The Show Must Go On

As part of the C-Change project, Sibenik’s local stakeholder Group (ULG) spent many months planning and designing a series of events to bring the community together and deliver an interesting, educational, and fun festival for all age groups. The festival was planned to coincide with national Earth Day in April and complement its climate change theme.

The arrival of the global pandemic in March brought cancellation of the festival but this didn’t deter the passion of the partners involved so they adapted plans and went ahead with delivering an interactive and educational programme to its citizens.

The festival ran from the 28th of September until the 28th of October beginning with an art exhibition ‘Between Earth and Sky’ by painter Ana Polić Pavlinović set in the studio of the St. Krševan’s Gallery. The exhibition theme was to highlight the earth’s beauty we should want to preserve.

The programme continued with a range of exhibitions each with an important and impactful message to its audience which ranged across all ages including children. With so many activities to showcase, here is a snapshot of what the festival had to offer;

Canvas bags were handed out by students from the Polytechnic of Šibenik and the Library Association Šibenik at the open market, pointing out the problem of using plastic bags and disposable plastic. The bags were produced from the award winning pilot action programme "ŠI - plastic free", which aims to educate students and citizens about the harmfulness of disposable plastic. The event was featured by local journalists, local and national television!

The City of Sibenik Museum opened its tower dungeon for the first time to its citizens; members of the association Fotoklub Šibenik exhibiting works with the topic of environmental protection, showing both natural beauty and the consequences of climate change that are already visible in the local area. The title of the exhibition "Close enough" was inspired by Robert Capa, a Hungarian-American war photographer, who once said: "If your photos are not good enough, you are not close enough."

An exhibition of paintings by Katarina Urem, called "Near the Sky" accompanied by text that said: “Landscape, both sea and mountain, and the bark of trees and roots are the artist’s motif. Contemporary artistic movements are increasingly returning to their origins, so in the future, in the light of the fight against climate change, this primary dialogue will probably be stronger and more active.” The author of this exhibition is a member of the URBACT local group and part of the festival planning, giving it stronger significance.

A children’s art exhibition showcased the results of an art competition with the topic of climate change tasked to primary school students. They were asked to independently design a poster and understand the meaning of environmental protection. Children and groups were awarded for their contribution and was covered by local and regional television and a local radio station. 

• A book fair for exchanging and distributing free of charge with a small photo exhibition of mobile libraries and small open libraries that can be found throughout the county and videosfeaturing works of DIY projects for visitors, showing how a bookmobile or a small open-air library was created and how previously used materials were reused.
• An art installation "Transgression" was presented by the authors Danijel Hrg "transgression" means rising sea levels and the expansion of sea surfaces on Earth The artists visual representaion indicates the consequences of climate change and how they will affect the coast of Šibenik and now act as a permanent reminder.
• A presentation of the ‘Eco collection’ in the City Library Juraj Šižgorić, an event that connected the Croatian Book Month event and the C - Change festival. The aim of Croatian Book Month is to highlight the importance of books and libraries and their impact on the personal lives of individuals and society as a whole. The material, which consists of over a hundred titles of books and magazines that deal with the topics of ecology, land protection and sustainable development, has been extracted to encourage users to borrow and read them. This is an excellent example of good practice that can be easily transferred to other libraries.

Carbon Literacy training was delivered to members of cultural institutions, individuals from the arts and culture sector and employees of the Polytechnic of Šibenik. The training was led by environmental activist and president of the Tatavaka Association Ivana Kordić and a member of the initiative "Zlarin – plastic free island"

The huge diversity, ideas and success of this festival is credit to the determined and passionate people who created a programme of events delivered to its citizens during the most challenging of times. Proving that despite a global pandemic, the need to tackle climate change does not stop and citizen engagement is the key to sustainable change that makes a difference.

The success of the Sibenik festival is a shining example of how to create, engage, participate and educate citizens, which the C-Change project is proud to share.