This spring, the European Capital of Culture brings us an abundance of interesting events that will complement the Fairy Tales of the Future programme segment in May and the new programme arch Heroines in the second half of the month. We invite you to enjoy the rich cultural content and regularly follow the calendar on our site to keep up to date with events in the city. As always, we have suggestions for all ages and everyone, so we invite you to mark some of these dates in your calendars in advance.
Watch on stage…
During the ‘Fairy Tales of the Future’ programme, which will last until 15 May, fairy tale worlds will intertwine in Novi Sad and surrounding boroughs. We will experience some of those fairy tales, watch others, and tell some of them in a completely different fashion, as Novi Sad becomes the background for this world of magic. It will be your family story to remember! Don’t miss the spectacle ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, a classic by Jonathan Swift, directed by Kokan Mladenović, which will be staged on 7 May in the Novi Sad city centre. This play, in which Gulliver will be represented as a six-meter-tall Guignol puppet, will open the ‘Novi Sad Theatre Festival’, the theatre festival for children and youth, produced by the Youth Theatre (until May 15). We’ll watch ‘Invisible Lands’ (Finland, 14+), ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ (Slovenia and Croatia, 6+), ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ (Montenegro, 7+), ‘Silent Boy’ (Serbia, 6+), ‘Chrono-Dwarves’ (Slovakia, 8+), ‘Coffee Kingdom’ (Croatia, 6+), ‘Three Musketeers’ (Czech Republic, 8+), ‘Seven Ravens’ (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6+), ‘Mahmud’ (Slovenia, 12+), ‘Chaplin’ (Slovakia, 6+), ‘Gerda’s Room’ (Russia, 12+), ‘Playing Up’ (Germany, 6+ and adults), which will be performed twice, ‘Mouse Maus House Haus That Is Puss in Boots’ (5+), ‘Metamorphoses’ (15+).
Another theatre festival ‘The Invasion (UPAD)’ will be held between 9 and 15 May at the European Capital of Culture in Fabrika. We will watch: ‘Something Very Special’, ‘Tears of St. Lawrence’, ‘Practical Guide to Superstition’, ‘Root’, ‘Playing Reality’, ‘Second map’, and ‘Hello Everyone’. Do not miss it!
Head with your family to KC Rumenka between 7 and 9 May, because this cultural station will become the background for the magical world of well-known stories. The youngest will be delighted by the puppetry festival ‘Do You Believe in Fairy Tales?’.
Admission to all Fairy Tales of the Future programmes is free, except for plays that are played as part of the Novi Sad Theatre Festival. You can buy tickets for the performances at the Youth Theatre ticket office. An individual ticket is 500 RSD, while the ticket price for group visits is 350 RSD.
In May, the Serbian National Theatre brings us three great plays as part of the ‘Atelje 212 Day’, so we suggest you get tickets for ‘Amsterdam’, ‘Consent’ by Novi Sad director Nebojša Bradić, and ‘Liar’ on time. On 22 May, we’ll be treated to the musical ‘Gypsies Fly in the Sky’ by the Terazije Theatre, and the oldest theatre in Serbia – the Serbian National Theatre, will bring us the premiere of the ballet ‘Anna Karenina’ on 14 and 17 May.
Sterijino Pozorje: Sterijino Pozorje theatre festival awaits us between 26 May and 3 June, and this year nine plays will be performed in the competition selection. For the first time, the Kraljevo Theatre will take the stage with the play ’Stains’, and we also suggest you visit the Serbian National Theatre on the opening day of the festival, when the play ‘Mileva Marić Einstein – A Ray of Light’ will be performed, produced by Sterijino Pozorje and the Novi Sad Foundation – European Capital of Culture Foundation, and performed by the Sombor National Theatre.
Youth Theatre: In addition to the aforementioned festival, on 17 May at 7.30 p.m. we will watch the play ‘Roasted Cat’, starring Viktor Savić and Jelena Đokić, which was well received by the Novi Sad audience. It is a story about a relationship between two young people that changes drastically after one insignificant event.
NIS: Don’t miss the comedy of the year ‘Hysteria’, which will take place on 13 May at 8 p.m. in the big theatre hall of the NIS business centre. This is an interesting story about the meeting of Salvador Dali and Sigmund Freud in London in 1937.
Laza Kostić Grammar School: From the moment when two young people decide to spend their lives together, until the morning after their first wedding night, things happen to them that they thought only happen to other people. The hilarious comedy ‘Drž ne daj’ will be performed on 12 May at 8 p.m at the Laza Kostić Grammar School. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is the perfect opportunity.
Children’s operas
You will find out that fairy tales should not only be read through the European Capital of Culture project ‘Europe XXL’, which brings us five operas for children performed by the artists’ association ‘Visoko C’. The operas will be performed in cultural stations between 8 and 15 May: ‘Magic Flute’ (KS Svilara), ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’ (CS Bukovac), ‘Cinderella’ (CS Egység), ’The Goat’s Ears of Emperor Trojan’ (CS Barka), ‘Puss in Boots’ (CS Rumenka). The ideal way to spend quality time with your kids and bring them closer to this type of art that they will undoubtedly enjoy.
In addition, Franjo Štefanović’s opera ‘The Woodland Queen’, directed by Robert Raponja, will be performed on 8 May in CS Egység. The opera is performed outdoors by children, for the occasion of hundred years since its first publication.
