Holly Jolly Dialogue

We invite you to an event complementing the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival and closing this year’s edition. It will be a December afternoon devoted to secular folk Christmas traditions, filled with music, workshops, and storytelling. The event is intergenerational and intercultural in nature. We especially invite people who have recently moved to our country and would like to learn about Polish Christmas customs in a friendly, warm atmosphere.

Holly Jolly Dialogue
18 December, 5 p.m. 17:00
The Marek Edelman Dialogue Center, st. 83 Wojska Polskiego
FREE ADMISSION TO WORKSHOPS AND CAROLING; REGISTRATION FOR STORIES

IN THE PROGRAM:

LIVE STORYTELLING BY MONIKA STASIAK (SECULAR RITUALS) AT THE CHRISTMAS TABLE | registration

December marks the death and rebirth of the Sun. It is a time of omnipresent darkness and returning light. It is a time of returning to the mythical beginning, when words, songs, and gestures must be used to recreate grains and fruit trees, farm and forest creatures, the Earth, and celestial bodies. A time when deceased loved ones are invited to the table, a place is made for them in the straw diduch, and they are asked to intercede in fortune-telling and for prosperity in the fields.

Although today the story of Christmas is a collage of shop window decorations, winter songs on the radio, and frantic gift shopping, its roots go much deeper. Deeper not only than “Last Christmas,” but even than the story of the divine child who had no room at the inn and had to find a manger. You will hear about these roots, the syncretic Slavic-Christian nature of Christmas, and the hidden meanings of Christmas Eve customs during a lively chat at the Christmas table.

The event will take place in three half-hour rounds:
5:00 p.m. – in Polish
5:30 p.m. – in Polish
6:00 p.m. – in English

The number of places is limited, registration is required: zapisy@centrumdialogu.com

OPEN WORKSHOPS ON MAKING CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATIONS | Free admission

• LET’S CREATE A COMMON CHRISTMAS TREE CHAIN
  Do you remember chains made of colored paper? We love this tradition! And we want to create the longest one possible together with you. We know that the longest one is 128 km, so we won’t be able to beat that record, but the longer it is, the better! Following the old custom, we will be able to integrate, talk, and feel the joy of working together. And when we’re done, we’ll hang it on the Christmas tree in Survivors’ Park, and in case of bad weather, it will decorate the interior of the Dialogue Center.
  
• CHRISTMAS DECORATION WORKSHOP WITH THE STREFA NATURA FOUNDATION
  – at this station, you will be able to make decorations using natural products such as dried oranges and pine cones.
  MACRAMÉ – we will try our hand at macramé techniques. These will be two-hour macramé workshops, during which participants will learn basic knots and make simple Christmas tree decorations (e.g., Santa Clauses, pendants, mini Christmas trees),
  ECO – an eco-decoration zone where you can create unique decorations for your Christmas tree with your own hands. In just a few minutes, the instructors will show you how to use natural and simple materials – colored paper, Christmas napkins, paper rolls, or jute string – to conjure up colorful baubles, Santa Clauses, 3D Christmas trees, etc.

The workshops are open to the public – you can join at any time during the event.

JOINT CAROL SINGING | 6:30 p.m. | free admission

Magda Gaj-Nowicka, known as Bergamutka, and Jacek Pietrzak, who will accompany her on the piano, would like to invite you to an intimate winter gathering featuring Christmas carols and pastorals.
They don’t call it a concert — they prefer to think of it as a shared space where voices blend naturally and music becomes conversation.

In a duet: Magda Gaj-Nowicka – vocals, Jacek Pietrzak – piano, and YOUR voices!

Come and join us!

TOFU DAY at the Dialogue Center

The festival is behind us, but that’s not the end of our multicultural story this year. On November 15, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., we invite you to Tofu Day at the Dialogue Center! FREE ADMISSION.

Tofu Day is a unique event dedicated to one of the most important and visible national minorities in Łódź. For years, the Vietnamese community has been contributing to the cultural landscape of the city, combining tradition and modernity, local and global elements.

In connection with Vietnamese Day, which was one of the events preceding the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival, we invite you to complete this unique meeting!

During Tofu Day, we invite you to a lecture on the project “Đậu phụ / tofu” and a screening of a film by Kinga Nguyen, an artist with Polish-Vietnamese roots, author of experimental documentaries, who is currently studying editing at the Film School in Łódź. The meeting will conclude with a workshop with renowned restaurateur Lili Tran, who will teach you how to prepare delicious tofu yourself!

As an incentive, we would like to remind you of the photo report from Vietnamese Day, which heralded the Festival, held in September at Fuzja.

fot. Agnieszka Cytacka

Availability

The Dialogue Center building is accessible for people with mobility impairments. It features wide, non-automatic entrance doors without thresholds and an accessible restroom. In front of the building, there is a large parking lot with marked spaces for people with disabilities. Assistance dogs and guide dogs are welcome in both the building and the auditorium. There is a lift in the building.

