The International Festival of Theatre Schools SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER 2024

SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER is an international festival of theatre schools with more than 30 years of tradition. The uniqueness of the festival lies in the fact that the main organisers are the students of the Theatre Faculty of the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts.

The idea for the festival itself originated with the founders of the SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER and their need to meet other professionals and theatre students and also, to transform the centre of Brno into a city of culture. Every year, the festival is becoming more and more prestigious, mainly due to the participation of student groups worldwide.

The festival’s non-competitive character leads to an encounter with dozens of different cultures, languages, and genres. Theatre artists from the Visegrad Four countries head to Brno regularly, and the festival has also been attended by student groups from South Korea, Colombia, the Philippines, the USA, and many other countries.

The theme of the 34th edition of the festival is The Storm:

The Storm is coming. One, two, three... We need to shake it off and get ready for the next one. A storm is unpleasant while it lasts – but after it comes a rainbow. The air clears, and we can breathe again in peace.

Maybe it is time to get used to the fact that sometimes it just rains. If you cover your ears, lightning will kill you anyway. Perhaps we've forgotten how to resist. Maybe we’ve forgotten that we have to fight discomfort, not hide from it. There is no calm, only storm. And that's why we want to unleash a storm - especially a creative one - at our festival.