What to See & Do
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.
JANUARY
A weekly series of open meetings invented and, at its early stage, curated by Krzysztof Varga who rested his idea on a conviction that, “it is not a meteorite or global warming or lack of crude oil that we should see as a threat, but it is the death of literature and culture supplanted by popular entertainment.” The discussions revolve around new book releases and current cultural events and phenomena. The invited speakers are outstanding authors and local and national culture personalities who attempt to define and help the audience understand the arts and culture reality. All the meetings are videoed and available on-line at: video.teatrstary.eu
Host: Old Theatre
Actors and actresses are invited to share their literary passions and read out fragments of their own "tables of contents". So far we have invited: Irena Jun, Stanisława Celińska, Jan Peszek, Jarosław Zoń, Urszula Pietrzak, Mirella Rogoza-Biel, Wioletta Tomica, Beata Fudalej, Natalia Sikora, Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik, Katarzyna Groniec, Agnieszka Glińska, Dorota Segda, Bogusław Byrski and Grażyna Szapołowska.
The series is curated by Mateusz Nowak.
The event is held in Polish.
Please, visit the Official Website of the Table of Contents event for more information about the Festival.
Host: ”Węglin” District Community Cultural Centre
FEBRUARY
The Saxon Gallery is a year-round project aimed at expanding the cultural offer of the city. In order to engage new circles of inhabitants in greater participation in culture, works of meritorious visual artists are presented on the historic fence of the Saxon Garden.
Four times a year, monographic exhibitions of the greatest Polish poster, graphic and photographic artists are presented, including Tadeusz Rolke, Michał Batory, Tomasz Tomaszewski, Andrzej Różycki, Rosław Szaybo, Andrzej Dudziński and many others. The exhibitions are accompanied by meetings with the artists. The gallery’s curator is Professor Leszek Mądzik – theatre director, set designer, founder of Scena Plastyczna KUL.
The aesthetically sophisticated and open exhibition space is a showcase of a modern city, an investor in culture and an attractive destination for tourists from Poland and abroad.
We invite you for a walk along the Saski Garden.
Host: the City of Lublin and the Centrum Spotkania Kultur
MARCH
Theater feast - without barriers and tickets, attended by almost all Lublin institutional theaters, many independent groups, professional and amateur theaters.
Date: March - November 2022
Host: Centrum Kultury w Lublinie
The series of concerts, the Old Town Harmonies, sets music against the rich and broad background of Polish and world culture; it promotes tradition and modernity, an array of genres and forms, performing techniques and practices. It recalls the centuries-old tradition of Lublin: the birthplace of the genius violinist, composer and teacher Henryk Wieniawski and a point at the crossroads of East and West which served as an interface between music and art trends, customs and religions. The concerts are intended for different age groups and all those who cherish the idea of dialogue through art. The audience is made up of the city residents, both up- and downtowners, and visitors from the country and the world. The Old Town Harmonies promote talented, young-generation and award-winning soloists. It strives to highlight the cultural diversity of Lublin.
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.
Host: Fundacja RATIONE FORTES
The Festival, held since 1997, takes place in the historic interiors of Lublin, which become the backdrop for performances of early music by soloists and groups from Poland and abroad. The programme of the festival emphasises the European dimension of Lublin’s cultural heritage by presenting the masterpieces of Jewish, Russian, and early music. As the founders of the Festival are attuned to the spiritual side of culture, the aptly titled “Tempus Paschale” is organised during the paschal period, and presents masterpieces of religious music. The Festival offers Lublin-based musicians an opportunity to cooperate with top instrumentalists and singers in Poland and to display their skills. The programme interweaves locality and Polishness with European contexts. Concerts are accompanied by exhibitions of painting.
