What to See & Do
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Lublin is a city of culture, the most important centre of cultural life in Eastern Poland.
Lublin’s culture is unique and inclusive, authentic and original, since it is rooted in the local context. It is characterised by participation and diversity, encounters of different cultures, religions and ideas, motivating inhabitants to discover themselves, other people and the world. Lublin’s culture also represents the most important phenomena of Polish and global culture.
Let us introduce you some of the Lublin's greatest festivals.
The Scenes from Shakespeare in English Festival was created in 1999. Every year, teenagers from all over Poland stage 5- to 20-minute-long monologues, dialogues or group performances based on Shakespeare’s timeless works. The winners of the Grand Prix go to England for a week and see plays in two most famous Shakespearian theatres in the world: the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon and The Globe Theatre in London. The festival also goes with two fixed accompanying events. One is a poster competition for the most interesting poster made by the participants and a knowledge quiz for the audience and participants on the life and work of William Shakespeare. The subjects covered vary from year to year, and the prize is always a surprise.
RATIONE FORTES FOUNDATION, KING KAZIMIERZ THE GREAT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL and HIGH SCHOOL IN LUBLIN
Sentimental Metamorphoses is an all-Poland festival that covers, next to music events, meetings with authors, panel discussions, exhibitions, screenings and other artistic action. The event reviews the contemporary status of original songs and is dedicated to the memory and output of the great Polish bard Jacek Kaczmarski. The festival also promotes sung poetry and its performers. Subsequent editions broach the most topical social issues. It is a unique meeting place that attracts several generations of artists and audiences. Sentimental Metamorphoses is prepared and fully orchestrated by the students and alumni of Nicolaus Copernicus 9th High School in Lublin who volunteer for culture. The festival has been around since 2012. Its main organisers are the Alumni Association of Nicolaus Copernicus 9th High School in Lublin in cooperation with Maria Curie-Skłodowska University and the Chatka Żaka Academic Culture Centre. Several dozen artists have performed at the festival to date, including Renata Przemyk, Maciej Maleńczuk, Paweł Domagała, Marek Piekarczyk, Raz Dwa Trzy.
The Lublin Jazz Festival is region’s largest international artistic event featuring diverse forms of contemporary jazz music. From its very beginning, the idea of the festival has been to show off the most interesting Polish and world jazz music projects pursued by the most outstanding jazz personalities, from the mainstream to improvised music, as well as young and emerging artists. The festival also spawns special music projects that have not been performed before in any other place. The organisers also seek to offer space for education and integration of the jazz fraternity. Some of the guest stars have been, among others: Tomasz Stańko, Michał Urbaniak, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Mikołaj Trzaska, Marcin Masecki, John Scofield, The Ex, Ken Vandermark, Dave Douglas, Hamid Drake, Jazzanova, Ravi Coltrane, Mike Stern, Randy Brecker, Steve Smith, Victor Wooten, Satoko Fujii, Marilyn Mazur, Jimi Tenor, Manu Katché, Peter Brötzmann, Viktor Tóth, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Dennis Chambers, Marc Ribot, Bill Evans, and many others.
CENTRE FOR CULTURE IN LUBLIN
• + 48 81 466 61 09
• www.lublinjazz.pl
The festival draws much of its inspiration from the culture of the nobility, or from the sources of “living history.” During the festival, Lubliners and tourists get acquainted with the best of early culture, with particular emphasis on the local assets of the Lublin Renaissance. The International Renaissance Festival is a several-day encounter with dance, music, and theatre of the Jagiellonian and other past eras. The workshop sessions, lectures and guided tours take the participants back to Lublin’s golden eraand help (re-) discover city’s locations linked to the Renaissance. It is also an opportunity to meet the aficionados and practitioners of court dances, music, and theatre, including commedia dell’arte. The event is intended for locals and tourists who wish to take a leap into the Golden Age of Lublin.
BELRIGUARDO FOUNDATION: A WINDOW TO HISTORY AND ARTS
• +48 505 144 265
• fundacja@belriguardo.pl
• www.belriguardo.pl
The Night of Culture inspires both Lubliners and tourists to explore the charm of the city by artistically enlivening its main streets as well as back alleys, its less prominent districts and somewhat forgotten squares. During this special Night Lublin does not sleep as its residents‘ cultural sensibilities are reawakened, encouraging even the most passive and culture-wary of inhabitants to be active, to stay awake and be day and night receptive to artistic and cultural initiatives. During the Night of Culture all Lublin’s cultural institutions throw their doors wide open, offering not just free but also specially commissioned events to cultural night-crawlers walking the city’s streets till the early hours of the morning. Lublin’s cityscape – its urban setting – becomes the Night’s number one stage, where world-famous theatres share spotlight with buskers, and where symphonic music be- comes intertwined with jazz, folk, rock and dance-inducing electronica. Anything can happen and everything happens: concerts on rooftops, in courtyards and in squares, performances and happenings in backstreets, visual art in the city’s main artery, theatre plays in Old Town’s gates or in the city’s fountains, fashion shows on the stairs leading to public insti tutions, drive-in cinemas, film screenings in the parking lot of the City Hall. All the events – rising in numbers every year – attract tens of thousands of visitors.