Parking entrance from Wojska Polskiego Street.
Nearby bus and tram stops: Wojska Polskiego/Centrum Dialogu, Wojska Polskiego/Sporna.

The 2025 edition is behind us. Thank you!

The concert by the Monika Roscher Band at Monopolis marked the end of the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival 2025. On behalf of the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, the main organizer, we would like to express our sincere thanks for your participation and commitment to co-creating this year’s edition of the event. During the festival, we realized, and we hope you did too, that art can be a refuge in these difficult times. That it has the enormous power to create a space for safe, respectful, and curious encounters in diversity.

During this edition, we carried out 45 diverse artistic and educational initiatives, including 6 premiere events, which were attended by nearly 7,000 people.

Audience, we are delighted to have so many of you here with us! We are grateful for your presence at the Festival, which promotes openness, dialogue, and mutual understanding in the diverse and dynamically changing community of Łódź.

We would like to thank the artists, experts, our partners, patrons, curators, producers, volunteers, as well as: Vice-President of the City of Łódź Małgorzata Moskwa-Wodnicka, Vice-President of the City of Łódź Adam Pustelnik, Chairman of the City Council Bartosz Domaszewicz, SM portals and channels: Łódź pełna kultury, Łódź, Łódź.pl, Łódzkie Centrum Wydarzeń, and especially Daria Głowacka and Matusz Sidor.

We would like to thank the following individuals for their honorary patronage of the Festival: Minister of Culture and National Heritage Marta Cienkowska, Łódź Province Governor Dorota Ryl, Łódź Province Marshal Joanna Skrzydlewska, and Mayor of Łódź Hanna Zdanowska.

We would like to thank the Festival’s media partners: TVP Kultura, WP Kultura i Rozrywka, Niezła Sztuka, Wyborcza.pl Łódź, wysokieobcasy, Radio Łódź, Wernisażeria, Kultura wokół Nas, Socjolozki.pl, MIEJ MIEJSCE, and all our partners—we couldn’t have done it without you!

Partners: Ambasada Wietnamu w Polsce, Fundacja Współpracy Polsko-Niemieckiej, Ambasada Republiki Federalnej Niemiec, Veolia, Wyższa Szkoła Biznesu i Nauk o Zdrowiu w Łodzi, Fuzja Łódź, Monopolis, Akademia Muzyczna im. Grażyny i Kiejstuta Bacewiczów w Łodzi, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Łodzi, Centralne Muzeum Włókiennictwa, Dom Literatury w Łodzi, Fabryka Biedermanna, Fabryka Sztuki, Fundacja Jana i Joanny Kulmy, Galeria Czynna, Galeria Wschodnia, Galeria W Y, Kamienica Pinkusa, Kolorova, Lido Movement Studio, Muzeum Azji i Pacyfiku im. Andrzeja Wawrzyniaka, Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, Szkoła Filmowa w Łodzi, TME Polówka, Ravekjavík, Stowarzyszenie Dialogu Młodzieży, Społecznie Zaangażowani, Stowarzyszenie Sprężyna, Sztuka nadziei, Teatr Nowy im. Kazimierza Dejmka w Łodzi, The Alliance for Black Justice in Poland, TRAFO Trafostacja Sztuki, Wtórpol.

We invite you to view photo reports from the events: on Facebook and HERE – on our website.

photo: HaWa

Fuel & Feathers by Slavs & Tatars | photo report weekend #2

We invite you to view another photo report from the artistic event organized by the curatorial collective Slavs & Tatars and Michał Grzegorzek. During the second weekend of the festival, the following artists presented their performances in the industrial spaces of the Biedermann Factory: Kamil Wesołowski and friends, Selin Davasse, Alesia Maisei, Katarzyna Salinger, and Kim Khan. It was a true celebration of freedom, sound, and dance.

photo: HaWa

Festival Center Weekend #2 | Photo Report

This weekend at our Festival Center was a true intergenerational celebration! We enjoyed breakfast together, danced with the Łódź Retro Orchestra, visited the children’s fair, had conversations, participated in workshops, and attended the phenomenal concert “Moje gdyby…” (“My Ifs…”), which we will tell you more about soon. Thank you for being there and celebrating with us.

We also encourage you to share your thoughts about the Festival with us and fill out the SURVEY.

photo: Agnieszka Cytacka

Festival Center Weekend #1 | Photo Report

The first weekend at our Festival Center will feature: breakfast together, ambient yoga, markets, talks, performances, and workshops. The second weekend will be just as intense! On Saturday: breakfast and dancing, a children’s market, food trucks, the last workshops accompanying the River of Clothes installation, and two meetings about the performance Jakubowska. Jakubowska. Jakubowska. Three Stage Events. And on Sunday, a family intergenerational concert by Natalia Grosiak and Lessman.

