Liberation of Women’.

The exhibition ‘Zero Tolerance towards Violence against Women – World Biennale of Student Posters’ awaits us at the Svilara Cultural Station and the Republic Square. The exhibition will not leave space for silence and turning our heads away from this important topic. Implemented by the Novi Sad Academy of Arts, the exhibition presents the works of young designers from art faculties, who gave their answer to one of the most problematic issues of women’s rights.

We remind you that the ‘Vila’ festival in Vrdnik, in our oldest national park, was implemented for the first time within the Heroines programme arch. Six more exhibitions were opened in mid-May in the most important cultural institutions in Novi Sad, which you can still visit: ‘The Partisan and Fragonard: Collection of JovankA Broz’ in the Gallery of Matica Srpska, ‘Heroines of the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection’, ‘Feminist Avant Garde’ in the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, ‘Shawl as a Cultural Marker’ in the Museum of Vojvodina, ‘Female Thread’ by Atelje 61 in the Creative District, ‘From a Female Perspective in Sremski Karlovci’, and many more programmes.

Partner of the Heroines programme arch is Erste Bank.

Photo: Marko Pudić, Vladimir Veličković