Amid all the crises that seem so urgent to resolve before they destroy our lives, it is easy to arrive at the thought that art is somehow superfluous. That it is an extra, something we will turn to in “better times”, once we have addressed the ecological, political and social emergencies. But reaching this conclusion also means acknowledging that our human capacity to think in complex ways about the interwoven layers that shape society has been replaced by the logic of algorithms, built on brief, emotionally charged communication and simplified political slogans.

And yet art belongs to everyone, and it belongs to us now. Art is neither decoration nor a luxury we can turn to when we run out of other “focal points”. We need it at all times: to help us reflect on problems, but also for aesthetic pleasure – or, more precisely, for a sense of wonder, community, speculation, surprise, perhaps even boredom. We can certainly attribute many positive “effects” to art, but doing so can easily lead to promoting just one dimension of art and culture: its educational value. This is yet another attempt to appropriate art, one that Drugajanje seeks to resist. This is also why the programme includes performances that do not necessarily convey educational messages, even though secondary school students remain our primary target audience.

This year, Drugajanje takes place in six cities: Ljutomer, Maribor, Ptuj, Celje, Ljubljana and Kranj, with a programme featuring productions and co-productions from Slovenia. In doing so, the festival is also developing an important touring network that extends beyond the country’s cultural and arts centres and, we hope, partly overcomes the limitations of intercity public transport, which often poses a major obstacle to attending evening performances outside one’s hometown. Nevertheless, this network is just one festival’s attempt to make a difference. We hope that, in the future, this networking will grow beyond Drugajanje, that Drugajanje itself will outgrow its current scope and reach even more cities and students, and that it will forge even more friendships with local organisations, which are important co-organisers, collaborators and ambassadors for Drugajanje in their local communities.