The Different Sounds Art’n’Music Festival is a meeting of world-class artists that represent various nationalities and practise diverse music styles. The organisers scout rock, reggae, electro and the classical musicians. What inspires the Festival programmers the most is the liminal space where genres, traditions and cultural influences overlap. For that reason, they provide the original, premium artistic quality and unforgettable aesthetic experiences. So far the Festival’s line-up has included the following artists: Einstürzende Neubauten, Goldfrapp, Tony Allen, Asian Dub Foundation, Yat-Kha, The Tiger Lilies. Equally inspiring is the Festival’s very name – the idea of the „East of Culture” that enables to bring to Lublin the most exciting acts from among others countries such as Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia. Focused on music, the Festival is a multi-disciplinary event: apart from concerts, there are organised debates concerning European identity, workshops and exhibitions as well as a special “Little Different Sounds” programme dedicated to children.
The Lublin Land Art Festival is a project promoting and disseminating the most valuable output of Polish and world contemporary art, specifically alluding to human-nature relations. This type of initiative opens up new possibilities of artistic production in the natural setting and in public space. Besides, the event promotes the Lublin region as a place that is attractive and friendly to people, arts, and culture. The event has its international dimension: it offers an artist in residence programme for individuals pursuing various disciplines of visual arts, such as: land art, film, photography, design, performance, or landscaping. The subsequent editions take place in various locations across the Lublin region. The invited artists have completed several dozen original projects so far, including in such sites as Kazimierz Dolny, the Polish-Ukrainian border, Zwierzyniec, Józefów, Roztoczański National Park. Since 2015, some of the festival events have been held in the Podlasie Bug River Gorge Landscape Park.
FLYING FISH FOUNDATION, MARSHAL’S OFFICE OF LUBELSKIE
• +48 604 234 276
• +48 605 602 567
• fundacjaryba@gmail.com
• www.landart.lubelskie.pl
In the early 1980s, a local folk community held an event that aimed to exhibit folk song and dance traditions from various countries. It was 1984 when the first Lublin Folklore Days were inaugurated featuring local and foreign folk performers. The keen interest of the audience and very positive feedback from the participating artists encouraged the organisers to continue the project. Since 1994, the festival has been managed by the Lublin Song and Dance Ensemble which is responsible for the programming and technical support. The event is held under the auspices of CIOFF® – the International Council of Organisations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts – and is ranked among the most important projects of this type in our country. The programme is alternated each year with
a view to presenting either adult or children performances. The festival celebrations also take place outdoors and branch into Nałęczów, Włodawa, and Biała Podlaska. Some concerts are also held in the Lublin Old Town. Special performances, often by very exotic groups, are also staged for the child audience in the University Children’s Hospital in Lublin. The agenda of the event is also filled with dance and music workshop sessions where young artists learn Polish music, folk and national dances and show off their skills in the final gala concert.
WANDA KANIOROWA LUBLIN SONG AND DANCE ENSEMBLE
• +48 81 532 78 43
• kaniorowcy@lublin.net.pl
• www.zpit.lublin.pl
The Carnaval Sztukmistrzów Festival has become a magnet for performers from all over the world, not only performing circus-theatre spectacles but conducting workshops as well, dedicated to the experienced professionals and aspiring beginners. The Festival features The Urban Highline – the biggest slackline festival in the world. Inspired by the figure of the Magician of Lublin – the title character of Noble Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novel, the Carnaval is the biggest and the most important New Circus festival in this part of Europe.
The Central Playground is a summertime fun, social and cultural education hub. It is an interdisciplinary project that creates an attractive space for various educational, cultural, and artistic activities owing to the contribution of various city groups. Besides bringing people together, the initiative promotes and develops a creative, productive and active approach to leisure coupled with cultural and artistic education. The project occupies the area at the Centre for Culture in Lublin, Plac im. Lecha Kaczyńskiego, with adjacent
playgrounds and plazas, as well as the centre’s inner yard. Everyone is welcome to join the fun, shows, workshop activities, screenings, concerts, and events for children, youth, adults, and seniors.
CENTRE FOR CULTURE IN LUBLIN
• + 48 81 466 61 09
• www.ck.lublin.pl
The Jagiellonian Fair is the time when traditional culture is presented by the goods of music, singing and dance. Featuring concerts of both traditional music and music inspired by the heritage of past generations, the event involves dance nights where obereks, mazurkas and polkas are crucial as well as the exhibitions that show folk and the neo-folk artists. The Jagiellonian Fair is a chance to meet numerous artists, artisans, craftspeople from Central and Eastern Europe. Working closely with the top ethnologists, the organisers of the Jagiellonian Fair invite long-time practitioners and artists inspired by the folk art.