ARA ART's celebrations of International Romani Day: Jubilee in Prague marks its 10th year
The ARA ART association is holding the 10th jubilee year of its celebrations of International Romani Day in Prague this year, an event that has grown from one evening at the Meet Factory venue into a week-long festival full of art, discussions about the cultural future of the Roma, and music. The celebrations started in 2015 in response to the absence of any dignified, relevant commemoration of this day (8 April) which is so important, and have gradually become a cultural event of significance in Prague.
This day had been celebrated by Romani people in Prague before 2015, of course, but always at the level of their own communities and neighborhoods, producing local cultural events which had no chance of reaching the majority-society public space, and therefore did not reach the awareness of the broader, majority-society public. “From the very beginning, we wanted to establish a tradition of a big cultural event that would be held regularly and that would gradually grow, conveying cultural and social topics, giving space to various forms and genres of art, not just music, and that bringing professionals from different fields together, including artistic ones, and connecting them with each other,” David Tišer, the festival’s original initiator and director of ARA ART, the association that produces the event (which he also directs), told news server Romea.cz.
From one evening, the celebrations have grown into a week-long program, moving from the Meet Factory venue in Prague’s Smichov quarter to the La Fabrika theater in the Holešovice neighborhood before becoming a tradition for the last five years at the Archa theater in the New Town. This year the program will start on Thursday, 4 April, with a conference about the financing and the future of art and culture by Romani creatives, which will be attended by representatives of the biggest Romani cultural organizations and of several ministries.
On Friday, 5 April, the program will continue at the Vozovna community center in the Žižkov neighborhood with a theatrical performance of the Romani fairytale Pal e marikl’i and an afternoon concert by the famous group Bengas. That same evening another concert will be produced at the Slovanský dům by eminent Romani musicians and the only Romani woman bandleader in the Czech Republic, Barbora Botošová.
Petra Gelbart, a Romani graduate of Harvard University who is a musician and musicologist living in New York, is offering two music workshops over the weekend. “The first is intended mainly for adults and will take place on Sunday afternoon at the RomPraha organization’s spaces at Černý most, the second will be for children who can come that same day in the afternoon to Kampus Hybernská. That will be followed by a workshop of traditional Romani dances,” organizers said in a press release sent to Romea.cz.
Concerts are also planned for Saturday and Sunday evening: The Jazz Dock venue will see the legendary Kale band, while Igor Kmeťo, a Romani star from Slovakia, will perform at the Rock Café. Gelbart, Kale, Kmeťo and more important Romani performers such as Marsell Bendig, Lucie Bikárová, Antonín Gondolán and others will perform together on Monday, 8 April at the Archa + theatre for a gala evening.
“Our celebrations of International Romani Day are not produced by just one association or figure. We have 18 Romani and pro-Romani partner organizations collaborating with us from all over the republic, and I am convinced that together we are creating something of lasting value. I still believe the time will come when the majority society finally notices,” Tišer said.
The media partner of this year’s celebrations is news server Romea.cz.
THE POSTER FOR THIS YEAR’S CELEBRATIONS IN PRAGUE
