1. What is the Flora Theatre Festival? 4

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1 INTERNATIONAL

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3 1. What is the Flora Theatre Festival? 4 2. Brief Festival History 5 Flora 2016: Significant Progress 9 Flora 2017: A Confident Step into the Third Decade Flora Theatre Festival Today Flora 2018: Proti zdi / Against the Wall 16 Publicity 24 Audience Interest 25 Audience Care 26 Social-Integration Role 28 Social Impact 29 Exceptional Ambience 30 Promotion and Documentation 31 3

4 FLORA THEATRE FESTIVAL is one of the most prestigious and most progressively developing theatre events in the Czech Republic a festival, whose programme is enormously popular with the audiences a traditional event with a strong and positive media response the only Czech festival which, on an international level, combines staging of drama productions of renowned repertoire theatres (even from Berlin, Munich, Vienna, and Bratislava) + productions of independent scenes with productions of the contemporary dance and performing arts scene from all over the world which are accompanied by an exceptionally rich off programme and educational programme (audience discussions concerts workshops seminars lectures projections installations) undoubtedly the largest presentation of live art in the Olomouc Region and for a long period of time the most important Moravian theatre festival, which has over the two decades of its existence presented projects by leading ensembles, directors and choreographers from more than 30 countries a project which has broadened, in a unique way, the offerings of cultural activities for a very wide spectrum of residents of the university city in terms of age and social status as well as visitors to the larger region an event which regularly enlivens interesting parts of the city attractive non-theatre spaces, which the festival temporarily turns into (fully equipped) festival venues a festival that initiates world premieres; regularly, contextually maps the latest trends in contemporary theatre and purposefully cultivates and educates thousands of people in the audiences including university students of Academies and Theatre Studies from Prague, Olomouc, Brno and Bratislava taking part in the FloraLab project a platform original in its dramaturgical structure well respected by theatre makers a place for interdisciplinary encounters with a unique and spontaneous atmosphere 22 Flora Theatre Festival (10 20 May 2018) in numbers length in days 11 total number of events 86 productions in the main programme 32 foreign productions 15 venues 10 spectators 9,000 festival staff 140 4

5 FESTIVAL HISTORY The Flora Theatre Festival was held for the first time in Olomouc in It was a modest festival of Moravian theatres from Olomouc, Ostrava, Opava and Brno the first two years, which featured 4 productions in total at one festival venue. The festival opened to theatre makers from the entire country in 1999 and began occasionally including foreign productions, primarily from neighbouring Slovakia and Poland. In 2004, the organizer of the Flora Theatre Festival decided to make a financially and logistically demanding step an expansion from the building of the Moravské divadlo to other places, which the festival team started to adapt into new festival venues. Thanks to Flora, important theatre infrastructure is being created and the festival has an irreplaceable position in making interesting Olomouc locations more visible and artistically valuable. That same year, Flora significantly changed its programme scope and the mostly drama theatre festival was transformed into a multi-genre project. The festival organizer began to bring also the newest works of the contemporary dance and performing arts scene to Olomouc and therefore radically changed the character of the festival. Thanks to Flora, various premises of the Art Centre of Palacký University have come to life as of The courtyard at the Konvikt university building in the centre of Olomouc, a city with more than 20,000 university students, is the traditional festival meeting point; a place for various meetings pulsing with culture each festival day often into the early morning hours... One of the important milestones in the festival history was the change of the organizer of the festival in autumn Divadlo Konvikt theatre (transformed into a public benefit organization DW7) took over the organization from the Moravské divadlo (a state-funded organization). The activities of the new organizer have always been primarily associated with students in fields of the arts at Palacký University Olomouc. The intentional cooperation with young, flexible and creative minds resulted in significant acceleration and Flora gained the renown of an inventive and inspiring festival in the Czech cultural context. The production core was built up around the long-time director of the festival and gradually grew with new members of the young generation there is around 140 festival staff at present. 5

6 Festival productions have been intentionally (and with amazing response) increasingly staged in atypical town settings. The renowned Spitfire Company, awarded at several European festivals, set their visually enchanting production Animal Exitus outdoors on the town walls above the parks......the charismatic rapper Andy Bothwell performed at the renowned Jazz Tibet Club, Olomouc......dance performances have often enhanced the mood of the Baroque canon s residence. 6

