Divadelná Nitra: creating two new productions despite zero state funding

Some of you may recall our earlier post about the funding crisis facing Divadelná Nitra this year — for the first time in its 35-year history, the Slovak Arts Council granted the Festival zero support for its jubilee edition.

We're glad to share some good news since then. Thanks to a rescue fund on the StartLab platform, supported by 165 donors so far, the Festival has secured the creation of two new productions by Slovak independent theatre makers who — like Divadelná Nitra — found themselves without access to public support: The Happy Brain by the Uhol_92 ensemble (dir. Alžbeta Vrzgula) and The Ballad for a Weed Girl by the Schwarzes Loch Europas collective (dir. Mário Drgoňa), both part of our Just Created programme line.

Thanks to extraordinary support from the City of Nitra and the Nitra Self-Governing Region, we can also confirm: the 35th, jubilee edition — themed Future is Now, inspired by Roman Krznarič's The Good Ancestor — will take place from 25 to 30 September 2026. The crisis budget isn't fully secured yet, and fundraising continues at StartLab, where the next goal will help determine the scope of the international programme.

We'll present the full programme at a press conference in Bratislava on 5 August. More details will follow on our website: www.nitrafest.sk.

Thank you to everyone in this community who has followed our situation and shown support along the way.