The street art fest On Seven Winds will take place as part of the 26th international art festival, BelTA learned from the forum's director Alexander Sidorenko on 7 June.

According to the source, a number of additional venues will be available apart from the main one — the Summer Amphitheater. Those include the Vitebsk Concert Hall, the Yakub Kolas Drama Theater, the local philharmonic as well as open-air stages. These venues will host as interesting events as those at the main venue, assured the forum's director.

One of them will be the third street art fest On Seven Winds, which will take place in Vitebsk's streets and squares on 14-16 July. The number of its participants grows larger every year. The event gradually becomes more and more popular. It will feature projects by street theaters, musicians, street performers, puppet theaters and artists.

Apart from that, Street Picnic will be arranged in the open air as part of Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk for the first time ever. Alexander Sidorenko noted that Street Picnic will allow visitors to get familiar with culinary arts of various countries — Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Russia. Performances by youth rock music bands and by artists participating in the On Seven Winds fest will be arranged.

The Puppet Block project will continue developing. Its program will include performances for children and adults by the Belarusian puppet theater Lyalka, the Grodno Puppet Theater (Belarus), the Moscow Puppet Theater, the Belgorod State Puppet Theater (Russia), the Kiev Academic Puppet Theater (Ukraine), and the Albatross Theater (Sweden). The program will also include the original project My Road… by Ivan Kirchuk, the leader of the ethno music band Troitsa. An anthology of Belarusian folklore in an interactive and theatricalized form will feature 40 songs performed using over 30 folk instruments.

Just like in previous years Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk is expected to set records. During the previous festival artists, government officials, poets, and members of the general public recited one thousand verses about Vitebsk. There are several ideas for this year's festival, too. "It may be one thousand photos or some other kind of performance," said Alexander Sidorenko.

In his words, partners from Latvia have come up with an interesting suggestion. They suggest carving the world's largest wooden spoon in the days of Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk. The director of the festival also assured that arts and crafts will be traditionally widely represented during the forum.

The 26th international art festival Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk is scheduled to take place on 13-17 July. Additional events will be arranged on 10-12 July and 18-19 July. The 26th international pop song contest Vitebsk and the 15th international children music contest Vitebsk will be the core events, around which the other events will unfold.

BELARUSIAN NEWS