The eighteenth PitchWise Festival of Women’s Art and Activism (PW) in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2023
GIRL POWER WILL OVERTHROW THE PATRIARCHY – WE HAVE BEEN DOING IT FOR 18 YEARS!
This year, the CURE Foundation marks and celebrates the coming of age of the PitchWise Festival of Women’s Art and Activism! Yes, you read that right – the PW is all grown up and celebrating its 18th birthday! This is a special year for us because as a festival we have matured into a unique event that provides you with unforgettable moments and an incredible experience.
The PitchWise Festival of Women’s Art and Activism will start on Thursday, September 7, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. at the BiH Historical Museum, and will end on September 10, 2023, in the afternoon. The entire program will be held in Sarajevo.
In 2023, the PitchWise will celebrate its coming of age at the BiH Historical Museum, in exactly the same place as the first year when it was an initiative of the CURE Foundation activists who wanted to present engaged, alternative and feminist art – a unique artistic concept in Sarajevo.
As we all know, coming of age is a symbol of the transition from childhood to adulthood. When a festival that promotes feminist and activist values happens to celebrate its coming of age, it becomes a very good reason to celebrate!
And this is exactly what is happening this year at our festival! The maturation also brings many changes. With the new status of adulthood, the PW will develop and grow even more, providing even more unforgettable moments, and telling stories of resistance to patriarchy in its own unique way.
The coming of age also brings responsibility. Our festival will continue to provide a safe environment for all visitors, with an emphasis on respect for all. The CURE Foundation is dedicated to ensuring the best experience for everyone who comes.
Back then, in 2006, the PW had a unique concept, but over time and with different creative forces working on its conception and realization, the festival evolved. Numerous people were involved in defining the themes and concept of the festival, and we are extremely grateful to all of them. They invested their effort, knowledge, experience and time so that the idea of the PitchWise Festival of Women’s Art and Activism could survive – and they succeeded!
Yes, the program of the festival changed, but the original idea, which was driven by the need to occupy an abandoned and neglected public space and transform it into a meeting place that brings together socially engaged artists, activists, theorists, feminists and all persons interested in women’s issues, both in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in the region, it remained the same.
During the eighteen-year organization of the PW, the CURE Foundation created a space for connecting and networking feminist work and culture and gathering artists and activists from formal and informal women’s groups from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the countries of the region and abroad. We hosted over 5,000 socially engaged artists, activists, theorists, feminists and defenders of women’s rights.
That is why, this year, the coming of age of the PitchWise Festival will have a central theme:
GIRL POWER WILL OVERTHROW THE PATRIARCHY – WE HAVE BEEN DOING IT FOR 18 YEARS!
We, the organizers of the PitchWise, want to show that the women’s and feminist movement exists at the regional level and that we are part of it. Thanks to networking, blurring the borders, creating a safe space for exchanging experiences, and giving and receiving support, we have always provided and will provide resistance to every oppressive policy and patriarchy. And because of that, we have power, we are brave and daring and, most importantly, determined. Our strength grows from every woman and girl no matter how loud or quiet we are, no matter if we have just raised our voice or have been doing it for years and regardless of the way we raise our voice.
We launched the Festival:
- guided by the need to occupy an abandoned and neglected public space and transform it into a meeting place that brings together socially engaged artists, activists, theorists, feminists and anyone interested in women’s issues in BiH and in the region;
- to provide a safe and open space for a new generation of artists and activists;
- to never give up and, thanks to solidarity and networking with sisters around the world, to create a history of resistance so that all women are treated equally.
The main goal of the PitchWise Festival as an idea and community of people working to establish gender equality is to make and promote positive changes in the immediate environment through engaged art.
The 18th PitchWise brings us numerous exhibitions, creative workshops, lectures, performances, shows, concerts, book promotions and discussions with the aim of conveying a different story, a story about building peace, tolerance, respect, humanity and what the peacemakers from this region survived and experienced and how they resisted and said NO to war and all oppressive policies.
