Ambassadors at the Sziget Festival

The representatives from the embassies of eighteen countries and that of the Budapest mission of the European Commission were present at the event organized for them on the occasion of the quarter-of-a-century jubilee of the Sziget Festival.

The program was attended – among others – by the
Ambassadors Isabelle Poupart of Canada, Yosef Amrani of Israel, Iain Lindsay of
the United Kingdom, Gajus Scheltema of the Netherlands, José Ángel López Jorrin
of Spain and Elisabeth Ellison-Kramer of Austria, as well as the Chargé d’Affaires
of the United States Embassy, David Kostelancik.

The diplomats were welcomed by
Sziget chief organizer Károly Gerendai at the tent of the Fidelio Theater and
Dance Company, a place where Sziget attendees are confronted by taboos like
religion, homosexuality, drug use, nudity, migration, etc. Károly Gerendai emphasized
that ever since its inception, Sziget is the festival of communion, community
and diversity, and this is still the case today.

Program Director József Kardos
told the Hungarian news agency MTI that it was the first time in the history of
Sziget that this kind of program was organized for embassies in Budapest, a
similar event took place two years ago on the 15th birthday of Magic Mirror
Tent. The program director added that diplomats regularly turn up at the annual
festival and constant ask to see the performers of their own country and meet
them.

"Sziget offers excellent
bilateral relations with embassies and cultural institutes in Budapest,
especially those of the European Union, most of which are attending the
festival. Most of the performers come from the Netherlands, the UK and
France," József Kardos said.

He also mentioned that the
organizers of the Sziget do not have any statistics on the attendance of art,
civil and sports programs outside of the mainstream music concerts but these
are also full house events. "For us, it is very important that we can present
other forms of art at the Sziget so that those who come out here because of
music could also encounter a theater, dance or modern circus performance."

The diplomats visited the ‘Tent
Without Borders’ site, where, just like last year, the Hungarian Ethnographic
Museum and the French National Museum of Immigration once again compiled a
joint program, this time focusing on the topics of integration, immigration and
inclusion as well as the culture and integration of the Roma in Hungary. The
guests also visited Papageno Classical, Opera and Jazz Stage, where they saw
the performance of the French Compagnie Dyptik hiphop dance group.