Festivals are large celebrations which bring together all the citizens to create and promote the narrative of their city to the collective imagination. A Festival contains, shapes and reflects the identity of the city and its inhabitants. Similarly, the city is identified, recognized and promoted through festivals. How do festivals succeed in capturing the particularity of their city and composing a distinct identity that differ- entiates them from other festivals? How do they become the space-time within which the collective narrative of the city is expressed and, more broadly, the mirror of the reality of modern societies? The exhibition “Festival & City” is a space for studying, for dialogue and for exploring the world of festivals and their multilevel connection to the city and residents. Five good regional festival practices, which today are benchmarks for their city, are

the starting point for an ongoing study that invites you to participate. How do fes- tivals actually shape the city? How do they participate in the debate on a region’s cultural strategy? What do they offer their visitors and what is left to the locals and the local community?

Festivals presented:

• Synikismos Festival, Eleusis
• Giortes Rokkas, Kissamos Chania
• Xarkis Festival, Cyprus
• Vovousa Festival, Vovousa Zagori
• Milos International Theater Festival