We also encourage you to share your thoughts about the Festival with us. There are several ways to do this:

• by completing a survey with a volunteer
• by completing the survey yourselfHERE
• by filling out the card in the festival folder
• by writing it down on a piece of paper and putting it in the box at the Festival Center

fot. Agnieszka Cytacka

Fuel $ Feathers by Slavs & Tatars | photo report weekend #1

On the first weekend of the Festival at Fabryka Biedermanna, we opened a performative exhibition by the Slavs & Tatars collective. On Saturday, performances were given by Jacqueline Sobiszewski and Lubomira Grzelak, Astrit Ismaili, and Slikback, while on Sunday, Agnieszka Brzeżańska and Taras Gembik, as well as Djibril Sall, invited the audience to participate in their rituals.

Join us for the second weekend of artistic events. The program includes: Kamil Wesołowski and friends, Selin Davasse (Friday), Kim Khan, Katarzyna Salinger, and Alesia Meisei (Saturday).

photo: HaWa

Vietnamese Day at Fuzja | photo gallery

We are very happy that we could celebrate together the meeting of cultures – Polish and Vietnamese, which have been contributing to the diversity of our city of Łódź for years. It was a true celebration of community, cordiality, and the joy of being together!

We would like to thank Mr. Hà Hoàng Hải, Ambassador of Vietnam to Poland, Mr. Adam Pustelnik, Deputy Mayor of Łódź, and the main partner of this event, Fuzja Echo Investment, as well as our volunteers, all exhibitors, and the numerous guests who attended.

Special thanks to: Kinga Nguyen for her story about tofu, BAY Vietnamese Artistic and Cultural Association in Poland, Viet Ba Cultural Center – Nhà Văn hóa Việt Ba tại Warszawa, Pho by Lilly Tran, Andrzej Wawrzyniak Museum of Asia and the Pacific in Warsaw, TME Polówka, We Love Phở Association, OPUS Center for the Promotion and Development of Civic Initiatives,
National Institute of Freedom – Center for the Development of Civil Society.

Fot. Agnieszka Cytacka

This is not the end of Vietnamese themes at this year’s Festival. See you at the opening of the exhibition “Let’s Sleep and We’ll See” at the Museum of Art in Łódź on October 3!

Screening of the film SONG LANG at Fuzja

To conclude Vietnamese Day at Fuzja, together with our partner TME Polówka, we invite you to a screening of the film SONG LANG (2018). This is the directorial debut of Vietnamese multidisciplinary artist Leon Le.

The Hollywood Reporter described the film as ‘visually stunning and appropriately wistful,’ while NPR’s FilmWeek (KPCC – Los Angeles) called it ‘a showcase for emerging talent.’ The Jam Report hailed it as ‘simply stunning… Le’s spectacular debut; he has established himself as a filmmaker to watch.’

We invite you to a free screening on 21 September at 8 p.m. at Fuzja

FESTIVAL CONFERENCE

Today, a programme conference for this year’s edition of the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival was held in Survivors’ Park in front of the Dialogue Centre building. The following people took part in it:

• Małgorzata Moskwa-Wodnicka – Deputy Mayor of the City of Łódź,
• Kamila Majchrzycka-Szymańska, acting director of the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź
• Marcin Tercjak, music curator of the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival
• Joanna Podolska, curator of the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival
• Aneta Dalbiak, Director of the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź
• Kinga Nguyễn, artist

Marcin Tercjak announced who will perform at the final concert at Monopolis – it will be the German group Monika Roscher Bigband. The band consists of eighteen musicians led by guitarist, vocalist and composer Monika Roscher – an artist who boldly and charismatically redefines the concept of a jazz orchestra. Their concerts are sonic sabbaths, combining symphonic precision, metal edge, jazz erudition and feminist energy. Tickets on sale from today!

fot. Agnieszka Cytacka

Opening concert SOLD OUT

We have our first SOLD OUT! We would like to inform you that tickets for the opening concert ‘SONGS OF LABOUR – MASECKI PLAYS THE BLUES’ are sold out. Tomorrow, at the Festival conference at the Dialogue Centre, we will announce who will play at the final concert. Stay tuned!

2025 Festival Conference

The Łódź of Many Cultures 2025 Festival conference is behind us. It was attended by the Director of the Dialogue Center and Head of the Festival Kamila Majchrzycka-Szymańska and Chairman of the City Council Bartosz Domaszewicz. At the conference we announced the first events that will be held already in October in Łódź. We will be adding more regularly, so check out our website and our social media regularly.

We also encourage you to read the press release about this year’s edition of our Festival.

Łódź of Many Cultures Festival 2025 Poster

There it is. The one and only poster for this year’s edition of our festival, by Ola Niepsuj.

For many fans of contemporary Polish graphic art, Ola Niepsuj needs no introduction. Her work has been showcased in over 200 exhibitions across 34 countries, including Japan, France, Sweden, the UK, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Bolivia, Cuba, and the United States.
Ola Niepsuj is a highly awarded creator of graphic design and illustration, having received more than thirty prizes, including the Silver Medal from the Society of Illustrators NYC in 2017. She specializes in collage art, visual identity, posters, packaging design, publications, and infographics.
Her approach to design is both conceptual and holistic. With great attention to detail, imagination, and creativity combined with design expertise, Ola crafts her own unique, subjective reality.

