Festival Gypsy Celebration

MIRET in cooperation with Ida Kelarová and her team holds an annual international Romani festival named Gypsy Celebration, with the additional title "Roma to Gadjo". This four-day music marathon offers various vocal, dance, music and art workshops for the young and old, including talks and films dealing with Romani history and issues concerning discrimination and racism.

The goal of this festival is not only to bring people together, but also presents an opportunity to publicise and promote the skills, talent and hard work of Romani performers, singers, music and dance groups and also the talented children who play such an important role in the whole festival. Everyone has the opportunity to meet, express themselves, support their artistic ideas, present the Romani professional values and consequently draw attention to the deeply rooted racism and xenophobia in the Czech Republic. This provides space to improve the relationship between the Roma and non-Roma.

At our festival we have a unique opportunity to erase the barrier between the Roma and non-Roma and thus create a safe haven to meet in. We strongly believe that this is the path to a peaceful and open co-existence. We know that singing and music experienced together unites us and our festivals are proof of that. Together, we can create, get to know each other better, offer a helping hand and have the opportunity to be here and now, be aware of other people and give each other the chance, time and acknowledgement of our human values as being equal. This may seem trivial, but we believe that it is those little things that count. Each year we find new hope and faith which gives us energy to continue with this project.

“We cordially invite all of you, our friends - the singers, musicians, performing artists; all of you who want to create together, sing, play and celebrate. We look forward to these pleasant meetings in the upcoming years.”

Ida Kelarova and her team.