Granitiada Amateur Art Festival

The first Granitiada Amateur Art Festival was held on June 24-25, 2023 in the village of Granit as part of the project "Granitiada Creative Program" under the Amateur ArtProgram of the National Culture Fund. The project aimed to developthe creative potential of art lovers in small settlements, whereaccess to cultural events is highly limited in the fields ofpainting, photography, applied art, dance art, Bulgarian musicalfolklore, offering accessible and interactive forms of inclusion byholding a series from training in photography, painting and appliedarts among children and adults, genealogical research, workshops witha diverse focus - painting, photography, ceramics and pottery,participation of dance and music groups in the program of theGranitiada festival, which was the culmination of the project. Thefestival was held on 24-25.06.2023 as a complex multi-genre event andincluded a series of cultural events, including:

- exhibitions of photography, applied art and painting, music and dance performanceswith the participation of local amateur dance and singing groups andensembles from Brezovo , Choba village, Granit village, Sofia, VelikoTarnovo, Kazanlak, etc. such as: group for spring folklore "Avliga",children's dance group and dance group "Folklorni Iskri"from Choba, dance group and children's dance group "Vito Horo"from Brezovo, amateur theater group "Julieta Popova" fromBrezovo, group "Shiriti" to the music studio "Nusha"from Sofia, the duo "Flying Nomads" from Dolnoslav, theethnic group "Bas naroden" from Kazanlak, the group"Keminjiji" - from Varna and Veliko Tarnovo. After theofficial program, there was a jam session - an evening music show inwhich the performers from all the music groups took part. During the festival, numerous creative workshopswere held, in which children and adults participated:

• Creative photography workshop • Creative painting workshop • Creativeworkshop on artistic ceramics and pottery • Creative workshop -making ethno-dolls - Ritual re-enactments - "Kantar","Gerge's Cradle", "Enyov's Wreath" - Screening ofdocumentaries in the studio hall of the community center, videos ofgenealogy studies of children from the region, videos with stories ofelderly people from the region. Introducing the public to the local cultural andnatural attractions through organized visits to: - Granite oak - theoldest tree in Bulgaria - The museum of the hoe and the creativestudio of the artist Tonyu Tsanev - The ethnographic collection ofthe "Hristo Botev 1926" On 07.09. In 2024, the second edition of theGranitiada Amateur Art Festival will be held, supported again by theNFK under the Amateur Art program of the National Culture Fund withthe following program: - Opening of exhibitions of painting andapplied arts for amateurs - children and adults - Creative workshopsin painting and applied arts - Reenactment of traditional rituals -"Kantar" and "Gerge's cradle" - Screening ofvideos with genealogical stories from Granit and the region - Musicprogram including Duo "Flying Nomads", Quartet "Shiriti",Ethno group "Keminjiji" and group "Bas Naroden" -Retro photo in the hall of the ethnographic exposition of thecommunity center "The Disappearing World of the 21st Century"with costumes from the three eras of the 20th century - Kingdom ofBulgaria, People's Republic of Bulgaria and Republic of Bulgaria.