Niepsuj graduated from the Władysław Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. She also studied at Escola Superior de Artes e Design and Faculdade de Belas Artes in Portugal. Currently, she lives and works in Warsaw.
Her drawings have been published in leading Polish and international magazines such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harper’s Bazaar, Przekrój, and Gazeta Wyborcza. Her illustrations also appear in publications by Taschen and Thames & Hudson, as well as on music album covers and posters.
Among her commercial clients are Nike, HBO, KFC, Saks Fifth Avenue, Converse, Showmax, Ikea, Apple, Melissa, Skanska, Disney, Braun, Levi’s, Adidas, Stripe, Panasonic, and Rimowa. She regularly gives lectures and workshops at educational institutions and industry conferences.”
(Press materials)

It will not be long before you will also be able to see it all over the city!

Volunteering at the 2025 Festival

Become a volunteer at the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival and help us create the city’s biggest festival. Find out more in the VOLUNTEERING section.

We’re accepting applications until June 19th – don’t miss it!

Grant summary UPDATE

We now know the results of all the calls for proposals of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in which we competed. We received grants from all 5 of the 5 programs we applied to!

DANCE– 120 000 PLN
THEATER– 180 000 PLN
VISUAL ARTS – 255 000 PLN
ARTISTIC EVENTS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH – 225 000 PLN
MUSIC (special dotation by the MCaNH) – 185 000 PLN

It is thus time to introduce the person who made this success possible !

Kamila Majchrzycka-Szymańska is a curator, producer, cultural animator, and coordinator of artistic and educational projects. She is a graduate of Polish Philology at the University of Łódź, with a specialization in editing and theater studies.

From 2012 to 2014, she was Head of the Production and Promotion Department, and from 2014 to 2020, Deputy Director of the Pinokio Theatre in Łódź. She is the co-creator of the Picture Book Festival “KROPKA+KRESKA” held at Fabryka Sztuki in Łódź, the curator for the Materia Foundation in the field of contemporary dance for children, and the co-author of the exhibition “Elementarz empatii” at the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.

She has worked at the Center since September 2021 as the leading specialist for educational project management. Since 2023, she has served as the main coordinator of our Festival — and we’ll add, on behalf of the entire festival team, that she’s doing an outstanding job!

photo. Kamila Majchrzycka-Szymańska at the Festival Conference 2024, HaWa

“PLASTER KULTURY” for the Łódź of Many Cultures 2024 Festival

Yesterday, at the House of Literature in Lodz, a gala was held to present the “Plastry Kultury” awards. The Łódź of Many Cultures Festival received a “Plaster” in the EVENT OF THE YEAR category.
Thank you for all your votes. We’d also like to congratulate the winners in the other categories — many of our partners are among them!

First production and promotional meeting for the 2025 Festival

Our first meeting of this year’s production and promotion team is behind us. We’re preparing a wide range of events for you this October, once again taking place across various locations in Łódź. It will be reflective, inspiring, sometimes humorous, and above all — diverse! Stay tuned!

Pictured among others: Kamila Majchrzycka-Szymanska – head of the Festival, Ola Shaya – chief producer, Kasia Prędka, Eliza Gaust, Piotr Rembowski – event producer(s), Joanna Podolska – member of the curatorial team, and the promotional team consisting of: Aleksandra Zbieranowska, Alicja Sitek and Karolina Krauze (also accessibility coordinator).

The 2024 Festival was nominated for the “Plastry Kultury” Awards

The Łódź of Many Cultures Festival 2024 has been nominated for the Plastry Kultury Award in the Event of the Year category! You can vote only once using one email until April 14th, 11:59 PM HERE.

The awards gala will take place, as usual, at the “Dom Literatury” (“House of Culture”) in Łódź (both in-person and online) on April 16th at 18.

Festival at the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź!

Greetings from the Central Museum of Textiles, where, together with Agata Siniarska and Zuzanna Berendt, we’re working on a new festival project set to premiere at the Textile Triennial. Stay tuned!

Patrycja Kowańska – 2025 Artist-in-residence

Last week, we met with Patrycja Kowańska, who won our open call and will be presenting the project “Lezbianke,” related to the herstory of the Jung Jidysz group, as part of the Festival. Stay tuned!

Patrycja Kowańska – playwright, screenwriter, performer, theater director. She graduated from the Academy of Theater Arts in Krakow with a degree in directing, specialization: theater dramaturgy (2018). Since 2020, she has continuously collaborated with Dominika Knapik as a director and choreographer. In 2023, they founded a directing-dramaturgical-choreographic-performance duo called Fat and Stupid. For their performance titled “Very Funny,” the creators received the Journalists’ Award and the mainstream ShakespeareOFF Award of the 27th Shakespeare Festival in Gdansk (August 2023) “Very Sad” received the second OFF Award of the 44th PPA in Wroclaw. In 2024, Kowańska and Knapik established the Kreatura Foundation, based in Łódź. In 2024, the duo was nominated for the Polityka Passport.

