The Danube Art Festival was announced with a small performance in Zagreb yesterday, with representatives of the cities of Zagreb and Vukovar and the Ministry of Tourism in attendance
The Danube Art Festival was announced by throwing a bottle to the Sava River and tasting the wines of the Zagreb and the Croatian Danube Regions (Hrvatsko Podunavlje), courtesy of Saša Zec, FAMA reports.
The Danube is geographically commonly known as a link between Central and South-Eastern Europe. This is why the founders Miran Hadži Veljković and Zlatko Petrović feel it should be one of the key elements in branding Croatia when it comes to destination or accommodation features.
They think that Croatia is insufficiently presented as a Danubian country, even though we have all the features and advantages to do it. This summer, Vukovar will be home to the Danube Art Festival, a unique project whose primary goal is to bring Danube region and Croatia closer together, and put Croatia on the map of Danubian countries.The Danube, as one of the most important European rivers, is linked to the cultures of 14 countries of the Danube Region Strategy, one of the four macro-regional strategies of the European Union. The aim of the project is to create an art platform that will make Vukovar and the Croatian Danube Region stand out as one of the centres of Priority Area 3: Culture and Tourism.
Danube Region Strategy
Find out more about the Strategy here.
We want to strongly support the development policy with a concrete project. The policy aims to brand the Croatian Danube Region as a unique tourist, cultural and wine and gourmet destination, the founders said.
The festival that flows and connects will interconnect Vukovar, Baranja and Erdut, turning them into a unique artistic experience that will bring top quality music to the Croatian Danube region while simultaneously promoting the cultural heritage values, and wine and gourmet richness. Another feature of the Danube Art Festival is that it will serve as a basis for establishing the Danube Region Art Festiva Foundation, which will help promote young musicians in Croatia through the provision of professional support.
"This year, we wish to emphasise the need for the development of all elements of the Croatian Danube region, especially those that have suffered the greatest devastation in the Homeland War, emphasising the importance of restoring its capacities, sparking the economy, developing agriculture, wine growing, tourism, gastro-tourism, and reviving cultural programs and heritage. This will be done in order to improve the living conditions and the coexistence of our citizens who live and work there, in open communication with other parts of the Croatian Danube Region as a trans-border European region," said the founders Hadži and Pajo, also known as Kraljevi ulice (Kings of the Street).
The festival will take place at different locations around the Croatian Danube Region June 29 - July 1. Find more information and the programme here.
