A film can bring an overlooked story to the screen, a sketch can capture a city through an artist’s eyes, and an orchestra can bring young musicians from across the region onto the same stage.

This summer, the EU support for culture in Kosovo helped festivals and initiatives bring together artists, musicians and audiences from Kosovo, the region and beyond.

For the ‘Sketching Pristina’ initiative as part of GRAN Fest, the city itself became the subject.
Supported by the EU and organised by GRAN Fest, the initiative brought local and international artists to Pristina to explore the city through drawing. Among them was French illustrator Emmanuel Prost, visiting Pristina for the first time.
“We just walk through the city and stop when something catches our interest. It can be the light, the shadow, an everyday scene, a market or a building,” he said.
The initiative created opportunities for artistic exchanges, but also allowed visiting artists to experience Pristina first-hand and take those impressions with them through their work, offering audiences abroad another perspective on Kosovo.

The Western Balkans Youth Orchestra, backed by the EU, brought young professional musicians from across the Western Balkans together to rehearse and perform at three concerts in Pristina, Mitrovica South and Mitrovica North as part of its summer programme.

For its Artistic Director and conductor Desar Sulejmani, the meaning of those performances went beyond the programme itself.

“Through music, we want to send a message that needs no explanation. Our music will connect our souls, especially because the orchestra itself is made up of young musicians from different nations and countries,” he said.
For the audience, the concert is the visible part. For the musicians, much of the experience happens before they reach the stage: rehearsing together, learning from one another and gaining valuable performance experience and professional connections.

With EU’s support, they spend that time creating music alongside peers from across the region they might otherwise never have had the chance to work with.

The European Union in Kosovo is a long-standing partner of DokuFest, contributing to strengthening its mission of bringing the best filmmakers to Kosovo, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and experience, fostering networking, and promoting cultural diversity, artistic expression and boosting the local economy.
This August, the EU support continued throughout DokuFest’s 25th edition, focusing on the Human Rights Dox Competition. A total of 104 films competed across eight programmes of DokuFest.

For its Artistic Director Veton Nurkollari, Human Rights Dox has long been one of the festival’s core programmes.
“We work hard to find films that speak about human rights from around the world because these rights are universal. We understood its importance early on, and having the European Union on board to support a category we are very proud of is extremely important,” Nurkollari said.
The EU’s support for culture in Kosovo extends beyond these initiatives and includes cultural organisations and the creative sectors through programmes and cultural activities, creating opportunities for collaboration and exchange.

This summer, film, drawing and music offered three different glimpses of that support, each in its own way and through the teams making it happen.