Host: Pro Musica Antiqua Association
+48 81 743 26 30
www.tempus-paschale.pl
APRIL
Bruno4ever is a catchphrase that for 10 years has been employed to signal Lublin-based events devoted to Bruno Schulz and his influences in culture and arts. Bruno Schulz’s Days is a series of international meetings of artists, researchers, and culture enthusiasts, as well as exhibitions, performances, debates, new book releases, and concerts. The April-July component of the event refers to Schulz’s birthday, while the November part commemorates his death. The participants have a chance to visit Drohobych (Ukraine) to take part in the artistic programme, Another Fall, organised by the Ukrainian partners (concerts, exhibitions, performances), and an ecumenical meeting in the place of the tragic death of the author of Cinnamon Shops.
Contact:
Bruno Schulz Festival Association
+ 48 81 472 65 76
grzeczuk@wp.pl
www.brunoschulzfestival.org
MAY
“Codes” Festival of Traditional and Avantgarde Music is an international event devoted to the idea of combining the archaic and the new in music. Presentday composers and improvising musicians often formally and thematically allude to archaic musical forms and seemingly antiquated sonic patterns. The mixture of two distinctive canons of aesthetics forms a completely unique listening experience where the magic of archaic melodies and the artistry of contemporary music co-exist. The festival provides a rare opportunity for excellent contemporary music composers, representatives of the avant-garde jazz, traditional musicians, and artists reconstructing old music to meet together and co-work. The following musicians have so far performed in Lublin during the Festival: Laurie Anderson, Bill Laswell, John Zorn, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk Evelyn Glennie, Iva Bittová, Thurston Moore, Kronos Quartet.
Contact:
The Centre for Intercultural Creative Initiatives - “Crossroads”
+48 81 466 61 67
info@kody-festiwal.pl
www.kody-festiwal.pl/en
The Meetings of Artists of Uncharted Route is the largest theatrical event in Central and Eastern Europe gathering performers with disabilities. The festival features companies from Poland and abroad. During intermissions, the artists, audience, volunteers and organisers sing along, play and dance to explore the theme of the current-year edition of the festival.
Lublin Blues Session is a year-round educational and artistic project covering concerts and music workshops that started in 2011. The project offers cultural and artistic education as well as promoting blues-oriented activities, events, and undertakings. The organiser is the Area of Artistic Action Foundation from Lublin. The workshops and lectures of the Lublin Blues Session have been conducted by: Karo Glazer, Artur Lesicki, Sonia Lachowolska, Bartek Łęczycki, Jacek Jaguś, or Romek Puchowski. Also, numerous concerts and jam sessions have been put on, including Resophonic Guitar Live, A Tribute to Tadeusz Nalepa, Blues Gardens, Blues Day; Rock Christmas Wafer.
Organizator: The Area of Artistic Activities Foundation
JUNE
The Inner Courtyard is one of the most interesting spaces, hidden within the walls of the former convent, now one of the most active cultural institutions in Lublin. Previous summer seasons proofed it is a space with a unique charm, attracting large audiences.
More that 50 events: concerts, performances, cinema, workshops, meetings and more.
Music presented in the Inner Courtyard is often a combination of classical instrumentation and electronics, an intelligent dialogue of dance music with dark pop, non-normative varieties of jazz and improvised music.
Host: Centrum Kultury w Lublinie
Concert Amphitheater “The Shell” is an amazing place located in the Saxon Garden which for years has been a place surrounded by extraordinary cultural events. Energetic concerts, spectacles, a movie theatre under the starts, demonstrations by sztukmistrze (conjurers) and dancers. Those events each year attract many citizens of Lublin.
Around 100 events: concerts, spectacles, workshops.
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.
Night of Culture 2022 opens in new tabwill be held on June 4-5 within the Old Town and the City Centre area.
The Sounds of Words is a multi-colored kaleidoscope of great musical and verbal emotions. It is important for us to search for meaning through music, theater, words and meeting people. Here you will meet musicians, actors, poets and singers of different generations who present a wide range of sounds and themes while maintaining aesthetic harmony.
The 7th edition of the Sounds of Words – Three Seas festival draws from the multi-colored sounds and cultures of the Three Seas countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.
