The first and only time I applied to Faki Festival Zagreb was in 2014, with a proposal to make a show about Climate Change spoken entirely in Indonesian with no subtitles. I still vividly remember the one-line reply from Artistic Director, Irena Čurik, "Richard you are accepted but we will need to discuss some things soon".
It's still a mantra that holds true in Faki Festival today - 'you are accepted, and we will need to discuss some things soon'. The openness of the festival is one of its key features, and especially at the moment, with so many losing the vital link to culture and togetherness. Through the festival theme of ESCAPE!, Faki has an important role to play in creating the togetherness and cooperation that will show a way out of the pandemic.
As Artistic Director of Faki 24, I will be hanging up my critical writing keyboard temporarily, and migrating activities over to the Artistic Director's Log, lovingly crafted with Vedran Gligio. That can be found here:
The Open Call, a result of many months of consultation with international arts professionals, is Open until March 5th, and can be found here:
https://attack.hr/faki24-open-call/
See you on the other side!
Your Correspondent
