From 21 February to 28 February, as part of the Ritual Gatherings project, a practical field training was carried out in Norway, which included members of the festival team as well as two regional artists from Bulgaria.
The training took the form of practical work as part of the organization and running of Europe's northernmost festival, Barents Spektakel, an interdisciplinary cultural festival organized by Norwegian partner Pikene Pa Broen under the Ritual Gatherings: Traditional Rituals and Interactive Contemporary Art - Mechanisms for Building Communities and Achieving Sustainable Cultural Ecosystems project.
Barents Spektakel is an annual event that builds cultural bridges across real and imagined boundaries. The six-day festival features works and performances from the fields of contemporary art, theatre, music, debates, films, performances and a conceptual bar. Through these different elements, the festival aims to become a meeting place for all those interested in cultural and social issues related to the far north. The festival was first launched in 2004 and is held every year in February, just as the long polar night comes to an end.
The journey was a real adventure for the 4-member team as it had to reach the town of Kirkenes, nearly 2000km north of Oslo, where temperatures reached -29C.
Artists from over 15 countries from all over the world took part in the varied program, and the Ritual Gatherings team had the opportunity to meet each and every one of them.
The Bulgarian team assisted with the planning and management of the festival venues, hospitality and logistics of artists, as well as the creation of official photo and video content for Barents Spektakel.
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Ritual Gatherings: Traditional Rituals and Interactive Contemporary Art - Mechanisms for Building Communities and Achieving Sustainable Cultural Ecosystems” (Project BGCULTURE-2.001-0117-C01) is implemented with the financial support provided by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EEA Financial Mechanism to the amount of EUR 199,984. The project is part of the OP “Cultural Entrepreneurship, Heritage and Cooperation” Result 2 “Improved access to arts and culture”.
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