Pictured: Patrycja Kowańska, Joanna Podolska, Agata Siwiak, Kamila Majchrzycka Szymańska i Ola Shaya, photo. Jola Lechowska-Białecka.

Joanna Podolska in the curatorial team

Joanna Podolska – Doctor of Humanities, graduate of Polish Studies and Cultural Studies. Lecturer at the University of Łódź at the Institute of Contemporary Culture. In 1991-2011, she was a journalist for ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’ in Łódź. Head of The Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in 2011-2024. For over 20 years, it has been popularising the history and culture of Łódź, and above all its multicultural roots.

Joanna is co-creating the programme for this year’s Festival, with a particular focus on our city’s identity, heritage and historical contexts.

Ministry of Culture and National Heritage grant for theatre

And success again! A grant of 120,000 from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the TEATR programme is credited to the Festival account. Get ready for October of strong impressions and emotional upliftment!

Photo – curator of the DANCE and THEATRE programmes at the Łódź of Many Cultures 2025 Festival. photo: HaWa

Grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for artistic events for children and young people

More good news from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. We have received a grant of PLN 225,000 from the ‘Artistic events for children and young people’ programme. This means that another edition of the LITTLE FESTIVAL will take place this year.

Pictured is the curatorial team of the Little Festival: Ola Shaya, Anna Mrozinska-Szmajda and Kamila Majchrzycka-Szymanska, photo by HaWa

Grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for the Visual Arts

Further good news from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. We have received funding of PLN 255,000 for VISUAL ART. Bravo to us and to our curator Jarosław Suchan.

Photo from the opening of the exhibition at the East Gallery as part of the Łódź of Many Cultures 2024 Festival 📸HaWa

Grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the DANCE programme

The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage has announced the results of the call for applications for the DANCE programme. It was the first time we applied for it, and with what success! Right away on the podium!

You now know that DANCE will be a strong feature of this year’s Festival.

We look forward to further results. Keep your fingers crossed!

Festival clip

We encourage you to watch our festival clip on YouTube.

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Results of the call for research and art residencies 2024/2025.

A total of 37 applications were submitted as part of the open call, both individually and collectively. This year’s submissions stood out for their diversity, the richness of the proposed concepts, and an impressively high level of quality. Unfortunately, due to a limited number of spots, we were not able to support the realization of all submitted projects.

The expert panel — Sylwia Chutnik, Artur Chrzanowski, Marek Krajewski, and Agata Siwiak — selected one project for implementation in 2025, along with two others placed on the reserve list. Being placed on the reserve list means that the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival team will actively seek a format that would allow these projects to be included in next year’s Festival.

The project selected for implementation as part of the 2025 artistic residency.
Patrycja Kowańska „Lezbianke”
„For work dedicated to reclaiming queer language in Yiddish and embedding it within the urban space of Łódź.”. Sylwia Chutnik

Projects placed on the reserve list:
1. Kinga Nguyen “đậu phụ/ tofu”
„For her ability to see, in an everyday object, a means of telling stories both intimate and public — stories of personal, biographical experience and the fate of the Vietnamese diaspora in Poland; of otherness and belonging. And also, of how cultures intertwine to create new, unique wholes. “. Marek Krajewski

2.Andrzej Frączysty / Jakub Nowacki Collective “Robotnicza teraźniejszość Łodzi?”
“The jury recognized the authors of the project “Robotnicza teraźniejszość Łodzi?” (“The Working-class present of Łódź”) for their social sensitivity and their commitment to examining the labor of workers not only from a historical perspective, but above all through a contemporary lens — one that takes into account the city’s changing ethnic makeup and the ongoing invisibility of the working class.”. Agata Siwiak

Congratulations to the winner! We warmly invite everyone interested to take part in next year’s edition of the program.

Award from the College of Business and Health in Łódź.

We are proud to announce that Joanna Podolska, Director of the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, received the Senate Award “Zasłużony dla Uczelni” (“Distinguished service”) from the hands of the Rector of the University of Business and Health Sciences, Prof. Leszek Kuras, PhD.

The College is a Patron and the Partner of many projects of the Dialogue Center, including the Kino Wielu Kultur (“Cinema of Many Cultures”) as part of the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival. We hope for further fruitful cooperation. Thank you!

Pictured: Joanna Podolska, Leszek Kuras, chancellor of the College of Business and Health Michał Orski, vice-chancellor for external relations Aleksandra Mysiakowska , as well as Magdalena Kubiak from the promotion section of the College.

Relax zone | DYWILAN

Until the end of the month, visitors to the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center can enjoy our relaxation zone (actually, there are three of them!) created in collaboration with the Łódź-based company Dywilan, specially for the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival. You’re welcome to stop by!

