The director of the “Nišvil Jazz Festival” in Niš, Ivan Blagojević, announced today that the festival did not receive financial funds after the competition of the Ministry of Culture was announced in January, and that the ministry recommended a local status for the festival, and not a national one.
Blagojević stated in the announcement that such a decision by the Ministry damages the international reputation of the festival.
“This year’s Nišvil, organized in almost impossible conditions with 1,000 performers and 300 programs on 20 stages in front of more than 200,000 visitors, awakened our hope that the Ministry of Culture, after 31 years of existence, would offer us 35 million and the status of a National festival, as it recently did with the National Film and Television Festival on Zlatibor,” Blagojević stated.
The director of Nišvil stated that the festival was denied support after 20 years, and that the director of Telekom Vladimir Lučić told him in February of this year that after a long series of years “he will not be able to help the festival (Nišvil used to receive 17,000 euros a year from Telekom)” because they are “forced to save after buying SBB sports channels”.
“This kind of attitude of the Ministry of Culture towards Nišvil comes at a particularly inconvenient time when Nišvil is trying to put the city of Niš on the UNESCO list of jazz cities for the year 2027. The candidacy should be submitted in November, and for that, a recommendation from the Ministry of Culture, as well as the city of Niš, is necessary,” Blagojević announced.
He added that if Nišvil does not receive the support of the Ministry of Culture or the Government of Serbia for the year 2027, the festival “will not be enough with the status of one of the best European festivals” nor the support of the city of Niš, and Serbia and the entire region “will miss a unique cultural, tourist and economic opportunity”.
The Nišvil Jazz Festival is an international festival that is held every August in Niš, and was founded in 1995.
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Source: N1; Photo: Printscreen YouTube / nisvillejazzfest