Opinion / 14 April 2020

OPEN GLOBAL CALL TO FESTIVALS AND OTHER LITERARY INSTITUTIONS

"Festival of Hope": A Global Virtual Poetry Initiative by Versopolis

Share

Dear festival directors, dear colleagues,

I hope, we hope. Many conversations, messages, emails or letters sent to you or by you in the last months begin with these words. Hope is the final, ultimate aspiration that stays caught in Pandora’s box after all evil is being released. Hope is a key concept of imagining a different, a better future in the most difficult, unpredictable and challenging times. 

Versopolis (www.versopolis-poetry.com), a platform of 30 European international poetry festivals, and the Versopolis Review (www.versopolis.com), a platform that publishes self-reflexive opinions of a range of authors on urgent social, political, ecological and cultural questions concerning Europe, aim to create a unique transnational opportunity, where hope can be reflected about, steered, demonstrated, poeticised, questioned and addressed. This opportunity will emerge as the„FESTIVAL OF HOPE“ , subtitled as The Versopolis Global Virtual Poetry Festival. The festival will take place online and simultaneously with numerous international partners and contributors, all coming together at the Versopolis Review website and other Versopolis channels, such as social media. 

Contrary to Pandora’s box it will be an open feast of literary creativity in many forms, a laboratory and a showcase of the most innovative approaches of how literature festivals and other intellectual institutions and enterprises across the continents envisage our common and interdependent future and, with the vessels of literature and creativity, fight back against radical political, social, ecological and economic appropriation of the situation.

Main programme will be hosted ONLINE daily from April 24th to April 30th with online events to follow later in the year.

Versopolis would be delighted if you joined this common venture and submit your contributions or, as we still like to call them, events. These events can range from online readings, photography, online talks, diaries, art videos, podcasts, etc., they basically include everything inventive and hopeful that presents your vision best. Please, keep in mind that these events will be presented to a wide global audience online, which means their dynamic should be suitable for that medium.

The condition of your submissions are as follows:

  • The length of video contributions can range from a couple of minutes to one hour
  • Submitted content should be available in English (subtitles in videos and other visual materials are mandatory)
  • Content can be live-streamed or pre-recorded
  • Already existing content IS permitted, but should be in line with the festival’s general outline and topic

At the same time, what we will need from you is:

  • an accompanying visual for the contribution
  • a logo (if this requirement does not apply, disregard it, of course)

We urge you to submit your events by 21st April by sending us your contributions by Wetransfer or a similar online client. 

Please feel free to get in touch with us as soon as you decide to participate in the Festival of Hope and to discuss all open and content-related questions. 

CONTACT:

Sabina Tavčar: sabina.tavcar@beletrina.si or Aljaž Koprivnikar: aljaz.koprivnikar@beletrina.si

The logo and the description of your festival or organization will be published on the main website. We will work towards establishing optimal visibility.

We kindly ask you to forward the invitation to collaborate to the partners that you estimate would be interested to respond. 

The Festival of Hope team: Aleš Šteger, Ana Schnabl, Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, Alma Čaušević, Ana Berlin, Aljaž Koprivnikar, Sabina Tavčar

Link to the Spanish translation of the open-call: 

https://www.versopolis.com/times/opinion/852/convocatoria-abierta-mundial-a-festivales-y-otras-instituciones-lierarias 

Link to the Chinese translation of the open-call: 

https://www.versopolis.com/times/opinion/851/n-a