7 The Flora Theatre Festival became an increasingly open platform concerning genre and content with various programme sections. Its individual programme lines map out specific artistic and social phenomena, theatre trends in the international and context genre; presenting profiles of renowned directors and ensembles. Thanks to the festival, Olomouc began to regularly feature the finest drama ensembles, directors and choreographers and representatives of the performing arts from various countries. Olomouc got the reputation of a popular theatre town. In the course of time, the festival focused its energy also towards production of new pieces the Flora Theatre Festival has initiated several world premieres in the past few years. Flora secured its position on the Czech-Slovak cultural map over the period of During the last three annuals it has progressed significantly and established itself as an important Central European festival with significant participation of foreign artists. Dušan D. Pařízek, the most successful Czech theatre director with great acclaim also abroad, opening the largest retrospective overview of the most important Czech theatre after the Velvet Revolution. Divadlo Komedie theatre performed 7 key productions at the festival in May 2012 and was the first to make use of the open stage of the S-klub music club Olomouc, besides using the Moravské divadlo venue. The many years effort of the organizers transformed the originally humble festival of 4 Moravian ensembles into the international event whose dimensions significantly transcendent the borders of the Olomouc Region. Flora Theatre Festival currently serves as a platform for theatre encounters and the establishment of artistic and production links. It provides several thousands of audience members with an opportunity to see the newest productions and directions of non-commercially oriented theatre and transforms the historical and administrative centre of the Olomouc Region into a live and dynamically developing theatre platform. 7

8 The festival hosted the international conference Visegrad Dance Platform? in 2016, which included around 50 guests: creators, programmers and critics from throughout Europe. The audiences have the opportunity to talk with the creators and actors right after the production the discussion with the actors of Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin aroused great interest. The festival also regularly provides space to handicapped artists whose performances are often accompanied by workshops open to the general public. 8

9 2016: SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS The twentieth Flora Theatre Festival in May 2016 provided the most exclusive programme in its history Olomouc hosted artists from 16 countries. Regie Dušan D. Pařízek, Wien section played a key role in the festival programme, bringing a number of top quality drama productions from Austria to the stage of the Moravské divadlo including the best German language production of 2015: The Ridiculous Darkness by Burgtheater. Stefanie Reinsperger (Actress of the Year according to Theater heute) was featured in two festival evenings in three (!) different roles and served as the leading personality and face of the twentieth Flora Theatre Festival.. The festivals are often a bit elitist in my country. It is amazing that I did not feel any inhibitions here, you can really start talking to anyone straight away and have great fun. Stefanie Reinsperger (Actress of the Year 2015 according to Theater heute) The sold-out Moravské divadlo venue exclusively featured the German language production of the year The Ridiculous Darkness by the renowned Burgtheater from Vienna (Olomouc, 16 May 2016). 9

10 Apart from numerous drama productions, the 20 Flora also included various distinctive dance productions. The festival was opened by Praeambulum by Ingun Bjørnsgaard, a choreographer whose production ceremonially opened the magnificent Opera building in Oslo, Norway. I think I can speak for all and say we are very grateful to have a chance to be here. It was our honour to open the Flora Theatre Festival. Olomouc seems like a fantastic place. Norwegian choreographer Ingun Bjørnsgaard for the festival magazine The international ensemble of United-C from Eindhoven, Netherlands invaded the Dům u parku house. Their sumptuous, physical-art-music installation Burn took place for several hours over 2 days in front of, above the heads and under the feet of hundreds of enchanted spectators in this very new festival venue. 10

11 The provoking glittery show Grace by Hodworks, Budapest and the choreographer Adrienn Hód enchanted the audience in S-klub with its openness and crazy energy......the conceptual project by the Austrian artist Christine Gaigg and the musician Klaus Schedl untitled, set in a historical building in the centre of Olomouc which was undergoing reconstruction, stimulated the audience s imagination. 11

12 2017: A CONFIDENT STEP INTO THE THIRD DECADE The 21 Flora Theatre Festival featured more than 70 events over 10 days at 14 venues. More than 8 and a half thousand audience members attended the festival. Olomouc welcomed Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin and Residenztheater, Munich for the first time. Flora also included a 5-day profile of an important Czech theatre group, the renowned Studio Hrdinů (the highlight of the festival was The Case Švejk, a co-production of Studio Hrdinů, Theater Bremen and the renowned festival Wiener Festwochen). The festival introduced the work of the progressive HaDivadlo from Brno and twice showcased the Czech production of 2016, the drama Olga by Theatre Letí. Stanislav Majer, actor of the year and a well-known theatre, film and TV personality, became the face of the 21 Flora. He performed the monodrama Actor and Carpenter Majer Talking About the State of his Homeland and spent almost a week attending the performances of his colleagues or discussions with other artists, meeting with the festival audience and guests in the theatre hall as well as back stage. Fluid Europe, the festival motto for the drama programme section of the festival, spoke out to residents of Olomouc on their streets, from the shop windows and restaurants... The hall of Moravské divadlo applauded some of the finest European ensembles at the 21 festival: Protagonists of the enthralling production Balkan macht frei of the famous Residenztheater, Munich... 12