From July 29 to August 1, 2021, we will take you on a sensual journey through the sensitivity, beauty of differences and common meanings of the sounds and words of the Three Seas countries. The program includes concerts, recitals, workshops with artists and lively encounters with words.
The idea of the Three Seas Initiative is cooperation and exchange on the economic, intellectual and social level. Culture binds these relationships. The Sounds of Words – Three Seas are exciting musical events that show current, distinctive character of these countries.
Official Website the event the Sounds of the Wordsotwiera się w nowej karcieOO
The festival highlights the cultural diversity of present-day Lublin. It promotes tolerance and intercultural dialogue through educational and culture-forming initiatives of a high artistic value. The organisers’ intention is to strengthen and improve social bonds and challenge stereotypes. It brings different cultures and customs as well as religious traditions together. By showing their vital nature and contribution to the city’s cultural life, the organisers seek to underline the value and importance of diversities that exist in Lublin
and make it a multicultural city. The festival is co-organised by Lublin-based organisations and institutions representing various cultures and religions.
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 idea of an international festival was conceived in the autumn of 1995 when Jerzy Kulka and the Rev. Ryszard Jurak of Lublin travelled to Munich, Germany, to acquire an extremely valuable and unique instrument capable of producing the entire pipe organ repertoire, from the Renaissance to the present day, from Italian and German masters to French composers. Thanks to the effort of the parish priest and the enlisting of cooperation of the musician and manager Robert Grudzień, on summer days the Holy Family Church fills with world-class pipe organ music played by the greatest domestic and foreign virtuosos. The festival also features soloists, instrumentalists, chamber ensembles, orchestras, and choirs. So far, the event has attracted the following artists performing along with the leading Polish and foreign organists: Małgorzata Walewska, Bogusław Morka, Stanisław Soyka, Zbigniew Preisner Requiem, Jerzy Zelnik, Marek Torzewski, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Teresa Żylis-Gara, Wiesław Ochman, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, the Poznań Nightingales, Lviv Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Krzysztof Penderecki, Stefan Stuligrosz, Anna Seniuk, Grażyna Barszczewska.
JULY
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 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
The Small-Scale Theatre Festival has been invented and curated by Henryk Kowalczyk, the man behind the alternative Scene 6 Theatre and an instructor in the Regional Culture Centre. The festival aims at inspiring new initiatives in performing arts, especially among groups that lack day-to-day contact with such artistic concepts. The organisers also seek to increase theatre competence of the general public and create conditions for the development of artistic production. This nationwide monodrama festival is a competition. The prizes are awarded to professional and non-professional actors. Besides the competition performances, professional monodramas are also staged.
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.
AUGUST
Meeting of Styles is the oldest International Graffiti Art Festival in the world, and therefore in Poland.
It comes from the German Festival "Wall Street Meeting". The main idea of the event is to present graffiti as one of the developing direction of contemporary art. The Festival provides the space for creative activity of the young people that could develop their passions and interests there. Meeting of Styles has hosted the best artists from all over the world since 2011. The organization of the event allows to benefit from the experience and popularity of the Festival around the globe. It undoubtedly also increases the prestige of the Lublin’s events. The success of the previous editions of Meeting of Styles proves that Lublin is in great demand for such activities. Our city has the extremely dynamic local community of the people interested in the art of graffiti. The number of such people is grows every year and the Festival is becomes more popular, diverse and interesting.
During the 21 years of the Festival, about 400 events have attracted thousands of artists, spectators and volunteers. Meetings of Styles were held in 40 countries on all continents: from Europe to America, Australia, Africa and Asia. Nevertheless, Meeting of Styles is always looks for new destinations, amazing locations and involved organizers.
