Off Frame Festival / Festival Van okvira

The organizers of the “Off Frame” Festival of Socially Engaged Theater will both open and close the festival on the same evening this year.
This act expresses our response to the attitude of relevant institutions toward independent (non-institutional) artistic work.

This year, support from the Belgrade City Secretariat for Culture and the Ministry of Culture has been entirely absent — despite the fact that in previous years the festival served as a platform for the artistic engagement of various marginalized social groups and brought together organizations working in non-institutional, socially engaged art.

It seems that the situation in which the festival now finds itself is an example of the increasingly widespread marginalization of cultural organizations, both in terms of social relevance and economic viability.
For example, the national budget for culture this year accounts for only about 0.7% of the total budget, and of that already small amount, only 0.87% is allocated to civil society organizations working in culture.
Other parts of society don’t seem to be in much better shape.

We invite you to join us on December 6th at 20:00 at the REX Cultural Center (Jevrejska 16, Belgrade), so that together — in an act of protest — we can open and close the festival on the same night.