13 ...the drama section of the Slovak National Theatre Bratislava......the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin with the German production of the year The Situation by the Israeli director Yael Ronen. The Czech-German-Austrian co-production The Case Švejk ranked among the most impressive moments of the 21Flora. The production took over the whole Moravské divadlo hall and pulled spectators directly on stage... 13

14 ...after the unforgettable break for goulash, the audience became part of the chilling finale, after which the actors acknowledged the applause from both sides of the cheering hall for the first time. Productions by renowned choreographers working in the Netherlands Fernando Belfiore and Guilhermo Miotto from Brazil, Jija Sohn from Japan, Ola Maciejewska from Poland, Rodrigo Sobarzo from Chile and Keren Levi from Israel were the backbone of the dance and performing arts section of the 21 Flora programme. The elemental production D3US/x\M4CHIN4 by Fernando Belfiore from Brazil was an expressive,all-senses-provoking epic poem... 14

15 ...Bombyx mori by Ola Maciejewska from Poland was a stylised, artistically strong, meditative performance. The Diverse Netherlands section organized in May 2017 within the 21 Flora became the largest festival of Dutch contemporary art and performing arts in the Czech Republic. 15

16 FLORA THEATRE FESTIVAL 2018 The 22 Flora Theatre Festival took place in Olomouc from 10 to 20 May The international non-competition festival with the motto Against the Wall, featured 32 performances in the main programme over 11 days; altogether around 90 events. Olomouc welcomed theatre makers from 10 different countries. Festival activities included not only theatre productions but also concerts, discussions, workshops, seminars, installations or screenings; a two-day conference entitled Perspectives on Theatrology was part of the 22 festival as well as the book exhibition Book Me and the educational student programme FloraLab. Almost 9,000 spectators took part in the festival. The festival overture was varied in genre and consisted of a German film by Fatih Akin Gegen die Wand (Head-On), which inspired the leitmotiv of the 22 festival, the first performance of a new concert tour of the band Nylon Jail and a theatre project premiere of Opletal prepared by the director Michal Hába for the Divadlo na cucky theatre Olomouc. PROTI ZDI / AGAINST THE WALL The most important attribute of the Flora Theatre Festival is a clear dramaturgical outline. Under this year s motto Proti zdi / Against the Wall, the audience was confronted with extraordinary stories of nonconformist heroes whose daring as well as embarrassing mishaps and often recurring blows against the wall were depicted and commented on by prominent directors with a distinctive staging style. The Czech-Slovak drama programme section of the 22 festival was represented by distinctive theatre makers: David Jařab, Jan Mikulášek, Rastislav Ballek, Ivan Buraj, Jan Nebeský, Kamila Polívková, Ondrej Spišák and Michal Hába, whose long-term direction and chosen themes communicated with the chosen leitmotif in various ways. They were very authorial, unorthodox adaptations of an original theme, visually innovative and often using playful hyperbole and harsh irony (drenched with black humour). 16

17 The Personality of the 22 Flora (and the face of the festival promo campaign) was Czech Actor of the Year Miloslav König. He performed 4 productions at the festival including The Thief s Journal by Masopust theatre company which was awarded a number of theatre awards. He managed to talk to the audience, perform his musical recital and pose in the town centre in front of his own stylized portrait during his several-day stay in Olomouc... 17

18 The most heated debates were provoked by the production of Jánošík by Rastislav Ballek. The most controversial Slovak production of the last decade was performed by Divadlo Andreja Bagara from Nitra. The Slovak scene was also represented by the drama section of the Slovak National Theatre they staged an adaptation of Sophocles Antigone directed by Ondrej Spišák, a month after its premiere and were awarded with a long standing ovation at the sold-out Moravské divadlo hall. 18

19 The quartet of exceptional drama productions, performed to not-only-local audiences, was completed by two prominent Czech Scenes: Divadlo Na zábradlí Prague presented their new production Woodcutters directed by their main director Jan Mikulášek and Production of the Year Macbeth Too Much Blood directed by David Jařab......HaDivadlo, Brno, presented a daring adaptation of Ibsen s Eyolf by the Artistic Director Ivan Buraj and an enthralling dramatization of the Petra Hůlová novel Macocha directed by Kamila Polívková. 19

