The Festival Starts Today: Ceremonial Procession and Numerous Surprises

The Street Musicians Festival, which will be held during the upcoming weekend at the Suburbium of Petrovaradin Fortress, will be opened this night with a ceremonial procession of participants and citizens from Liberty Square to Belgrade Gate. The procession will move through Modena Street and Mihajlo Pupin Boulevard, across the bridge, to Belgrade Gate, where the evening’s main stars will make their perform, the jazz-pop band Moon Hooch from New York City.

The gathering for the procession of both participants and citizens is scheduled for 19h (7 PM) at the main city square, from where a column will form and head into the direction of the Suburbium. The procession will be led by visual artists on bicycles VJ Suave from Brazil, with participation from Haos Animators, the artistic troupe Sutton Beres Culler from USA, students from the Faculty of Technical Science at the Department for Stage Design, members of the Ephemeral Association responsible for the concept of the opening, around 200 cyclists from Novi Sad’s Bicycle Initiative, and over one thousand citizens of Novi Sad and their visitors. The remaining program during the first evening at the Suburbium will include performances by Fratelli Marelli, Human Jukebox, Senor Marküsen and Sava Miletić Quartet.

Traffic for motorized vehicles at Mihajlo Pupin Boulevard and the bridge will occur only in one lane, while the other will be reserved for participants. The Suburbium itself during all three days of the Festival will be closed off for traffic from 17h (5 PM) to 2h (2 AM). Novi Sad’s Bicycle Initiative and the Festival organizers urge all citizens to arrive at the event by bicycle, in true spirit of a healthy lifestyle and in order to relieve any possible traffic jams.

A special bus line for Festival visitors will operate from Liberty Square to the Suburbium every half hour on Friday and Saturday from 17h (5PM) to 23h (11PM), and will be completely free. The transportation of Festival visitors is a collaboration between the friends of the event JGSP Novi Sad and the Festival’s media partner AS FM Radio Station.

The artistic program on Friday and Saturday at the Street Musicians Festival will start at 18h (6 PM) and end one hour after midnight. Over 160 participants, arriving from USA, Brazil, Australia, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia, will perform at over 14 festival points across the Suburbium.

A novelty at the Festival will be the open-air cinema beside “Josif” Powder Mill, which will be realized in partnership with the Cinema City Film Festival. The Festival booklet with the complete timetable and program is available at the offices of Tourist Organization of Novi Sad in Jevrejska Street and Mihajlo Pupin Boulevard, as well as the Festival info desk on Vladika Nikolaj Square at the Suburbium.

Just like every year, the entrance to the entire program will be completely free. The Street Musicians Festival is organized by the Art Association “Inbox” from Novi Sad, supported by the City of Novi Sad, Tourist Organization of Novi Sad and the Embassies of the United States of America and the Republic of Hungary in Belgrade, MTS, Generali Insurance Serbia and the Serbian Petroleum Industry.

Festival Money

The offer of refreshments for Festival visitors will this year, beside non-alcoholic beverages, also include exclusive craft beer products by four local breweries. The purchase of drinks at bars will be possible in Vladimir Nazor Street during all three Festival days, and at “Josif” Powder Mill on Friday and Saturday, while the transaction will take place exclusively with the help of official festival money, which will be available for purchased at points of sale near the bars themselves. Each Festival day will have its own specific money design, so it is important to exchange the unspent money at the same point of sale, since they will not be valid the following day.