As far as is known, five cultural manifestations will not be held in Vojvodina and Novi Sad this year. They are:
Circles
Now in May, Sterija's theater was held without international program "Circles" which has been around for almost two decades. "As responsible people, we had to face the circumstances and adapt the program to the current financial situation," Miroslav Radonjić, director of the Sterija Theater, told Vreme.
The circumstances mentioned by Radonjić refer to the Ministry of Culture competition for theater which was not announced this year, and last year's results were not published, as well as to the fact that last year the Provincial Government did not allocate a single dinar for this most important national theater festival.
EXIT
Already during the festival in July 2025, it was said to be the last Novi Sad EXIT. The organizers then announced that it will not be held in Serbia this year due to a series of "financial and other" pressures due to support for student protests, and that "the EXIT festival is starting a new chapter of its development" and it was already said that it would start in Montenegro.
Then this April Milojko Spajić, the President of the Montenegrin Government, announced that "in the year when we celebrate 20 years of independence, Montenegro is becoming the new home of the EXIT festival. The project 'EXIT to Montenegro' in Ulcinj and Sea Dance in Budva will bring our tourism at least 210.000 overnight stays and over 40 million euros in revenue during 2026."
The media are now reporting that Montenegro will be the epicenter of European music tourism this summer with as many as two large Exit festivals, where some of the biggest and most current world stars will perform, such as Peggy Gou, Charlotte De Witte, Hugel, John Newman, Maceo Plex, Monolink, Enrico Sangiuliano, RPR Soundsystem, Awen and many others.
BookTalk
The Book Talk literary panel will not be held in Novi Sad this year either. It was founded in 2015 by the publishing company Color Media Communications. Now, after being rejected at both the Provincial and City competitions, they announce that they will move to Belgrade.
The Book Talk panel is dedicated to writers, literary critics, publishers, and artists from the entire Balkans. The topics were significant anniversaries and current issues plaguing writers and publishers in the region.
Because of Book Talk, Ante Tomić, Jurica Pavičić, Svetlana Slapšak, Abdulah Sidran, Laslo Vegel, Muharem Bazdulj, Aleksandar Gatalica, Goran Marković, Rumena Bužarovska, Teofil Pančić, Duško Ljuština, Veton Suroi, Vladimir Pištalo were in Novi Sad... Last year, a panel was held on the topic "How without Teofil".
Shakespeare Fest
That Vila Stanković in Čortanovci will be closed this year for Shakespeare Festival, the provincial government notified him last week, almost before the start of his 13th edition.
Photo: PromoShakespeare Festival last year
We will only say that at this unique international festival in the country, over 60 plays from 24 countries of the world, based on Shakespeare's works, have been performed so far. There were numerous concerts, exhibitions, films, more than 25.000 visitors saw them, many awards were received.
Last year, the festival was held without state aid. For the last two years, the Municipality of Inđija has been acting as if the people of Čortanov did not become publicly known thanks to that festival, the City of Novi Sad did not have money for the Shakespeare Festival this year, and the Ministry and the Provincial Secretariat of Culture have not yet announced the results of the competition.
Tamburica Fest
The "World Tambourine Fest" was supposed to be held this September, the organizers announced a competition for the most beautiful new song in 2026 in December last year, but instead announced that the "Tamburice Fest" will not take place this year.
The organizing team of this festival, which has the epithet of the best ethnic music festival in Europe, analyzed "the current socio-political situation in the country, at the same time looking at the economic and security conditions, and made the decision not to organize the 19th festival in a row of tambura players from all meridians this summer", the website says.
The unofficial explanation, however, is the results of the competition.
It's only June, it doesn't mean that these five won't be joined by someone else by the end of the year.
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