Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture project has helped the art scene of the city flourish. It has also enriched the year-round programme and the cultural life of Novi Sad residents and visitors, which is evidenced by the three important festivals held this year that have entered the race for the best European festivals in 2022. Doček, Vila and Flags of the Future are art festivals, which were among the seven festivals from Serbia nominated for this prestigious award, at the twelfth European Festival Awards. Find out below how you can vote for your Novi Sad.

Recognitions and awards speak for the success of the European Capital of Culture project so far, and to the pride of all the people of Novi Sad, which is one of the few cities whose festivals, were nominated for the European Festival Awards for the first time, and offered new artistic value, but also new practices of organisation, implementation, and sustainability of such events, now recognised at the European level as well.

The ECoC title year is coming to an end, however, a lasting legacy in the form of new and already awarded prizes will remain in Novi Sad – making us all proud

The Strategy That Made Novi Sad Stand Out on the Map of Europe

Let us also look back at the time during and after the global pandemic crisis, which disrupted the whole world, when cultural events especially suffered, including all the European Capitals of Culture projects. Nevertheless, thanks to the ten-year City Cultural Development Strategy, the first of its kind adopted in Serbia, through the European Capital of Culture project, after the pandemic, Novi Sad managed to develop and successfully hold innovative live festivals, which stand out not only for combining different types of art but also for the strategic development of the audience and content for the most diverse visitors, as well as decentralisation of culture, i.e. discovering and activating the potential of various locations and spaces throughout the city and its surroundings.

Novi Sad Offered the Very Best

By combining performance with visual art, Doček has already been recognised at the European level as a unique artistic celebration of two New Years. As such, it earned the award for European Trend Brand in the field of culture last year. The Vila Festival blended an unforgettable experience in nature, in the heart of the Fruška Gora National Park, with female creativity in the most diverse forms of art. The Flags of the Future revived the District, a restored industrial heritage on the banks of the Danube, and breathed the energy of young people into it, through contemporary creativity.

Doček, Vila and Flags of the Future Festivals in the Race for the Best in Europe

European Festival Awards are given across 16 categories. Novi Sad festivals are in the running for three. Doček was nominated in the Best Indoor Festival category, while Vila Festival is in the running for recognition in the Best New Festival category. The audience cannot vote for the Flags of the Future, because this festival was placed in a category specially created for the year 2022 as the European Year of Youth, where the decision is made exclusively by the jury.

In addition to these, four more Serbian festivals are re-entering the race in the categories they were proudly in during previous years — Exit in the Best Major Festival category, Lovefest in the Best Medium Festival category, Arsenal Fest for Best Small Festival, and No Sleep Festival in the Best Indoor Festival category.

How to Vote?

We kindly invite you to spare a couple of minutes and vote for Novi Sad – for the best that this city has to offer. Voting is available to the public on the European Festival Awards website. Let us prove once again that in European Novi Sad, culture is a way of life. The Novi Sad way.

Vote HERE.

The 12th edition of the European Festival Awards will be held on 18 January 2023 at De Oosterpoort, a cultural centre in Groningen, the Netherlands.

Photo: Jelena Ivanović, Vladimir Veličković, Marko Ristić, Marko Pudić