Little Festival | photo report and recommendation

The Little Łódź of Many Cultures Festival is an artistic and educational programme aimed at children and adults close to them, which addresses the festival’s themes in a way that is accessible to the youngest spectators’ perception. In October, through concerts, performances, workshops and art installations, we encountered the cultures of the Roma, African, youth, folk, ecological and people with disabilities. There was a lot of curiosity, emotion and diversity. We built intergenerational closeness based on contact with art.

A curatorial collective consisting of: Anna Mrozińska-Szmajda, Aleksandra Shaya and Kamila Majchrzycka-Szymańska. From 28 November to 1 December, the creators of the collective invite you to another event created with the young audience in mind – the KROPKA+KRESKA Picture Book Festival. The 4th edition of the Festival takes place at the Art Factory in Łódź under the motto ‘Storytelling in the Clouds’, and the full programme can be found at: https://kropkapluskreska.pl/
We heartily recommend.

OPEN CALL | closing of recruitment

At the end of October, we closed the call for applications for the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival: Research and Artistic Residencies 2024/2025 – The Multiculturalism of Łódź: Expanding the Field. They are currently being verified. We will get back to the creative people qualified for the next stage in the near future. We plan to announce the results of OPEN CALLA by the end of the year.

The Łódź of Many Cultures 2024 Festival has finished.

It was 10 very intense days, 60 events in 22 locations: concerts, exhibitions, performances, meetings, walks. We would like to thank all our guests and hosts, partners and, above all, the audience who attended our events, often despite the inclement weather.

We are about to start work on the next edition of the Festival, so we are counting on your impressions and opinions, which can be expressed in the Festival’s questionnaire. We encourage you and invite you next year!

JUCHO concert in MONOPOLIS | photo report

We ended the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival 2024 with an extraordinary concert by JUCHO (Justyna Chowaniak). We would like to thank our partner Monopolis for co-organising the event.

Photo: HaWa

ROOSEVELT at Łódź Fabryczna Railway Station | photos

Roosevelt, a German electronic music artist, performed at Łódź Fabryczna Station on Sunday 6 October. The unique space of the station was filled with sounds, lights and, above all, people, both fans of the artist and those for whom this was a new musical discovery. In doing so, we fulfilled the request of our audience, who eagerly participate in festival events that take place in non-obvious places. Thank you for your presence!

Photo: HaWa

Partners: Fundacja Współpracy Polsko-Niemieckiej, Ambasada Republiki Federalnej Niemiec, PKP Polskie Koleje Liniowe S.A.

Art at the Festival | photos

Last Saturday we opened the first solo exhibition of Roma painter and writer Ceija Stojka at the Museum of the City of Lodz: ‘Ceija Stojka (1933-2013): I cannot forget’. The vernissage was attended by Minister Hanna Wróblewska, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture of the City of Lodz Marcin Derengowski, President of the Foundation Towards Dialogue Joanna Talewicz, representative of the Lodz Roma community Krystyna Markowska and exhibition curator Noëlig Le Roux.

The weekend also included vernissages at galleries in Lodz: W Y, Galeria Olimpus, Galeria Pop-up Ogrodowa 8, Galeria Wschodnia, Kamienica Hilary Majewski and as part of Galeria Czynna at Klubokawiarnia Ignorantka. There is still to come: the finissage of Agata Zbylut’s drag-queen exhibition at the Academic Design Centre and Krzysztof Gil’s vernissage at the Portrait Gallery. You are welcome!

Photo: HaWa

Festival Centre | photos from the first festival weekend

Thank you all for your presence at the Marek Edelman Dialogue Centre during the first festival weekend. We witnessed meetings with Daniel Rycharski, Eva Meijer, a lecture by Joanna Talewicz, a lecture by Tomasz Poborca and a screening of short films, a concert by Smolik at dawn, a performance lecture by Michał Zadara, the opening of the TO-TEM TO-TU installation, a zero waste cooking workshop with Michalina Kostecka (Plantera), a movement workshop with Anna Osmulska, as well as the Many Cultures Fair and the opening of the Dywilan Relaxation Space. We already invite you to join us for another weekend, equally diverse!

Photo: HaWa

OPEN CALL

Multiculturalism of Łódź: widening the field.

On 24 June, the call for applications for the new programme of the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival: Research and Artistic Residencies 2024/2025 – The Multiculturalism of Łódź: Expanding the Field is launched. Until 31 October 2024.

To participate in the residency we invite creative people who see in Łódź the potential for creating a narrative of multiculturalism, for which various artistic practices (e.g. performative, visual, musical, social, literary and interdisciplinary) can be the medium.

We are open_to a variety of proposals that can incorporate the following themes, tropes and topics for which the city of Lodz will be the point of reference:

• diversity;
• history-memory-present-future;
• prototyping/fantasising the future;
• rights of human and non-human beings;
• safe space.

