Leading up to the title year when Novi Sad will become the European Capital of Culture, the fourth International Festival ‘Synergy WTF’ will be organised in the Novi Sad Theatre – Újvidéki Színház from 6 until 12 December, within which the audience will have a chance to see the plays by professional theatre troupes from Germany, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia.
Valentin Vencel, director of the Novi Sad Theatre – Újvidéki Színház, stressed the importance of the ‘Synergy WTF’ festival of linguistic, ethnic and other minorities and added that it nurtures the real European values, that the ‘Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture’ project nurtures as well.
‘Synergy was first envisaged as a festival in which professional theatre troupes will participate, creating an authentic artistic expression by acting in the language of the minority community in the country they come from. However, through several editions, the concept of the festival has naturally expanded and reshaped, and productions that deal with certain minority issues, although not performed by minority theatres, are warmly welcomed on Synergy’s programme,’ said Vencel.
Dalibor Rožić, the member of the City Council in charge of culture, said that the title year will mark the jubilee – five years of the ‘Synergy WTF’ festival within which the whole development process of the festival will be sublimated, representing the best offer of minority theatres from the whole world.
‘Everything that has been done through the implementation of the festival so far contributes to the promotion of the values our city traditionally nurtures, in the sense that the multinational environment has been opened and respects the highest standards of the European cultural policies,’ stressed Rožić.
The ‘Synergy’ project was part of the candidacy of Novi Sad for the European Capital of Culture 2022. Lazar Jovanov, Head of the Curators’ Department of the ‘Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture’ project stressed that it is of great pleasure to monitor the development of the project since 2016 when Novi Sad ran for this significant title.
Without false modesty, the Synergy project was remarked as one of the most significant programmes in the title year by the independent experts, since it promotes the values of the European Union, which are the main principles and cultural policies of Novi Sad, i.e. values of multiculturality, intercultural dialogue and promotions of the minority creative process as an inseparable part of the city’s identity,’ said Jovanov.
In addition to theatre plays, the programme of the festival will be enriched by the performance of the group ‘Kal Rock ‘N’ Roma’, and a meeting of the International Association of Minority Theatres, whose goal is to ‘network’ minority theatres and artists from different parts of the world, will be held.
Next year, the festival will be organised within the programme arch ‘Other? Europe’, whose task is to discover different, alternative, marginalised, minority, and rebellious expressions by reassessing dominant values in European culture and art. Some of the main programmes bring inclusive events with the focus on creative work by marginalised groups (Superpowered), present new forms of comic books (The Comic Book City) and introduce rich alternative, minority, avant-garde genres, languages and terms.
You can see the detailed programme of the festival on the official website of the Novi Sad Theatre – Újvidéki Színház.
