Neighbourhood Festivals

Blackened faces, covered with sheepskin, wearing chequered shirts, black trousers, thick white woollen socks and heavy work shoes. On their heads they wear a skull dressed with sheepskin, around their necks black scarves. Parading through the villages, ringing they form a circle as though taking us back to our roots. The whole of Grobnik resounds.

The bell-ringers of this region have remained faithful to the tradition and the well-beaten paths that the Brežanski, Munski, Žejanski, Rukavački, Zvonejski, Vlahov Breg – Korensko, Mučićevi, Frlanski and Brgujski bell-ringers head down.

The University Campus programme is a unique example of a contemporary university campus of culture, with which connections with the community and the city are established. The academic community is an indispensable factor in the building of a new paradigm of the city of Rijeka. Get to know the Campus via the Open House activities and open the doors of knowledge hidden behind the university departments.

Lousiana’s Secrets is a story about a road which has lost its purpose. History speaks about an important traffic route, the present about the loss of identity without perspective, and the future about the city that wants to keep its inhabitants.

Kostrena’s micro-history, which is woven into its everyday life and the culture, is recorded in the Kostrena Ship audio-documentary collage and multimedia exhibit in the Port of Santo Domingo directed by Ljubica Letinić (HR) and in a performance by the inhabitants of Kostrena. The audio collages are made up of countless stories about Kostrena’s names, the people, maritime and women’s history, dialectal specificities, shipbuilding, the reading room of 1876, and the contribution of the women of Kostrena to the National Liberation Struggle (NOB) in WWII. The collages of stories, together with items from private family collections, have been combined into an exhibition called Notes of Life.

The Rab Archaeological Traces mobile application will be introduced from 19-21 November 2020 as a supplement to a project of the same name that has been initiated as part of the 27 Neighbourhoods flagship.

The Museum of Winter is a museum of stories and narration, and its exhibits become the peace and silence of Mrkopalj in the time of heavy snow when the fireplaces come alive and the household spirits appear. But it also worries that Mrkopalj is disappearing as the highland winters disappear!

Pehlin, a neighbourhood in Rijeka with a long history of being on the periphery, is today most recognisable as a multicultural community. Along with the Croatian population, also living here fostering their own cultural specificities are Roma and Czech communities as well as other communities. There are also many carnival groups working in Pehlin, and the Pehlin festival makers were one of the originators of the Rijeka Carnival. And that’s not all!

Čandek street, urban legends, punk, industry, alternative, technical culture, radio waves, the ISS - International Space Station, solar energy, sounds of space, NASA, MIT laboratory, innovators, urban salt works, graffiti, the INA refinery… all of these are common denominators of the Turnić-Mlaka neighbourhood.

The sea is the reason why young people are staying in the neighbourhood of Malinska. Salty Culture speaks about salt – the seasoning without which everything is tasteless, as well as about the sea as a great love and the spice of life.

Tancaj 2020 – is a new, fresh, unusual and fun dance festival in which young and old, local people and guests, professionals and amateurs dance in the streets, squares, beaches and all the possible and impossible places in the town of Krk. From folklore to Movementality!

Brod na Kupi is wild nature, a river and forest, and there is a border crossing hidden in the wilderness. The border zone is a specific form of a coexistence of neighbours, in this case, Brod na Kupi and Petrina who share administrate formalities such as Schengen and political views about the migrant crisis.

The Škurinje – Culture with a View programme explores and documents the history and future of the settlement within the context of the unfinished urbanisation and specific micro-locations of the city of Rijeka. The programme is aimed at fostering the creative and artistic activation of the neighbourhood, the forming of a stronger and more engaged community, the reminiscence of history and a view of the future, the creation of a green library of knowledge and inspiration focused on urbanism, and at an educational programme about urban green themes, do-it-yourself culture, and the creation of neighbourhood pockets for culture and art.

With the words "I'll turn you into a laurel tree!", like a magic formula spoken to visitors, the Lovran Neighbourhood introduces us to a program in which toponyms and anthroponyms, nature and community are thematically touched.

When we remember Vrbnik the melody of an old song about the girls from the town above the sea come to mind… Of course, Vrbnik is much more than that, and the people of Vrbnik show us that in their programme. In a circle of togetherness and good vibrations old and new spin, tradition and heritage with some new artistic ideas, alongside good wine and food at the manjaža feast, which should not be missed…

The Gomirje Accordion Mundial international accordion festival is an event that highlights the rich cultural heritage of the Gomirje Neighbourhood in Gorski Kotar by placing it in the wider context of the European and global music scenes, using the accordion as a conduit for presenting various cultures and musical styles. It connects cultures and traditions with music and puts Gomirje on the map of promoters of world music and the accordion as an instrument.

Wind Celebration is a festival of flying kites made of recycled objects and a constant reminder of the coexistence of man with nature, the energy of the wind, its power and the possibilities of its use.

When there’s a buzz it means it’s good. Lively. Happy. Loud. Particularly in summer. Summer without a buzz is not summer. The Novi Vinodolski Summer Buzz is an atmosphere with music, art and walks through Novi Vinodolski, filled with unusual activities.

In 1936, a group of young people gathered in a tiny village in northern Gorski Kotar with thirty-odd houses and, together with the illustrious Anton Burić, founded the Croatian reading room in Gornji Kuti. It was a book club and a learned society that paved the way of knowledge for future generations.

Revitalisation implies reanimation, revival, and each revitalisation begins with focussing on the problem. In the case of Cres, it concerns the folk architecture and contemporary life which is still framed by it.

From a distance, Praputnjak is truly a peculiar sight, with a long neat row of houses lining the road on the side of the mountain, prompting anyone who wants to take a picture of Praputnjak to climb the opposite hill in order to fit the whole view into frame.

Jelenje is where the Bora wind is born and the Rječina River emerges. What is life like in the largest and most significant water-protection area in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County?

Kotor hill and the old village on the top with its view of the Vinodolski channel and the island of Krk with its architecture bears witness to the history of Crikvenica and Vinodol. And this is why Kotor is calling! to support the spreading and cultivating the green zone of the town of Crikvenica.

In Fužine the demographic statistics sound harsh. The primary schools have been closing due to the lack of pupils. The school in Vrata has closed, whilst the school in Lič has only three pupils in the first and second grade. It is because of these three pupils that we are moving again into First and Second Class.

Primorje-Gorski Kotar County is a region of exceptional linguistic dialects and idioms. One of them is Kastav Chakavian which is spoken by fewer and fewer people today. The linguistic micro-location of the Kastav area is the starting point in the building of a European platform that connects themes linked to endangered languages.

The Drenova neighbourhood continues to bring together cultural workers and curious bystanders with new content, while doubling as a local coworking space and a place where one can spend time, share ideas and experiment.

Opatija provokes a longing for times past. Opatija could actually exist without people because in its perfect depictions, there are no people living there, only those famous ones who once visited it. From these memories it is worth moving onto the subject of the consequences of the tourist-consumer industrial invasion, specifically – the ecological disposal of rubbish and waste in tourism.