Meeting of Styles 2022 in the World:
ASIA
20-22 May– Manila (Philippines)
27-29 May – Yogakarta (Indonesia)
EUROPE
16-19 June – Wiesbaden (Germany)
22-24 July – Copenhagen (Denmark)
29-31 July – Pristina (Kosovo)
05-07 August – Lublin (Poland)
12-14 August – Lisbon (Portugal)
19-21 August – Antwerp (Belgium)
26-28 August – Tirana (Albania)
Americas
09-11 September – New Jersey (USA)
16-18 September – Chicago (USA)
23-25 September – Lima (Peru)
01-16 October – Mexico
18-20 November – Quito (Ecuador)
26-27 November – Montevideo (Uruguay)
09-11 December – Florianopolis (Brasil)
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 Re:tradition Festival (Jagiellonian Fair) is a festival based on traditional culture, from which we draw the most beautiful aspects. Our goal is to present and promote this culture in its various forms, both original, authentic and contemporary. Our festival refers to the Lublin fairs, which date back to the 15th century. At that time, the trade routes running through Lublin brought many travellers, nomads and traders to our city of culture. For this reason the festival is called the Jagiellonian Fair.
Over the last few years, the festival has evolved and transformed into an event where we focus primarily on traditional rural culture, as well as the culture inspired by it and the culture that consciously and respectfully adapts traditional culture.
Re:tradition Festival it is also the time when traditional culture is presented by the goods of music, singing and dance both traditional and inspired by the heritage of past generations.
We invite you to the Re-tradycja Festival - an opportunity to meet numerous artists, craftsmen, artisans from Central and Eastern Europe.
The purpose of the event is to promote the idea of bugle calls that add colour and often give testimony to identity of a town. The tradition of Lublin’s bugle call dates back to the 16th century: the first bugle call signal was heard in the streets of the city on 7 May 1575. Today, it is played every day at noon from the balcony of the Lublin Town Hall. Every year, the festival brings together over 40 trumpet players from major Polish cities.
SEPTEMBER
The Festival focuses on multiculturalism and the culinary heritage of the Lublin region. It is also the biggest culinary festival of the region, attracting residents and tourists alike through its confluence of cultural events and the traditions of Lublin’s cuisine. This is a splendid opportunity to wind down and get familiarised with assorted specialities of the Lublin region. To this end, the organisers would like visitors and local participants to slow down and unhurriedly partake in and partake of surrounding flavours and scents. Recharged, suffused with the positivity offered by a diverse set of dishes available, the tourists will return home relaxed and satisfied. The Festival’s signature features include: a wide-ranging repertoire of cultural events, including among others concert of Balkan and Ukrainian music, exhibitions and expositions, contests and culinary workshops.
The idea behind the festival is to approach urban space symbolically and fill it with artistic production. Participants’ interventions are regarded as “extraneous matter ” or triggers of unexpected changes (physical and symbolic) in places considered evident, familiar and thoroughly interpreted. Art is exposed both to the transient emotions of passers-by and to the changing weather conditions. Artists are usually made to follow ideological programmes imposed by monument founders. During the Open City Festival, the artists are the movers and shakers and are given a mandate to create. Set against the historical context and contemporary problems of urban space, art is both a commentary and yet another chapter in the history of the city. An added value of the festival is the full presentation of artistic output published as a catalogue of contemporary art and permanent outdoor realisations.
Henryk and Józef Wieniawski belong among the top echelons of world-class composers and individuals of global music world. The value of Henryk Wieniawski’s compositions and the renown of his virtuosity are second to none. His younger brother Józef is perhaps less known and for that reason his heritage ought to be dusted off. Fittingly, the International Festival of the Wieniawski Brothers serves as a reminder of their dual contribution to the history and development of music, providing an opportunity to become familiar with not only his works but also with outstanding composers and performers of world-class music.
International Festival of the Wieniawski Brothers
Organizer: Henryk Wieniawski Philharmonic in Lublin
The festival attemps to set at the legacy of Prof. Andrzej Nikodemowicz, Honorary Citizen of the City of Lublin and one of the greatest European composers of sacred music, against a broader artistic background. The event aims to promote the Polish and world cultural heritage, art-oriented education, spiritual formation and decency. Among the invited performers, there are first-rate artists, orchestras, choirs and chamber ensembles from Poland and abroad.
