International Street Art Festival TheatAir

This year – in four neighborhoods from 5 to 8 September 

The International Street Arts Festival TheatAir will be held in Plovdiv for the eleventh time. The event, which began its history as a module of the International Puppet and Theater Festival "Three are too Many, Two - Not Enough", now stands out as an independent forum and for the first time has an off-program.

Part of it is a Master class for debuting puppet directors with mentor Elitsa Petkova, known to the public as the director of the performances "Dunno in the Sunny City" and "The Invisible Tonino". Five selected participants are tutored on various topics from August 30th to September 5th. On September 5th is the official opening of the festival and an open rehearsal of the director's master class from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The main program begins with the opening of an exhibition of pastel works by the doyenne of the Plovdiv puppet theater Panayot Dobrev – Ponko at 5:00 p.m., the program continues at 5:30 p.m. with a procession with the Maritza Brass Band and the street performance "Family Zone" along Main Street to Viennese Pavilion. There we will watch and listen to Grande Cantagiro Barattoli - a wonderful Italian group of street musicians-puppeteers. The Viennese pavilion will become the scene of the exceptional interactive performance of the world-famous Belgian clown Elastic.

The program continues on the Open-air Stage of the theater at 9p.m. with a performance by Las Sombras Chinas from Spain - "Don't Touch My Hands" and ends with a concert by the virtuoso musicians from the Angel Demirev Trio.

After the first day of the festival, which will delight the spectators in the center of Plovdiv, TheatAir is coming to three more districts. The impressive international program will be in Karshiyaka district on the 6th, in Trakiya on the 7th, in Kyuchuk Paris on the 8th of September. The events start at 17:30 at each of the locations, with the program ending each day with a different acoustic concert.

On the 9th of September, as part of the off-program of TheatAir, two events will be held in the puppet theater, jointly organized with the Association of Puppet Theaters - Unima, Bulgaria. At 2 p.m. Mihail Baikov Phd. will present the only puppet theater magazine in our country, "KuklArt", and guests will be able to purchase archive issues, as well as the latest issue 17 for 2023. At 3:00 p.m., the first-ever Puppet Director's Exchange begins. The event gives both directors and managers of state, municipal and private cultural institutes the opportunity to get to know each other and find ways to work together.

The TheatAir street arts festival is realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Plovdiv.