The residency involves two stages of work:

• a research and conceptual stage, during which creative people will be able to refine their concept;
• a production stage.

The resident_will be supported_by the festival team at curatorial, research, technical and organisational levels.

Details

Górna Walking tour | photo report

OOn Sunday 22 September, we walked with the Kwela Foundation along the trail of German culture ‘from Steigert to Scheibler’. We would like to thank you for the large attendance (more than 150 people!), the 3 hours we spent together and the thousands of steps along Górna district.

We had the opportunity to learn more about life in Schlesberg, German and Czech beer halls, schools, iron foundries and architectural offices. There were also threads about the remnants of former gardens and orchards in the Upper and Bohemian districts, and we ended our walk at the Fusion – Karl Scheibler’s historic power station.

We would like to thank our partners and sponsors: Kwela Foundation, Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, Fuzja Echo Investment and Joanna Jędraszczyk for translating into Polish Sign Language.

The entire festival programme is now available!

Under EVENTS we have published details of all the exhibitions, performances, concerts and meetings that will take place as part of this year’s Festival.

In the CALENDAR tab, on the other hand, events are listed chronologically. What’s more, everyone has the option of creating their own calendar with selected events. Simply mark them with the + symbol and then save or print the schedule.

Urszula Dudziak Ambassador of the Concert for Peace!

“WE” Grzech Piotrowski’s World Orchestra is a series of concerts dedicated to world peace. The voice of artists from different parts of the world will inaugurate this year’s Łódź of Many Cultures Festival.

“Grzech Piotrowski has created an extraordinary musical project that will have global appeal and reach and will be musical therapy for us all. I am proud and happy to be an ambassador of this gigantic and much-needed endeavour – the ‘WE’ concert performed by the World Orchestra.” (Urszula Dudziak)

Urszula Dudziak – a wonderful, unconventional personality whose artistic path shows that passion and collaboration with others is the key that opens many doors. The ambassador of the project will also be one of the main soloists at the premiere concert, which will take place as part of the ‘Łódź of Many Cultures Festival’ on 4th of October at Klub Wytwórnia. The next performance of this work will take place on 17 December 2024 in Wrocław at the National Music Forum and on 18th of December 2024 at the Adam Mickiewicz University Auditorium in Poznań. On stage we will see musicians representing many cultures, including from regions affected by conflict and warfare. This will be a unique meeting that will build bridges between people and cultures!

INDIA DAY in Fuzja

INDIA DAY, a day of Indian culture, took place at Fuzja on Sunday 15 September. This was another of the events announcing the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival. There was music, dance, workshops, henna, a lecture, Indian food and, finally, a film screening!

Mr Satyasheel Lall – second secretary of the Indian Embassy in Poland – was the special guest.

Thank you all for coming and having a great time from start to finish. We would like to thank our Sponsors and Partners: the Embassy of India in Poland, Fuzja Echo Investments and TME Polówka, Curry King, Sneha’s Touch of India, Al-Mashrik Middle East Student-Doctoral Research Group from the Faculty of International and Political Studies at the University of Lodz, and above all the Indian community in Lodz for their help in organising this special event, which was a true celebration of multiculturalism.

Photo: HaWa

intergenerational picnic | 08.09.2024 | photos

The inaugural picnic of the Little Festival of Łódź of Many Cultures is behind us. Thank you all for your presence and good fun! We already encourage you to take part in October’s events!

Photo: HaWa

Łódź of Many Cultures Festival press conference

A press conference was held today, 5 September, at the Marek Edelman Centre for Dialogue in Łódź, with the participation of Vice-president Małgorzata Moskwa-Wodnicka. The entire programme of this year’s edition and co-organisers of some of the events were presented there. Curators: Agata Siwiak, Kamila Majchrzycka-Szymańska, Aleksandra Shaya, music curator Marcin Tercjak and Dialogue Centre director Joanna Podolska talked about selected concerts, exhibitions, performances and meetings that will take place as part of the Festival. We would like to thank all the Partners and media representatives for their presence!
Photo: HaWa

FESTIVAL PAPER Miej Miejsce

From today, in the Marek Edelman Dialogue Centre, and in a short while also in our Partners and selected locations in Łódź, you can find the Festival newspaper Miej Miejsce. It includes interviews with curators, artists, co-organisers, a detailed Festival programme (the only one in print!) and a map of all locations where Festival events will be held in October. We encourage you to read it!

Concert at the Łódź Fabryczna Railway Station

On 6 October, for the first time, the monumental space of the Łódź Fabryczna Railway Station will be filled with MUSIC. Details will be announced at the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival conference this Thursday, 5 September. Stay tuned!

Krzysztof Wodiczko in Łódź!

We are pleased to announce that the project ‘Krzysztof Wodiczko: EMANCYPATIONS.
, organised by the Łódź Events Centre, will be an accompanying event at this year’s Festival. The Dialogue Centre, meanwhile, will host a meeting with this world-renowned artist. More information coming soon.