20 GEGEN DIE WAND The main programme section presented a Frankfurt based theatre Landungsbrücken for the first time in the Czech Republic, which brought an adaptation of Kassovitz s celebrated film La Haine (Hass, Hate). The director Linus Koenig, together with his ensemble, held a discussion with the spectators after its staging in Moravské divadlo theatre. Volkstheater Vienna, a well-established European scene, presented their subtle adaptation of Müller s text Philoktet. Stefanie Reinsperger, the actress in the leading role currently part of the Berliner Ensemble turned into a charismatic DJ in the festival circus tent after the production... 20

21 Rabih Mroué, Lebanese director, actor, dramatist and visual artist living in Berlin was the exclusive guest of the Flora Theatre Festival. He presented his lecture performance Sand in the Eyes, spent 3 days at the festival and also presented his work at a seminar at the Art Centre of Palacký University. VISEGRAD PERFORMING ARTS A strong artistic statement, original reflections on the world around and a broad range of artistic approaches characterised the Visegrad section of the 22 Flora which in its sixth year offered an attractive collage of trends in the field of contemporary performing arts in Central Europe in 5 different venues. Adrienn Hód, currently the most respected Hungarian choreographer, prepared an emotional performance Solos at Dům u parku venue and then gave a dance workshop at Divadlo hudby. The audience in S-klub was mesmerized by the Canadian-Slovak duet of Clara Furey and Peter Jaško Untied Tales. 21

22 Apart from solo performances by Dominika Wiak from Poland and Milan Herich from Slovakia, the festival also featured the Hungarian dancer Rita Góbi with a robotic performance Volitant and Eliška Brtnická from the Czech Republic whose ethereally elegant performance Enola was creatively spiced up with cirque nouveau elements. The Czech-Slovak-Belgian co-production You Are Here created very close bonds while connecting the performers with the audience......the dance performance Soma provided the audience with a gallery-like experience. 22

23 OFF PROGRAM The festival organizers also aimed the off programme at children and handicapped theatre makers......apart from dance workshops, they provided the active participants of the festival with workshops of Light Design and an entire array of thought-provoking discussions with visiting directors, choreographers, dancers, actors and dramaturgs... theatre education enthusiasts were invited to a theatrology conference and a book exhibition. The concert of Carlos Cipa & Occupanther from Munich provided a unique musical experience. 23

24 FESTIVAL STRENGTHS Flora has garnered notably positive publicity and amazing references from the media, as well as the wider theatre-oriented public, over recent years. This pleasantly unpretentious event is more and more often considered the best theatre festival in the country due to its openness and spontaneity Jan H. Vitvar, weekly magazine Respekt I consider Flora the most progressive festival in the country. (...) It is a place of theatre meetings and explorations (...) when you arrive there, you will not want to leave....what is also very important almost all the productions at Flora are sold out. Flora maintains a sharp upward tendency and each year I am surprised at how they can move even higher. Flora is a world-class festival. Lenka Dombrovská, Theatre Newspaper Kamila Polívková, Director Ten days full of theatre Czech as well as European (...) Moreover, there is this friendly atmosphere of the festival people mingling with the right European artists. (...) There is no need to look all that far when looking for well-running examples of good practice. Ján Balaj, Curator of the International Festival Divadelná Nitra, Slovakia Flora is unique due to its atmosphere of a student town with a perceptive audience and for the vigorous talent scouting dramaturgy which does not merely invite awarded productions, but also attempts to express clear views as to what contemporary progressive theatre is all about. The city of Olomouc can be really proud of Flora. It is of course my honour to be the face of such a festival! Ivan Buraj, Artistic Director of HaDivadlo, Brno It s amazing here! People don t disperse after the productions, but go together to the next one it s like a rock n roll festival. Amazing, I love it here! Stanislav Majer, Czech Actor of 2016 Franz Pätzold, Actor of the Year 2016, Nominee Flora proves that the productions it offers are often hidden gems and provide the audience with new perspectives and various points of view on the human body, movement and stage art. Tereza Cigánková, Taneční aktuality It is a truly unique opportunity, in this geographical area, to see the best from the past season, not only from the Czech and Slovak Republics, but also from Germany or Austria. It is like passing never-ending shop windows, which hide ever changing and shocking aesthetic sets of products behind the unbreakable glass. Martin Gazdík, Dramaturg, Žilina Town Theatre Barbora Kašparová, Tanecnizona.cz Flora strives to maintain a casual and natural dialogue with the creators. The act of connecting up the audience and the festival actors provides it with a truly specific atmosphere. David Drozd, head of Theatre Studies at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University, Brno I consider Flora Theatre Festival the most prestigious theatre festival in the Czech Republic. Jan Horák, Artistic Director of Studio Hrdinů, Prague 24

