Kids must never get bored…
As it is known internationally, Croatia is an exceptionally beautiful country with uncountable places to go, to see and to enjoy.
It is much less known that during the tourist season, it also becomes a country of festivals of all kinds – wine, food, music, theatre, opera, you name it, there is some kind of event in almost every town, even the smallest place anywhere along the coast and on the islands.
Šibenik is one of those astonishing Croatian medieval towns, sculpted entirely in stone and situated in a picturesque meandering bay on the sparkling Adriatic.
It was 57 years ago that, someone came to the realisation that kids were becoming impossible on day one after the school is out – bored, all they did was play and fight in the acoustic stone lanes, producing unbearable noise that was disturbing the obligatory mid-afternoon siesta in the most severe of ways. The medicine was found in an organised series of small events and workshops that engaged their time, the brass band announced the upcoming ‘‘thing for kids’’ and the mayor gave a speech in the main square.
The streets went pretty much silent. And a big event was born – the Šibenik International Festival for Children. In the immediate seasons that followed, the festival grew into the biggest children’s festival in all of the former Yugoslavia, and remains as one of the biggest events of its sort in the world. There is practically no country from which at least one artist has not taken part. The programme kept growing and growing – this year, after the traditional majestic opening ceremony on the 17th of June, all the way until the 1st of July, the festival is going to present a total of 52 theatre and street art productions, of which 16 come from 12 different countries and continents.
A very special part included the 40 impressive and original workshops with more than 1000 children participating. And it is so good to know – children not only learn about things, like how to write a short story, how a film is made, how to make a radio broadcast, how to make a sculpture, how waste is recycled, how to write a blog, etc. – what matters is that the festival is, at the same time, a huge educational manifestation that provokes children’s interest and imagination and, in the long run, potentially produces artists and professionals acquainted with some fields of professional life since their early years.
If you happen to be in or around Šibenik between the 17th of June and the 1st of July, 2017, and are either interested in this multi-varied and multilingual entertaining manifestation yourself, or if your kids keep asking for more ice cream out of pure boredom, click on the link here.
Your kids will love it!
