Krakow Jewish Culture Festival
The Krakow Jewish Culture Festival is the largest presentation of contemporary culture created by the Jews in Israel and the entire Diaspora. The festival has become one of the most important cultural events of our time. Each year, the festival features almost 300 events over the course of 10 days, and hosts 30,000 participants from countries around the world who can enjoy workshops, lectures, discussions, guided tours, and of course various musical events from concerts to DJ-parties to jam sessions.
The festival first began 1988 as series of events presenting Krakow’s Jewish past and culture. It was held one year before communism ended in Krakow and was the first time after WWII that Jewish cultural and heritage was portrayed in a positive context. In previous years, Jewish culture in Poland was seen as a taboo and those who perished during the Holocaust or were expelled from the country were not a part of social memory.
After this first small event, the festival began to expand and has since grown into one of the most important cultural events in Krakow and Poland. Outside of Poland, the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow is one of the most well-known, highly recognized and appreciated cultural events by both artists and their audience.
The festival prides itself in its forward-thinking mindest. While it has respect for tradition and the Jewish culture of the past, it also thinks unceasingly about the future, claiming to be the most old-school, radical, avant-garde festival of Jewish culture in the world.
