Festival of Hope 2
Festival of Hope – “Speaking up!”
The Festival of Hope, a global initiative of Versopolis, which started in 2020 has proven that when the system shuts down, people are still able to recognize the important value of culture and art. The unexpected response to the first edition of the festival, encouraged us to continue with the second edition of the festival, which was supposed to take place between 21st of January and 28th of February but extended until the end of March 2021.
With the second Festival of Hope we called a special attention to the ability to tell the truth, to speak up and to be heard. With the slogan “Speaking up!” we addressed the global community to share inspiring artistic ways of speaking up and telling the truth, regardless of obstacles, especially since art and literature play a crucial role in lending a voice to the oppressed, the weak and the excluded. The second edition's festival put its special focus on the geographical area of Eastern and Central Europe, the Caucasus, the Balkans and Turkey, where the social and political challenges were addressed in a series of curated virtual round tables with international and renowned speakers, reaching more than 350.000 views on our digital channels and media.
With giving voice to the global community, alongside organizing the virtual round tables, we supported and showcased more than 60 different and valuable artistic reaction that reached people and raised necessary awareness, for believing that establishing a dialogue can be the answer to the past and current crisis. Together with more than 52 international organizations and audiences from all around the globe we in 2021 once again succeeded in our goal, to show that in spite of everything there is always hope.
