BEE Concept – Festivals as a Form of Social Therapy and Community Building
A conversation about culture that connects communities, breaks down borders, and co-creates a more open city.
The discussion will be held in English.
Festival Lent is a creative hive where East meets West and tradition merges with avant-garde expression.
For more than three decades, Festival Lent has been far more than a cultural event. It is a story of summer evenings beneath the stars, where city squares become stages and streets fill with visitors from around the world. It is a time when Maribor breathes as a vibrant, cosmopolitan, and open city striving toward a truly inclusive society.
Shaping the Future: Introducing the “BEE” Concept
Festival Lent enters a new program cycle with the innovative concept BEE (Bordering European Experience). The bee serves as the central metaphor for the festival’s vision and way of operating.
- Pollination: How culture “pollinates” society and encourages international artistic mobility.
- Care for the Hive: The festival as a social organism living in harmony with its environment and local community.
- A Borderless Swarm: Breaking down elitism and barriers between “high” and “popular” culture.
The public roundtable will explore how culture not only entertains, but also actively heals communities and helps build a sustainable future. International cultural experts and creators of past and future European Capitals of Culture will exchange experiences and perspectives.
The discussion will also address how contemporary festivals can respond to challenges such as digital alienation and eco-anxiety, and how the principle of “glocalization” — thinking globally while acting locally — can strengthen European cultural identity.
Participants
- Suzana Žilić Fišer – Head of the Institute of Media Communications FERI (European Capital of Culture Maribor 2012)
- Mikko Fritze – Director of Finnland-Institut (European Capital of Culture Tallinn 2011)
- Rolf Norås – Former Director for Culture in Stavanger, Norway (European Capital of Culture Stavanger 2008)
- Tamás Szalay – Director of DZM – Donauschwäbisches Zentralmuseum Ulm (European Capital of Culture Pécs 2010)
- Neil Peterson – Director of Inside Track (European Capital of Culture Liverpool 2008)
- Nemanja Milenković – Director of the Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture Foundation
- Mato Uljarević – Coordinator of the European Capital of Culture initiative Nikšić 2030
- Đula Ribar – Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture Foundation