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La Nomad House an international traveling cultural festival for multiculturalism, integration and peaceful coexistence of peoples
22 until May 27, 2024, Thessaloniki, statue of Alexander the Great
A unique cultural festival was organized from 22 to 27 May at the statue of Alexander the Great. It was the international traveling multidisciplinary festival “La Nomad House” The festival was organized by the United Societies of Balkans (USB) in collaboration with the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Childcare, Family and Civil Society of the Municipality of Thessaloniki and under the auspices of the Cultural Center of the Region of Central Macedonia.
About La Nomad House
The festival took place as part of the project “La Nomad House”, which is co-funded by the European program CREATIVE EUROPE. The project started in 2023 and will be completed by the end of 2024. Its aim is to raise aw
areness of migration and multiculturalism in local communities and to promote the principles of inclusion and respect for diversity through art. The participating countries are Greece, Belgium, Tunisia, France, Italy and Germany. The coordinating partner of the project is the well-known Belgian theater “Les Nouveaux Disparus”
The activities of the project are diverse and include intercultural theater workshops, the exchange of best practices and pedagogical meetings, the organization of scientific conferences in each country as well as the organization of the multidisciplinary festivals “La Nomad House”, which will take place in all countries under the coordination and infrastructure of provided by the project leader “Compagnie des Nouveaux Disparus.” The Belgian Theater Company “Compagnie des Nouveaux Disparus” is based in Brussels and is particularly known for its performances that focus on contemporary social issues.
More: www.lanomadhouse.com
Le Nomad House in Thessaloniki from USB
In the garden of Alexander the Great, colorful tents were set up for performances, workshops, information stands and a photo exhibition. The festival was attended by more than 3,500 people from Thessaloniki. The organization was supported by 38 civil society organizations from Thessaloniki (ThessDiktio & Select Respect), dozens of well-known artists and artist groups, such as the theater group Mikros Voras, the circus group Monokyklo, the puppet theater group ALANTALOUMPA, the music group KROUSMATA and the storytellers Anthi Thanou and Rodanthi Dimitresi.
The international multilingual theater performance “Le Songe” was shown daily on the festival's main stage. The performance is the result of the joint preparation of Greek and foreign artists and is based on Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream” Supervision of the production: Compagnie des Nouveaux Disparus (Belgium). Directed by Jamal Youssfi.
Every day, children and adults took part in interactive workshops on the workshop stage, volunteered by organizations such as Action Art/Visual Actions, ARSIS, AristoTales, United Societies of Balkans, Workshop Without Borders, incontACT, UNESCO Youth Club of Thessaloniki, Schedia in the City and YMCA.
On Thursday, May 23, the academic conference entitled “Exploring Migration from the Perspective of Reception Policies: Humanitarian or Political Crisis?” was held in cooperation with the Select Respect network. During the conference, invited professors from Panteion College and Democritus College of Thrace, as well as collaborators from the field of refugee issues, revisited the topic of integration of refugees and migrants in order to develop proposals at both local and European level.
On the afternoons (17:00-21:00) of Friday, May 24 and Saturday, May 25, organizations from Thessaloniki working for human rights were present on the Civil Society Stage to inform the public about their activities. Among the participants were: Alkyoni - Refugee Day Center, Antigone - Information and Documentation Center for Racism, Ecology, Peace and Nonviolence, Naomi - Ecumenical Workshop for Refugees, UNESCO Youth Club of Thessaloniki, Select Respect - Human Rights Network, ThessDiktio - Thessaloniki Civil Society Network, Faros tou Kosmou, and YMCA.
The public also had the opportunity to see the photo exhibition “Beyond Borders” by photojournalist Selene Magnolia Gatti, which was inspired by the stories of refugees and migrants.
On Friday, May 24, and Monday, May 27, elementary schools from Thessaloniki were hosted in the mornings (09:00-13:00) to attend educational programs and the international multilingual theater performance “Le Songe”.
