Culture Shock
Culture Shock Festival is international culture-educational festival taking place every March since 2008 (except in May 2005, 2006 and 2007) in the city of Križevci in Croatia, Europe. The whole month of youth activism, involving different workshops, exhibitions, concerts, public discussions and performances makes the city truly alive place for out-institutional education, cultural explorations and quality pursuit of free time.
The festival is organized by the “8-it-all” conceptual model (about what is the professional paper published and presented on the international interdisciplinary conference), offering exciting cultural, artistic and educational programs divided into the following groups: public discussions, concerts, audio sessions, movie projections, performances, theater and workshops.
Culture Shock Festival is the result of the joint efforts of two local non-governmental organizations: K.V.A.R.K. and P.O.I.N.T.. Their activists, volunteers and associates work together every year to establish “The month of cultural shocking”, free for everyone to join and participate in the exciting ways of building new approaches to the culture and education.
The project tends to solve a problem of citizens lacking the good quality urban programs in culture and education for youth, which are informing, motivating, discussion-driven on important social topics (independent culture, out-institutional education, contemporary art, popular science, new media). The two associations recognized they have enough resources in human, space and technical resources to realize such a project that commonly exist in larger urban areas.
Project indirectly targets the whole population of City of Križevci, but directly offers the programs to pupils and students. Number of direct participants or involved persons is around 900-1200, in all program units.
Križevci, Croatia
The central place of the festival is Culture Club in Križevci, run by K.V.A.R.K. association. It is settled in the ground area of Croatian National House, Mažuranić square 1, Križevci, including multifunctional hall for concerts, theater shows, projections and exhibitions, and also press conferences and various workshops. There is also an informatics classroom with free internet connection offered, audio-video laboratory and the management office.
Križevci is a town in central Croatia with a population of 22,324 (2001), the oldest town in its county, the Koprivnica-Križevci county. Križevci was the birthplace of a Catholic priest Marko who died at the hand of Calvinists in Košice in 1619, and was subsequently canonized because of his martyrdom. This event is commemorated every September 7th in Križevci.
These days the town is pretty much oriented towards mass entrepreneurship, but it still enjoys the greatest number of valuable and oldest monuments in the county (both in the town and its surroundings). Križevci has eight beautiful cathedrals, built mostly in the Middle Ages. In the oldest Gothic church of St. Cross, there are important Baroque pictures and a marble altar dating from 18th century (by Francesco Robba). Also interesting is the parish church of St. Anne from 17th century.
Culture Shock Festival represents over a-month-long culture-educational mix of shocking events for the local community, offering the content that is missing or is not present enough in the community, especially, but not exclusively, targeting the youth from the community. With the unique program of high quality and durance, the Culture Shock Festival extends the visibility of civil sector in Križevci and Koprivnica-Križevci County. The most important thing is that more and more youth is taking part on year-by-year basis, involving and taking part in creating the festival in their semi-urban town.