With the panel “Silence Is Not Golden,” we launched a campaign that encourages to speak up!

HRL News

Organized by Heartefact, the panel titled Silence Is Not Golden marked the launch of a campaign of the same name, aimed at empowering individuals to recognize, understand, and respond to violence — rather than remain silent.

This important campaign began immediately following the performance of our play How I Learned to Drive, which deals with abuse in close relationships, trauma, and the process of confronting one’s past. The play served as a powerful emotional and thematic introduction to the panel discussion that followed, which brought together the audience, alumnae, and activists from our Human Rights Leadership program.

The discussion was moderated by Iva Parađanin from Tampon Zona, with the following panelists:

Jovana Markulić from the Autonomous Women’s Center,
Biljana Petrović, psychotherapist, and
Tara Manić, director of the play.

The panel explored the ethical considerations of addressing such sensitive topics on stage and in collaboration with actors, as well as the importance of being mindful of audience members who may have experienced violence. Markulić and Petrović focused on why people are often afraid to speak up, how to truly listen to survivors, and engaged in an open dialogue with the audience, inspired by their impressions of the performance.

The Silence Is Not Golden campaign will continue over the coming months through a video series and accompanying activities that explore the dynamics of speaking out and staying silent, featuring around ten activists — all participants of our Human Rights Leadership program.

The Human Rights Leadership program is implemented with the financial support of the European Union and the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue. Heartefact is solely responsible for the content of this publication, which does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or other donors.

Photo: Đorđe Jovanović

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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.

Heartefact Fund is looking for the Financial and Administrative Grant Officer to support the implementation of the Culture for Development project in North Macedonia

Heartefact Fund is looking for the Financial and Administrative Grant Officer to support the implementation of the Culture for Development project in North Macedonia. Funded by the Swiss Agency for the Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Culture for Development project will be managed by the Heartefact Fund and is launching in January 2025 with a four-year duration.

Heartefact Fund is looking for the Program Grant Officer to support the implementation of the Culture for Development Project in North Macedonia

Heartefact Fund is looking for the Program Grant Officer to support the implementation of the Culture for Development Project in North Macedonia. Funded by the Swiss Agency for the Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Culture for Development Project will be managed by the Heartefact Fund and is set to launch in January 2025 with a four-year duration.

We Presented the Slavic Soundwalking Application to Senior Citizens

In Belgrade, we held an incredibly inspiring meeting with representatives of several civil sector organizations working with senior citizens and their quality of life.

The Festivity of Otherness was held in the Heartefact House in Belgrade

From December 5 to 7, 2024, the Festivity of Otherness was held in Belgrade. After the Zagreb version of the festivity in November, when three performances 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.

Final partners’ meeting and poetry performance in Ljubljana as part of the POT-VOT project

From November 25 to 27, 2024, in Ljubljana, in Pionirski dom, the last partners’ meeting was held as part of the Poets of Today, Voices of Tomorrow project. After more than two years of various activities dedicated to the promotion of contemporary poetry among young people and the general population, the last meeting of 5 partners from Slovenia, Serbia, Finland, Hungary and Poland was used to recapitulate and evaluate the project.

Sofija Dimitrijević at the Playground residency in Rome

At the beginning of November, playwright Sofija Dimitrijević participated in the first of 12 residencies within the Playground project, which Heartefact implements with partners from Italy, France and Romania. The innovativeness of the project lies in the fact that it was designed with the idea of establishing a more complex and comprehensive cooperation between the various professions involved in the theater process – playwrights, directors, translators and performers.

Billboard campaign “Poets of today, voices of tomorrow” in Belgrade

From November 11 to 17, Heartefact ran a billboard campaign in the main pedestrian street in Belgrade, in Knez Mihailova, with the aim of promoting the poetry of our young contemporary poets. The verses of Jelena Marinkov, Aleksa Krstić, Tihana Smiljanić, Milica Milosavljević and Marija Dragnić, in the design of Miroslav Živanov, were found in several locations along the entire street.

Second Slavic Soundwalk Through Belgrade

Starting at 12 PM, we gathered at the Main Post Office, the first location, and then continued walking while listening to the stories at different locations, including the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, the Hall of the Cultural Center of Belgrade, and finally concluded the walk at Atelje 212.