Daniel Rycharski’s new project at the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival

Another artist whose premiere project will be presented at this year’s Festival is Daniel Rycharski, an avant-garde, conceptual installation artist working on themes of provinciality, religiosity, christianity, LGBTQ+ identity.

Rycharski’s art manifests his personal search for a space where non-heteronormativity and Christian faith can function together. The artist works with activists from the LGBTQ+ community, as well as religious and agricultural associations, to express their problems and experiences and to contribute to building understanding between the inhabitants of Polish towns and villages.

More information coming soon.

Photo by Katarzyna Legendź. Courtesy of Gunia Nowik Gallery.

SMOLIK at the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival 2024

We are honoured to announce that Andrzej Smolik joins the group of musicians you will be able to hear at this year’s festival! The artist will perform with his band as part of Michał Zadara’s “400 m2 of hope” project. The first concert will take place at dawn (!!!) and the second at dusk in the Survivors’ Park. You are cordially invited!

First photography workshop behind us!

On Saturday, July 20, as part of the Festival, we launched a photographic adventure for young people! And it all took place at the Dialogue Center!

Contrary to appearances, the photo project does not focus only on photography, but on love for Lodz and the surrounding world, international friendship. All thanks to the creative and talented young people from Lodz who are participants in the project. And most importantly, the project allows us to find beauty in our everyday life!

Participants learned about basic compositional principles, taking photos, and getting to know each other! The finale of the workshop will be an opening in September!

We wish the participants good luck and only good photos! Together we will get to know Lodz anew!

NIGHT OF THE SENSES | Summer Solstice Picnic | photo report

A picnic to celebrate the summer solstice was held at Survivor Park on 23rd of June. Nature, which was the theme of the evening, has an extremely unifying power. It attracted human people of all ages and non-human people – dogs and cats – beautiful in their diversity, as can be seen in the photographs.

Thank you for a beautiful dive into the sounds of DJ Kat:ya, Cossus Cossus and Sutari. For the sensual dancing of Ederlezi FCBD and the wonderful playing with fire of Patrycja Hajdys and Wiktoria Borkowska forming the duo Spirit of Fire. Thank you to NIEPLAC ZABAW for the wonderful unorthodox backyard fun provided for the kids. Special thanks to the students of the SKNB Invertebrate Zoology Section of the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection at the University of Lodz for their stories about rivers – the last “highways of wildness in the city” and the rich life of non-human creatures in the park, which often escapes our busy attention. For beautiful floral garlands to Ewa Maruszewska, bracelets-amulets to Jarosławianka, lanterns to Jolanta Królicka, fragrant incense sticks and a huge portion of knowledge about local herbs to Bottanicum and wonderful tattoos to the girls from Łódź Henna Artists. To NieWinni for the delicious light wine and lemonades. And remember: Łódź water is the best.

You are already invited to the next pre-festival picnic on the 8th of September. Stay tuned!

OBJECTIVELY – creative photography project for young people | July – September 2024

The long-awaited summer has finally arrived, and thus the holidays have also begun! The long-awaited summer has finally arrived, and thus the holidays have also begun! The Łódź of Many Cultures Festival cordially invites all young people to take part in the creative photo project OBJECTIVELY. It will be an extraordinary adventure!

The photo-project “Objectively” is aimed at integrating young Lodz residents, developing their creativity and a positive approach to life. All with the help of photography games, team-building, networking, creative workshops and games. Together we will look for beauty in our everyday life in Lodz. We will use our mobile phones to take the photographs.

The project will result in a photo exhibition and the opening will take place during the Lodz of Many Cultures Picnic on Sunday 8th of September. The exhibition will show what delights young people in Lodz, what inspires and attracts them. By participating in the project, young people will be able to show how they see the world around them. And such a vision really is OBJECTIVE!

The project starts on Saturday 20th of July! It will comprise a series of three meetings, aimed at a multicultural group of young people from Łódź aged between 14 and 18.

If you are interested, please apply at the indicated link: https://forms.gle/AbQTeiWxtshomevT6.

Participation in the workshop is free of charge. Places are limited. Please wait for a return email with acceptance of your application – this will include further information.

SCHEDULE:

– 20th of July on Saturday at 13:00-15:30

– 27th of July on Saturday at 13:00-15:30

– 03th of August on Saturday at 13:00-15:30

– 08th of September, Sunday – exhibition opening

Venue: workshop: The Marek Edelman Dialogue Center, st. Wojska Polskiego 83 // opening: Survivors’ Park

We look forward to receiving applications by Tuesday 16th of July!
The workshops will be conducted in Polish.

Yulia Aurelia – photographer and organiser of inclusive projects, author of 5 photo exhibitions in Lodz, co-author of an inspiring and educational photo blog.

Information partner: Łódź Multicultural Centre.

If you have any questions, please write to: p.rembowski@centrumdialogu.com.