Report Kumanovo Streets Festival

Center for Intercultural Dialogue

Vera Kotorka 39

MK1300 Kumanovo www.cid-mk.org

REPORT KUMANOVO STREETS FESTIVAL

10 August 2009

In Kumanovo, Macedonia

The project was organized in the framework of the Post-Conflict peace building actions in the region of Kumanovo. This project had a slightly different component by focusing more on the local ethic communities and the cultural diversity that is present among them. This was done by bringing them together on the main square in Kumanovo for an international and intercultural music experience. By bringing together the most popular bands from the Balkans in one common space promoted peace and tolerance which is the right message from the youth in the post-conflict society, that they want Peace and Reconciliation.

On the other hand, this effort was brought to a more global dimension, such as the EU integration process in a way that over 70 volunteers from 15 different European countries were directly involved by volunteering to organize this event. Apart of the Balkan bands, there were also performances from other European countries which gave the cosmopolitan view and values that we want to share through the festival.

The project was implemented in Kumanovo, a region with population that belongs to different cultural and religious groups. The multicultural society of Macedonia has had several turbulent periods especially the one in 2001 when in the targeted region there was an armed conflict. After the support of international and national civil society organizations and political determination to resolve the open conflict a resolution was made. Still the people living in the former conflict areas need to undergo a process of reconciliation ending with tolerance and even better acceptance of the differences.

The Streets Festival is a cultural event that gave the possibility for assessment of the reconciliation process made in the post conflict region in Macedonia, as well as creating future necessary steps to improve the situation.

The project’s goal was to promote and facilitate intercultural dialogue and tolerance among young people from the post conflict area and wider including other multicultural areas in Macedonia, Kosovo and South Serbia.

The main target group of the festival were the young people from the region of Kumanovo as well as Skopje and Tetovo in Macedonia, Vranje and Nis in South Serbia, and Gjilan in Kosovo. These regions were selected because of their multicultural structure and their conflict sensitivity.

Report from the Pre-Festival activities

Street festival is an event organised by the young people of CID Macedonia with the intention to bring different cultures together in a non formal way promoting cultural exchange, peace and reconciliation. Trough music and street animation we brought together firstly the ethnic groups of Kumanovo, Macedonia, together, working on the creation of joint performances, while inviting different artists and musicians from Macedonia and other European countries to diversify the intercultural experience and promote peace, intercultural understanding and reconciliation.

Streets festival this year was a two days event happening on the main square of Kumanovo. It was an open multicultural experience, that trough its programme invited members of all ethnic groups of Macedonia, as well as young people from the neighbouring countries and Europe. The programme of the festival, the musicians, and other performers were selected to attract diversity in age, ethnicity and culture. The festival was opened with a panel discussion where as panellist we have invited the Mayor of Kumanovo Mr. Zoran Damjanovski, the first secretary of the German Embassy in Skopje Ms. Sonja Bohnet, and the Secretary in the French Embassy in Skopje Mr. Johan Uhrès. The discussion was on the topic of intercultural dialogue as a tool to build European Citizenship and the participants had an opportunity to share their opinion with our guests on these topics. Issues raised included understanding

- PROJECT REPORT – FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED intercultural dialogue on local level as well as international and overcoming communication obstacles while understanding differences. Also several times important issues raised were connected with the European Union enlargement and the benefits within, but also the responsibilities of the member countries in the process. For the local music bands we have offered a presentation on branding and music industry made by a Dutch guest Mr Koen ter Heegde from Subroutine Records - Groningen. The session included information about local bands on how to promote and publish their music, where to seek for support and how to get involved in talks about their work. The participants who were from the international as well as local bands found the session as useful for their future plans with music.

Report from the Festival evenings Main festival days were 4th and 5th of July. The first day was more in jazz rock style. The performers were a local band of Kumanovo, Egnatia, selected for their unique style of music. Following them was a band from the Netherlands, Vinsky Project. Trough their music, which is a mixture of modern rock, sounds and Dutch ethno elements they promoted Dutch culture. Following Vinsky project was a popular jazz, ethno rock band from Bitola Foltin. Then Vlatko Stefanovski, one of the best performers and guitar players on the Balkans, which was followed by Sopha, a Belgium band that has 11 members. Their performance was very well accepted because of the dynamic of their songs. All of the performers brought together all of the young people, Albanians, Macedonians, Serbians, and the young people from all over Europe that were present in Macedonia during the festival days, were all dancing together and having great time with each other. The second evening had more pop rock elements and famous bands from the region. The night started with a performance of Sumnal youth dance group from Skopje, consisted of young dancers and animators. Their performance created a learning space on how to mix the modern culture and animation with traditional Roma culture. In this way Streets festival has introduced a new aspect of the anti- discrimination goals of the festival the one related to inclusion of the Roma community in the society. They were followed with a performance of a group presenting the results of the workshops happening during the Youth Exchange Fiesta Balkanika that was organized a week before and during the festival. People of 15 European countries divided in two groups, musicians and animators, worked together so they can present their common work in front of the wide public on the festival.  Street Art workshops – these workshops included street theatre made by the Serbian group leader and a volunteer from Macedonia. The theatre aimed to show diversity based on a comedy. Also the workshops included juggling activities coached by the Slovenian group leader. The workshops were conducted in the garden of the boarding school where the participants were accommodated and often they attracted the local people to come and watch. The participants made juggling activities on the main square in Skopje and thus attracted people and explained to them more about the festival project in Kumanovo.  Music performance workshops – these workshops were moderated by two volunteers of CID that have significant experience in organizing musical events, as well as the Hungarian and Albanian group leader. The aim of the music performance workshop was to put together the different music practices of the participants and learn how to work together. As planned it was very difficult to achieve common understanding of the different music styles and preferences but still thanks to the moderation of the group leaders it was managed at the end to make a common music performance called „From Balkans to Mars“including a variety of styles from jazz and rock to traditional Albanian music.

