Crossings Festival
History
Crossings Festival is organized by the Moment Arts and Culture Association, a non-governmental and non-profit organisation with the status of the public interest in the field of culture, established in 2006 with the purpose of creating and developing contemporary performing practices in their broadest sense. They are realising this mission with their own production, guest performances and the organisation of cultural and artistic events and activities that focus on encouraging creativity, professional training and cultural education, in cooperation with similar organisations, institutions and artists in the region, country and abroad. Since 2014 they have been part of the GT22 interdisciplinary laboratory: on its premises, they have established their own venue Intimate Stage with regular production and programme.
Theatre performances are just a cornerstone of the Crossings Festival, as it is also designed as a social and professional event. In order to connect local stakeholders in the field of performing arts, performances are staged not only on the Intimate Cinema, GT22 but also at the Maribor Puppet Theatre, Slovene National Theatre Maribor, II. Gymnasium Maribor and Maribor National Liberation Museum.
Programme
The festival presents contemporary, generically undefined, independent, puppet, kinetic, devised, experimental and street theatre. During the programme of the Maribor, European Capital of Culture 2012, the program and duration of the festival tripled since one of its aims is also to improve the quality of life in the city, country, region and more widely: it lasted 10 days, it presented 19 theatre, dance, puppet, musical performances from Slovenia, the Czech Republic, France and Denmark, 3 workshops with mentors from the United States, Sweden and Spain, and 20 students of theatre academies from Prague and Ljubljana.
In 2019, the festival run for one week in May, and was subtitled Crossings without Fear, since its mission – developing independent theatre – stems also from its desire to promote an open and inclusive solidarity-based society, a society without prejudice and fear. The socio-political component is necessary because, according to organizers, the contemporary independent theatre is open, creative, inclusive and uncompromising, with a special emphasis on the socio-political context in which it has been created or which is addressed by its content. The performances could be described as amusing, political or aesthetic, but in fact they are much more. The programme in 2109, consisting of 11 performances from Palestine, the Czech Republic, Israel, Portugal, Jordan and Slovenia, encouraged the spectators towards new reflections, considerations and views.