OCTOBER
International Festival Theatre Confrontations is one of the best and most highly regarded theatre festivals in Poland. It was first organized in 1996 by the outstanding theatre directors: Janusz Opryński, Leszek Mądzik, Włodzimierz Staniewski and Tomasz Pietrasiewicz. The Festival focuses at the most intriguing and inspiring artistic achievements that provide new ways of understanding the theatre as a form of art. Since 2010, the main programme has been supplemented by the “Lublin showcase”, which is a presentation of the Lublin-based theatre troupes, performers, actors, actresses, and directors. In addition, 2011 saw the inclusion of the MAAT Festival, which is built upon the idea of theatricality and the theatre stemming from the corporeal, the expression of the body. International Festival Theatre confrontations are accompanied by series of interdisciplinary events: films – Festival cinema, concerts – musical confrontations at night, exhibitions – confrontations’ Gallery, as well as numerous debates.
The Chatka Blues Festival is one of the most engaging music projects in eastern Poland. It spotlights blues in its different forms performed by Polish and foreign artists. The event has been held since 2010 at the Chatka Żaka Academic Culture Centre in Lublin and boasts a high artistic level. The previous editions attracted such artists as Juwan Jenkins, Charlie Slavik, Jorgos Skolias, Alvon Johnson etc. The festival is the brain-child of Adam Bartoś, its artistic director.
The Kontestacje Student Theatre Festival has been organised since 2005 by students engaged in the initiatives of the Chatka Żaka Academic Culture Centre. The festival attracts academic theatres from all over Poland and builds on the tradition of the Lublin alternative theatre. The event has never been seen as a competition; in contrast, it has a formula of a convention of companies aimed to kindle the interest of the broader academic and other audiences in young theatre. The festival is driven by the broad idea of “contestation” of the existing reality in all its manifestations. The name is a programme manifesto at the same time: “Kontestacje” implies a critical look at the reality surrounding artists and even a conflict or opposition against the generally accepted norms and values. The theatre is regarded as a vehicle that can give an outlet to or help release this tension. Kontestacje is intended for independent individuals who are looking for their own way and disapproving of universal values. The festival has been able to attract and maintain a loyal audience and gains in importance every year. It offers room for a debate on the role of alternative theatre which started to flourish in Lublin as early as in the 1970s.
The Festival is for everyone who feels the need to watch films in a company and confront their way of thinking about the women’s world and films about women with others. The films tell stories about challenges faced by women from various geographies, with uneven access to education, different cultural background, financial status, and outlook. Demakijaż purges the artificial images of women known from the mass-media, commercials, TV series, and popular movies. The programme covers film productions from around the world, including Ethiopia, Israel, France, Germany, or the Netherlands.
Bakcynalia is ranked among the legendary student song festivals. Previously known as the Bakcynalia Epidemic of Tourist Song, the event boasts a long history. Next to Yapa in Łódź, Bazuny in Gdańsk and the National Student Song Festival in Kraków, Bakcynalia used to be one of the most recognizable events showcasing academic culture. It hosted the most popular artists of the late 1970s, the 1980s, and the early 1990s. The festival came back in 2007 after a several years’ break. Today, it is a regular event at the Chatka Żaka Academic Culture Centre. It is filled with concerts by invited stars and has a competition show where fledgling young performers from Lublin and the country display their talents to a broader audience. Some of the accompanying events include Small Bakcynalia – a competition for high schoolers, Festival Travel Meetings, a photo competition, an after-competition exhibition, and festival singing.
