Prague to host first outdoor live art festival after months of lockdown
Prague will host a two day multi-genre festival of music, theatre performances and slam poetry starting Friday titled "Art belongs to the streets". It will be the first such event after the long months of coronavirus lockdown. I asked the festival’s director Jan Gregar what genres will be represented and what visitors to the capital can look forward to.
“Well, because it is a street festival there was no limitation as to genre –every visitor will find something they like. So you can come across jazz music, classical music, hip hop, pop music, folk music or electronic music. I would recommend that visitors go to our website Prahazijehudbou.cz and look at what is happening at various locations in Prague. And, as regards some of the highlights, I should definitely mention Laco Déczi or Minus 123 Minutes, that’s a combination of jazz and funk, but there will also be pop music singers such as Ondřej Ruml or Matěj Smutný from Slovakia and some amazing emerging stars such as Bara Zmeková or Aiko. I would also like to mention our cooperation with the Prague Spring Festival – there will be classical music at Emauzy.”
The festival has a six year tradition and was originally set up to support buskers and help discover new talent – how successful has it been in this respect?
“I think we can say that we have been successful, because every year we also open the program to amateurs and young talent because we want to help them to get used to being creative in the public space but also to present them to the broad public.”
“I have to say that it is amazing that we can finally do what is our job – present live art to the public. That is definitely encouraging after the long months without live art. On the other hand, we still have to fight Covid, so we are losing some artists because of quarantines and also because of the disease. We also want to bring top professionals to the public space in a way that you can experience in Paris, London or New York and I am very glad that Laco Deczi and other well-known artists support the idea and are willing to go and play in the streets live.”
