52ND INTERNATIONAL FOLKLORE FESTIVAL

18 to 22 July 2018

The affirmation of values of the national culture that make up the native-place dance, music, language and modes of expression along with traditional craftsmanship, skills and cultural values of countries around the world will be shown in the program of the 52nd International Folklore Festival. The main theme – Heritage and Migrations – is in accordance with the proclamation of 2018 as the European Year of Cultural Heritage, making the Festival part of this program by the Ministry of Culture. Performances will be held by folklore groups and individuals representing the diversity of Croatian ethnographic heritage, representatives of national minorities, Croats from neighboring countries and the diaspora (a total of 20 groups), along with 15 ensembles representing the heritage of other peoples and cultures. The main festival program will last five days and will be comprised of stage performances, dance and music workshops, folk theatre, ethno music concerts (Ethno Croatia – summer camp of the International Cultural Centre of the Hrvatske glazbene mladeži u Grožnjanu – JMC, Grožnjan; mariachi – Mexico-Croatia) and

church folk singing at Saint Catherine Church.
previous years, the Croatian Parliament. The theme of Heritage and Migration gathers groups that perform the folklore tradition of the old native-place regardless of the period in which they left it. It is known that migrations were carried out as a result of wars, colonization and the agrarian reforms, that is economic reasons as well, which is why we can talk about collective migrations of particular communities (like Croats from the Bay of Kotor). However, individuals who are creating new homes in the places of settlement are also moving, encouraging at the same time the creative processes by which they promote the cultural heritage of the country they came from (e.g. Irish dance in Croatia). In co-operation with the Croatian Heritage Foundation, the festival will feature groups of Croats from the far diaspora (New Zealand and Canada), along with a photography exhibition in the Croatian Heritage Foundation. The program of the festival will also showcase the elements of culture that, thanks to the migrations of their bearers, also travelled and remained in certain areas and eventually became accepted as the local customs of a particular cultural heritage (e.g. bećarac in Slavonia, Lika, Ravni Kotari, Dalmatinska Zagora, Bosnia and Herzegovina).
The program is realized in cooperation with the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, the

Ethnographic Museums in Zagreb and Pazin, Klovićevi Dvori Gallery, Cultural Center Travno, Croatian Heritage Foundation, Academy of Music, POU Otočac – Open University, as well as the embassies of the guest ensembles from abroad.
In the European Year of Cultural Heritage, the International Folklore Festival is held under the auspices of Croatian Commission for UNESCO and, as in the