NOVEMBER
The Lublin Film Festival has succeeded and expanded the idea of the IFF Golden Anteaters. The festival has become a reality thanks to the passion and undiminished enthusiasm of its organisers. This enthusiasm was already there during the first edition in 2007 when the festival was merely a local event attracting amateur filmmakers from Lublin. Now, it has become Lublin’s largest international event gathering cinema personalities and cinema lovers from around the world. The idea of the festival is to promote original, art film projects, both short and full-length, also from outside the mainstream. It also creates opportunities for young filmmakers to learn, network and make contacts within the industry. The organisers attach much attention to keeping a high quality standard of the event while remaining open to novel film trends and creative personalities. Any arthouse or independent cinema individual can take part: there are no age, geographical, professional, or thematic restrictions. 2017 saw more profound changes: besides the new name, which alludes to an upgrade in the development of the festival, the programme has swollen to include more events, including the Lublin Filmmakers Networking Meetings.
The Oldest Songs of Europe Festival features the earliest music testimonies of traditional culture from various corners of Europe. Several dozen song groups and numerous soloists have taken part in the event to date, among them performers from Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Spain etc. Each edition is preceded by in-depth ethnomusicological studies conducted by a team of international scholars. The Festival offers classes in traditional dances from different parts of Europe, as well as exhibitions, screenings, conferences, discussions and lectures.
The Festival is a showcase of contemporary Ukrainian culture. It consists of concerts of popular bands from Ukraine that offer a wide array of musical styles, interpretations, and aesthetic types. There are also stage performances, theatre plays, lm screenings, exhibitions, art workshops - all of which have become over the years the Festival’s flagship events. In addition, there are also educational events, such as the school-level quiz on Ukrainian culture, a football tournament - known as the Friendship cup, and a guided tour of Lublin featuring the sites of Ukrainian heritage. The aim of the Festival is the presentation of the most interesting and original trends endemic to contemporary Ukrainian culture as well as the dissemination of the Polish-Ukrainian intercultural dialogue.
Falkon is one of the biggest fantasy conventions in Poland. every year it attracts over 1000 participants. It embraces all that fits into the notion of fantasy and science fiction and as such it focuses on literature, lm, art and computer games. The three days of the convention are filled with lectures, discussions, competitions, tournaments, performances and other attractions. The distinctive feature of Falkon is that all the participants learn and have fun; they broaden their horizons, create a community of a kind, which, although colourful and varied, is bound by a common pursuit – the desire to develop their interests. The aim of the convention is to promote and preserve the interest in fantasy among both teenagers and adults. The aim of the convention is to promote and preserve the interest in the broadly defined fantasy and science fiction among both teenagers and adults by exposing them to literature, lm, art and games.
The festival was inaugurated in 1997. Today, it is among the flagship cultural events in Lublin and one of the leading dance art festivals in Poland and Europe. The idea of the event is encounter and mutual inspiration with cultural diversity in parallel with the exchange of experience between Poland and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe and other parts of the world. The originators of the festival underline its universal dimension and remind us that contemporary dance is a special medium of communication: it is a fully democratic art conveying emotions fuelled by a strong intellectual message. The aim of subsequent editions has been to present the most interesting artistic productions by professional dance theatres from around the world and to promote Polish artists seeking to engage in performances and discussions. The festival also serves the exchange of experience and encourages mutual inspirations by artists representing distinct fields of art.
DECEMBER
Splat!FilmFest is Poland-only international festival of horror, fantasy, and genre cinema. The programme covers premières of world’s best productions. The festival features excellent horrors and thrillers, gritty dramas, black comedies, sci-fi and fantasy movies and completely crazy productions that would not be admitted to any other festival in Poland, let alone official cinema distribution. The programme also provides for meetings with special guests, original lectures and competitions: all in an extraordinary setting.
www.ck.lublin.pl
Jazz Bez is a Polish-Ukrainian jazz festival boasting a long tradition. It came to Lublin several years ago. From its very beginning, the event has been driven by several important goals. The most important ones have been to create conditions for Polish-Ukrainian artistic exchange, to promote jazz music and bring it closer to the wider public, to transplant the idea of the festival to other cities and to strive to maintain a high quality of performances. The Jazz Bez International Jazzestival is a celebrated and well-known project in the Polish and Ukrainian jazz community. It is seen as a dialogue through music also encouraging an artistic exchange between Poland and Ukraine through a transborder jazz marathon. The festival offers dozens of various concerts and accompanying events, some of them accessible live in Lublin. By promoting good and bold music and nurturing cooperation between the two countries, the festival transcends divisions and boundaries between artists. The programme of the festival has been gradually evolving towards embracing a greater number of events and audiences, and the idea of the festival is readily borrowed by other cities.
