An Unusual Festival of Folk Arts
This year’s Festival of Folk Arts is being organised in terms of togetherness
Festival of Folk Arts will take place in a unique way in August and September this year. Programmes taking place in the Buda Castle between the 20th and 23rd of August will welcome audience up to 500 people due to epidemic restrictions. The Hungarian State Folk Ensemble, the Duna Art Ensemble, István Pál and his folk band, “folkTrend!” fashion show, Heritage Society and participants of FolKid Festival will be among the performers in the Buda Castle, while handicraft exhibitions and programmes will move to other cities in Hungary. Folk art markets and handicraft workshops will be organised altogether in seven places of the country throughout August and September.
The five biggest institutions in the field folk art culture joined in to organise the Festival of Folk Arts Programme Series complying with the restrictions of the epidemic regulations in Budapest between the 20th and 23rd of August. The event taking “Togetherness” as subtitle is being organised by the Festival of Folk Arts, the Hungarian Heritage House, Duna Carnival, the Heritage National Children and Youth Folk Art Association and the Hungarian Association of Folk Art Festivals in the Buda Castle. Handicraft programmes of the Festival of Folk Art will move to the countryside and programmes will take place in all parts of Hungary during August and September. Folk Art Markets, handicraft workshops, craft shows and creative folk activity centres will welcome visitors in seven cities around the country. Programmes will take places in Debrecen, Békéscsaba, Kisgyőr, Mezőkövesd, Miskolc, Székesfehérvár and Zalaegerszeg.
On the 20th of August in the Buda Castle area children and youngsters will show their talent in different platforms of folk arts throughout the whole day starting at around 3pm in the organisation of the Heritage Society. Beside stage performances there will be singing and dancing together, photo-corner, dance teaching and children’s activity ground. On the stage we will welcome Lajos Pál and his students, the young musical talents of Sarju Banda. Later during the day “folkTrend! – the tradition is old the style is new” – fashion show will go on stage. This is a fashion show that aims at promoting clothing inspired by tradition but also modern and suitable for everyday wear. In this year’s event we will see the creations of the winners of the 2019’s competition. It will be followed by the 2nd FolkKid Children’s Festival and the stage programme will be closed by the Dance Gala of the Heritage Society.
Main theme of this year’s Festival of Folk Arts is head covers. According to this the Association of Hungarian Folk Artists announced a competition for folk handicraft artists and designers. The best works of arts that were selected by the professional jury will be exhibited in the House of Heritage from the 21st of August. Official Opening and Award Giving Ceremony will be at 5pm on the 21st of August. The exhibitions will be open until the 6th of September.
On the 21st of August Duna Carnival is hosting the day and invites the folk dance production: The Village performed by Dezső Fitos Ensembly. After the dance performance we will see a jubilee concert of István Pál Szalonna.
On the 22nd connecting to the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Trianon Duna Carnival will present the dance performance of “A message home” performed by the Duna Art Ensemble and many other dance groups. The programme serious will be closed with performance of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble: Transcarpathia Summoned – inside and outside mountain passes.
Festival of Folk Arts is the festival of families. Some of its programmes will be organised in front of the building of the House of Heritage within the event of the City Folk Ground. There will be craft workshops, dance together and concerts for children in the afternoon, while folk and world music concerts and dance teaching will await for the audience until the late night hours each day.
