Keynote for the Heartefact Pride Theater Festival opening: Letter from Szymon Adamczak

Dear friends in Serbia,

If you are reading this, you are likely aware that Belgrade Pride is taking place on the 18th of September. You probably know more than me about the significance of this event and the difficult road that activists traveled to get to where they/we are today. A path taken despite pervasive hostility, acts of violence, and sheer unwillingness of others to embrace us as fellow human beings.

The word “pride” might be as foreign to you, as it is to me. In Poland, where I am from originally, we would go out with friends and other LGBTQI+ people to join Equality March, which later became known as Equality Parade. With each year, the streets became a bit friendlier, or perhaps more and more of us joined, and we just felt safer together. But in recent years politicians started to antagonize the society further by fuelling hate – first towards refugees, and later towards us. In the face of ongoing police brutality and the recent creation of anti-LGBTI+ zones – whose aim is solely to dehumanize us – we continue to march proudly in cities big and small.

As queer people, walking freely is one of the many things we want to be able to do. We are still marching for equality, and we are not even halfway there. We are not asking for equality — we demand it, we WANT it. When do we want it? NOW. The laws are not set in stone and the only thing inscribed in history should be our shared humanity. We must be able to join trade unions and be rightfully recognized as equals before the law – in Serbia, as well as in Poland. It is our right as citizens to be respected and be seen in the workplace, schools, and the healthcare system.

During the festival, I will be speaking from one of the stages of the National Theatre in Belgrade about a condition that has been stigmatized and politically overlooked, especially in countries like ours. I will be talking about HIV – living with it and being able to thrive. Even though I am personally in good health and can access the required medication, time and time again the world reminds us that viruses are a part of life and that we must speak openly about them without the burden of stigma and hindering judgment. We must practice transnational solidarity towards each other and build coalitions that can advance our societies in the future.

If you can relate to any of the above, then please – do get in touch! I will be in Belgrade until 19th September. See you at Pride, I am more than happy to talk.

See you at Pride!

Szymon Adamczak

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Open call for youth participation in the regional VIBE project

Heartefact announces an open call for young people from Serbia to participate in the regional VIBE project, implemented in cooperation with Arsis from Albania and Juventas from Montenegro. Fill out the application form by June 6, 2025.

CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS: GRANTS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC PROJECTS (REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA)

The Culture for Development project is announcing the Artistic Grant Scheme Call for project proposals to allocate grants for the implementation of artistic and cultural projects in the Republic of North Macedonia. The objective of this call is to support the development and implementation of socially relevant and culturally enriching contemporary artistic projects that promote diversity in artistic practices and expressions, address critical social issues, and foster community development.

Voices from the Margins – Seminar for Human Rights Defenders in Serbia Held

From April 24 to 27, 2025, the first seminar of the “Voices from the Margins” program was held in Ub, Serbia. The program aims to empower emerging human rights defenders from local communities across the country. The seminar brought together eleven participants from various cities and communities who, over an intensive four-day program, had the opportunity to strengthen their capacities for human rights work through lectures, workshops, and discussions.

Open Call: Beldocs Festival (Kosovo-Serbia Visiting Program)

Heartefact invites young people from Kosovo to apply for a four-day visit to Beldocs – the International Documentary Film Festival taking place in Belgrade. The visit will be organized from May 22 to May 25, 2025 (Thursday to Sunday), during the festival’s official dates of May 21 to May 27 2025.

Call for Project Proposals: Artistic Grants for Implementation of Cultural and Artistic Projects

Jana Milivojević at the residency in France as part of the Playground project

Our young author Jana Milivojević stayed in France, in Pont-a-Mousson, where during the one-week residency she developed and publicly presented her text “We don’t have a camper, and even if we did, we wouldn’t tell you”.

A seminar was held for the new generation of the Human Rights Leadership program

Heartefact, in partnership with the Slovenian 8th of March Institute, from March 27 to 30, 2025, organized a seminar within the project Human Rights Leadership. The goal of the seminar was to empower 18 activists from different parts of Serbia who were selected through a public call to participate in this one-year program.

Nađa Mišković at the residency in Romania as part of the Playground project

Our young playwright Nađa Mišković spent last week in Romania, in Targu Mures, where during her residency at Teatrul Ariel she worked on her text “Will we see the sun?” based on the motifs of the Turkish folk tale “80 eyes”.

Sarajevo successfully hosted the beginning of the Atelier program for young playwrights

Last week, Sarajevo successfully hosted the first module of the Atelier program workshop for young playwrights as part of the new Sarajevo Theater Showcase/New Theater Market project, funded by the European Union through the Creative Europe program.

Sarajevo Theatre Showcase – open call for the inaugural atelier for playwrights

Sarajevo Theatre Showcase announces an open call for the inaugural Atelier for Playwrights. We invite participants from the following countries to apply Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Slovenia, and Serbia.

The new Sarajevo Theatre Showcase launched in Sarajevo as part of the European project New Theatre Market

Today, a press conference was held in the Sarajevo War Theater (SARTR) on the occasion of the start of the New Theatre Market project, the crown of which is the newly established Sarajevo Theatre Showcase, which will be held in the second week of September in Sarajevo. The leader of the project is the SARTR theater with partners: Heartefact from Serbia, Ulysses Theater from Croatia, Binario Vivo from Italy and Para Film & Theatre from Norway.

The Festivity of Otherness was held in Paris

From January 9 to 11, 2025, the Festivity of Otherness was held in Paris. After the Zagreb version of the festival in November, when three plays created as part of the Eclectic of Otherness project co-financed by the European Union were shown on the theater stage of the Arterarij organization, Heartefact House hosted the Belgrade version of the festival in December last year. Lavoir Moderne Parisien hosted the Parisian version of the festival, rounding off the first three editions of the festival.