Variete is a magic evening when various stage arts from the long European tradition come together on stage. This monthly, about one-and-a-half-hour show has it all: a truly diverse range of talents: the new circus (juggling, acrobatics, tumbling), illusion, cabaret, music and dance. This is an open list as we are constantly looking for new forms that will wow the audience. Our performers are both emerging and renowned artists. The show abounds in artistic experiments and old tricks and captivates both the young and the old. Lublin’s Variete is also special as the individual performances are alternated with a witty, funny and sometimes unscripted narrative from stage.
This is Poland’s oldest and one of the largest festivals showcasing music inspired by folklore. It was inaugurated in 1991. The goal of the event is to disseminate traditional culture in all its forms and manifestations, mainly through the presentation of innovative transformations of music folklore. By employing contemporary means, the performing artists create free and outof-the-box interpretations of folk sources. The outcome is music of an original and modern tinge but, at the same time, perpetuating the traditional values of folklore. Thanks to its compelling and diverse offer and the convivial atmosphere accompanying the festival, Saint Nicholas Day has earned the opinion of an important cultural event and one of the most interesting and prestigious feasts of folk music in Poland.
The Municipal New Year’s Eve Party is a fixed item on the agenda of municipal festivities. Every year Lubliners welcome the New Year together. All those who dare to spend the New Year’s Eve in the open can expect special attractions: concerts of music stars, comedy performances, dance music played by top DJs. At midnight, the representatives of the city authorities say “Happy New Year” to all party participants in the main city square.
The Christmas Festival refers to the tradition of the nativity scene. During the festival, it becomes a living space filled with merry carolling. The idea of the event is to create the festive and magical aura of Christmas in the heart of Lublin. Every year the nativity scene is re-arranged, and the city is decorated with colourful Christmas illumination and Christmas trees. These December days offer a great atmosphere in the unworldly setting of Lublin’s Old Town. Traditionally, the festival opens during the Old Town Christmas
Eve organised by the local Dominican friars. The scene hosts games and competitions for children, Christmas concerts by popular performers; it is also a meeting place for the residents and visitors throughout the holiday season, uniting everyone in singing and rejoicing.
The Lublin Literary Encounters has been around since 2008. It has created a space for discussion about poetry and for meetings with poets but has also triggered a variety of social and artistic activities that promote poetry. The festival is held in several locations:
universities, schools, libraries, culture centres, welfare centres, therapeutic centres, temples, cafés, open city spaces, in the backyards, and also online. The programme covers, and this is what distinguishes the event in the first place, dozens of meetings with
poets and poetry in private apartments (Apartments of Poetry) and initiatives across the city space pursued by the residents (Territories of Poetry).
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 Witold Lutosławski Contemporary Art Forum is a festival of contemporary music conceived by Prof. Gabriella Klauza and Agnieszka Kreiner. It is held annually by the Lublin Philharmonic Hall in cooperation with Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Karol Lipiński 1st and 2nd Degree Music School and Tadeusz Szeligowski 1st and 2nd Degree School in Lublin. Lutosławski’s pieces are performed during the festival along with other contemporary pieces by both renowned artists and young-generation musicians.
ŚLEBODA/DANUTKA FESTIVAL
Danuta Szaflarska is a legendary theatre and film actress, star and personality. She was connected with Lublin through the Old Theater and returned there very often. The festival is an opportunity to present the Gong Danutka Award to the theatrical figures.