Literary Trail of the Fruška Gora Marathon
This year’s Fruška Gora Marathon, the 45th in a row, will be held on 7 and 8 May in the oldest national park in Serbia, so we invite you to apply and take a walk with friends or family on one of the competition trails. On the day of the marathon, 8 May, the ‘Literary Trail’ will also open. Along the shortest marathon trail, educational boards with quotes from literary works will be set up, while a programme for children will be organised at the finish line – performances by children’s choirs, a theatre play, a workshop programme on ecology, as well as a programme with animators and circus instructors. Do not miss it!
Concerts in May
As part of the ECOC programme, the Novi Sad Wind Quintet has designed the music programme ‘Ksenija and the Hunter’, accessible and interesting for children aged five to 14. The quintet will perform compositions by the famous Novi Sad composer Aleksandra Vrebalov, on 7 May at the Cultural Centre ‘Mladost’ in Futog and CS Egység in Novi Sad, on 9 May at primary schools in Kovilj and Kać, and on 11 May at the primary school in Veternik and Cultural and Artistic Society in Budisava.
Until 21 May, every Saturday in the Matica Srpska Gallery will be dedicated to the music programme for babies and children, and between 7 May and 19 June there will be an exhibition of children’s artworks ‘Growing Up in the City of Culture’.
On 19 May, the Novi Sad audience will be entertained by the Dubrovnik band Silente, one of the most popular Croatian bands, which will perform at 9 p.m at the Dom kulture. One of their most-listened singles, Poljubi me za kraj, captured the attention of the audience of this award-winning band, so we suggest acquiring tickets on time.
The String Virtuoso Team of Serbia – GRMI, which performed at the ‘EXPO 2020’ World Exhibition in Dubai, will hold a concert on 6 May at 8 p.m. at the City Concert Hall in Novi Sad. The programme will include compositions by A. Krstajić, G. P. Teleman, P. I. Tchaikovsky, D. Shostakovich and F. Mendelssohn, and is organised by the City Concert Hall and the Cultural Centre of Novi Sad.
Exhibitions in the Capital of Culture
The Gallery of Matica Srpska is boasting an impressive Collection of Jovanka Broz from 18 May, in cooperation with the Museum of Yugoslavia, which is really worth visiting. Paintings that adorned the living space of the first lady of Yugoslavia will be exhibited.
Visit the international exhibition Feminist Avant-Garde within the Heroines programme arcs, which will be open on 19 May at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina. The exhibition will present the works of 78 artists from all over the world, with a special focus on the local scene, which gave birth to artistic protagonists whose influence was far-reaching.
As part of the Heroines programme, the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection multimedia exhibition Heroines awaits you – it will open a day later, on 20 May, and will last until 15 July. You will have the opportunity to learn about seven artists from the collection of Pavle Beljanski: Nadežda Petrović, Zora Petrović, Ljubica Sokić, Milica Zorić, Vidosava Kovačević, Liza Križanić, and Leposava St. Pavlović. This project will include an exhibition of paintings, drawings, photographs, printed material that accompanies the catalogue, seven video presentations, a panel discussion and workshops, so we advise you not to miss it.
Rarities Exchange
On 7 May, the SCCNS Fabrika in the renovated Creative District will be transformed into a swap meet for vinyl, CDs, cassettes, comics, and books. If you are in search of an old edition or a rarity, visit Fabrika and you might have a chance of finding it; this exchange will be held regularly throughout the year, every other Saturday of the month. The rarities exchange will start at 11 a.m. and will last until 3 p.m., and the admission is free.
Literary Sail Along the Danube
A reading of excerpts from the book of travel essays ‘Along the Danube’ by contemporary Gulliver, the French writer of the younger generation Emmanuel Ruben, which talks about his bicycle travels along the Danube, from the Black Sea to the river spring in Schwarzwald, will take place on 9 May in Liberty Square. The forum ‘Literary Sail on the Danube” will take place on 10 May in CS Svilara, and on 11 May in the Bulevar Books bookstore.
Escape from the Museum
The Museum of Vojvodina has become a school, i.e., a playroom where an educational game for children aged 9 to 15 is organised every Monday from 11 a.m. – Escape from the Museum: Mythological Adventure. The game is created based on stories and historical objects on a permanent display, it lasts an hour, and admission is free.
Flavours of our Region
Experience the gastronomic pleasures to remember at the Open Kitchen event, which will be held on 20 May at the Liman Market. The creators of the greatest gastronomic delicacies will gather on this occasion with the goal of offering their specialities to as many hedonists as possible. If you are coming to Novi Sad for the first time, you mustn’t miss this! Experience the flavours of the region by tasting the delicious snacks that await you at Liman.
Cubanero Salsa Festival
This May, we are taking fans of salsa and Cuban music to the Cubanero Salsa Festival, one of the largest and most recognizable salsa festivals in this part of Europe, which takes place from 26 to 29 May. The programme will be organised at several locations in the city (follow the official website) and includes a variety of dance and music content, free workshops, concerts and performances. Mark these dates in the calendar, because you will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the basics of salsa while learning from the best lecturers.
Author: Marina Marić
Translation: Nemanja Jovanov
Photo: Jelena Ivanović