Following this interesting cultural mix, was a band from Skopje, called Eye Cue, which presenter their new album to the public. After them, a band from Kosovo, Kthjellu had their wonderful performance, in which they called all the people no matter their ethnic or national belonging to participate and sing together their songs, which are well known in the region, especially by the Albanian youth. Dani Dimitrovska the popular pop-rock singer from Macedonia was the next one. She also brought the element of peace and cooperation among the youth of all ethnicities, as everyone was singing with her, and dancing shoulder to shoulder. Following her, were Parketi – a band from BItola. Their performance included promoting their new album to the public, as well as playing some well known ethno songs from the region. The festival ended with the very popular band from Serbia, Negative. Their performance was very energetic and very well accepted by the public. This very popular band in the Balkan region had the - PROJECT REPORT – FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED first performance in Macedonia, since 2000. On the festival they promoted their new album to the Macedonian public, as well as to the youth of the region and Europe.

During both festival evenings, parallel to the bands and performers, there was a group of animators and jugglers that animated the public with their performance. Streets festival 2009 went very well, without incidents of any kind. The Centre for Intercultural Dialogue has hired a private security company, and the local police has been present on the event as well. Macedonian, Albanian, Roma, Serbian and youth from all over Balkan and Europe, were together, enjoying and dancing with each other, without prejudices about the cultural differences, but with respect and tolerance and interest in the diversity.

The festival was documented by filming a video from all performers. During the event, the young volunteers from Centre for Intercultural Dialogue were involved in organizing and coordinating the activities that were happening.

Technical organization The Centre for Intercultural Dialogue has used the opportunity to include local young volunteers in the technical organization of the festival so in this way to develop their competences in organizing bigger scale events. The project was organized with the support of 20 volunteer from different age and cultural backgrounds from Kumanovo. The following working groups were established:  Technical working group in charge of keeping a flow of information from the bands “rider lists” to the company that delivered the stage of the final performance.  Time management and relations with the performers – this group was in charge to make sure there were no delays in the official festival programme, that all performers receive the necessary support and guidance  Promotion working group managed to send out 3 press releases to over 500 journalists, newspapers, television stations and electronic newspapers (press releases enclosed)  International voluntary project is a group of 8 people out of which 3 from Macedonia, one from Switzerland, Finland, France, Belgium and Spain that was in charge of taking photos from the event and putting posters of the festival in Kumanovo, Skopje, Tetovo, Stip and other towns  Educational working group was in charge to implement activities during the international youth exchange that lasted for 7 days and finished with a joint performance on the main square  Administrative working group was in charge of the fundraising and administration of the entire project as well as the relations with the donors and supporters of the project. Due to this division of tasks and practical experience offered to our younger members CID has increased its capacity as an organization. Also some of the young people involved in the organization of Streets Festival have initiated the idea to register a separate NGO that will have as objective to organize the festival every year.

Results The substantial results from the streets festival are as follows:  An open-air two-day international music festival that promoted peace, intercultural understanding and reconciliation in the region of Kumanovo as well as in other regions in the Balkans  Over 20 different workshops were conducted with local young people and youth from 15 different European countries. Workshops include creation of a joint music performance, traditional and modern music, importance of music in society, journalism and PR of public events, intercultural dialogue and understanding, Human Rights protection and reconciliation, and Youth activism.  Over 40 young people (half from Macedonia representing the different ethnic communities in the country and the other half from different European countries) were directly involved to organize this mass event which will represent a valuable experience for them  Promotion of the cultural diversities, the local young musicians, artists was done during the festival as an outreach activity aiming to empower young people to get involved as active citizens.  Publication of a user friendly web page with information about the festival as well as a DVD from the festival performances that can be used in similar purposes such as to promote Peace and Tolerance

- PROJECT REPORT – FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Follow up For the local youth this project has offered a very clear promotion of the diversity existing in our community and also has created a space for sharing and learning from each other. Due to the participation of local youth in different activities of the youth exchange togther with the participants from different countries has increased their motivation to get involved in CID and other youth organizations. Also as a follow up of the music and annimation workshops as well from the international festival happening at the same time, a group of young people from Kumanovo has decided to create an organization called Streets Festival NGO. This organization will continue with the street animation workshops that they have done with the Slovenian and Serbian group leaders and will also work on organizing the Streets Festival every year in Kumanovo. Until now the organization has nearly 100 members and supporters. Regarding the follow up from the international youth exchange one of the ideas that being prepared now is to make a follow up project in Serbia and also one project in Ireland with participants from the Balkan region since not many Irish organizations are cooperating with the Balkans. Also the band from Kumanovo- Egnatia was invited to perform on smaller festivals in the Netherlands in November this year.