1. edition of the festival
30. 9. – 2. 10. 2016

We have fulfilled our dream and founded the first festival of cabaret and street theatre in Slovakia – two specific genres in one captivating place. The theme of the pilot edition was Ecology of thought. The festival was opened by the audience shouting the festival slogan “Let art be well heard!” in unison.

The headliner act of the festival was the legendary programme AN EVENING WITH MILAN MARKOVIČ after 20 years with PETER BREINER (USA/SK). The hearts of the audience were touched by the yet-unseen music/theatre journey by Theatre Chimera (FR) and their play BIRDMAN AND HIS CHIMERA ORCHESTRA, which premiered in Slovakia and received the AMPLION ARGENTUM award for the best production of the festival. Another award, for an extraordinary experience, was given to the actress and singer Andrea Buršová from Prague and her concert CHANSON HONTMARTRE. We also created two special happenings: the installation Exclamation point and the international invisible theatre Post Socikuum V4. We were the first to welcome several acts in Slovakia – including Teatr Delikates from Poland as well as the theatres Cabaret Calembour and BodyVoiceBand from Prague. Our guests and discussion participants included personalities such as Péter Hunčík, Juraj Smatana, Milan Šotek, Juraj Mesík, Andrej Bán or the host, Michal Havran.

Overall, we introduced 40 productions on 10 scenes, which was a true flood of art for the small town of Banská Štiavnica. All of this was made possible thanks to the support of young volunteers from the initiative Flowers of Democracy. A wonderful start full of energy and happy viewers.