25 Flora Theatre Festival productions meet with enormous audience interest. The festival manages to regularly sell out the major festival productions. The last festival had almost 9,000 spectators. Spectators talk about the productions in front of the venues and elsewhere. But also with the actors themselves here with Vladimír Javorský from the National Theatre until the morning hours in Olomouc clubs and bars......they take pictures with their favourite personages or meet them in the streets of Olomouc (director Jiří Havelka together with the stars of the Slovak National Theatre Táňa Pauhofová and Richard Stanko during their walk through the city). Festival guests share their impressions of Flora with the media. The director Dušan D. Pařízek was interviewed by Czech Television, the actor Karim Daoud by Radio Wave. 25

26 Other components of the genre-diverse festival programme include increasing and widening of activities focused on work with the audience. Flora Theatre Festival has in previous years regularly organized workshops, discussions of the performers with the audiences, conferences and seminars. The dancers Catharina Vehre Gresslien and Marianne Haugli held their workshop in ArtUm Centre in Olomouc......Jon Filip Fahlstrøm in the beautiful Fresco hall on the former Divadlo na cucky premises. Several dozen volunteers participated in the site-specific project Second City, which took place directly on the main square in Olomouc and became part of a unique event. 26

27 Very intense discussions are held not only in the theatre hall of the Moravské divadlo......but also in the intimate space of K3 theatre hall... Informal discussions are also held during the conference breaks....or the festival circus tent. The festival also educates its future audience during the workshops and productions for children... 27

28 All the festival productions are affordable for wide social spectrum of spectators. The festival organizers make efforts to keep the tickets in such price range that wide social spectrum of the audience is able to attend the production including the exclusive ones from abroad. The point of this event (offering also student or professional reduced tickets) is contextual familiarization of the audience with the current trends and progressive production of renowned European theatre makers, which the festival goer does not have a chance to see at local stages (in such compact form). And what are we going to see tomorrow...? All the festival venues are filled with thousands of spectators, of a varying social and age range, over the 10 festival days. The festival manages to represent the Olomouc region and highlight its position on the cultural map of Central Europe. It generates exceptional financial benefits in the sector of services (accommodation, catering, promotion, renting of venues, etc.) and employment. The Flora Theatre Festival ranks among the most well-respected cultural events in the Czech context and significantly expands the tourism potential of the locale, providing a huge multiplication effect. 28

29 Thanks to building an internationally representative programme with a distinctive dramaturgy, the organizers manage to bring over to Olomouc more and more people passionate about theatre from all other fields not only creators and performers, but also dramaturgs, journalists, critics, theoreticians, promoters, producers, artistic directors and directors or programme curators of other theatre events and institutions. During the twentieth edition, Flora became the meeting point of fifty creators, managers and critics for three days within the international conference Visegrad Dance Platform?; the festival took part in another encounter in 2017, with the attendance of dozens of guests from all around Europe. The festival co-hosted the conference Za hranou/over the Edge, focused on forms of participative theatre and innovative work with the audience. The 2018 Flora hosted a second edition of the Theatrological Conference a two-day seminar of researchers, academics and postgraduate students discussing the potential and challenges of current theatrology closely linked to the festival. The above-mentioned activities demonstrate the growing respect for the festival; the conference organizers view Flora as an open and thought-provoking platform which is an ideal place for such types of meetings. The festival does not aim to focus only on the art phenomena, but the social ones as well. When preparing the programme, the festival organizers also take into consideration the social function of theatre. This aspect was fully manifested in the two main lines of 21 year of the festival. The choice of drama productions, connected with the leitmotif Fluid Europe, reflected the demographical changes and current problems of the old continent and encouraged discussions about the redefinition of basic European values which were discussed during the frequent meetings with the creative teams. The festival motto was also implicitly communicated by the main dance and performing arts section Diverse Netherlands : The international mix of leading choreographs based in the Netherlands was proof of the working model of a viable multicultural society and demonstrated the indisputable merit of an inspiring mix of culturally and religiously diverse environments. 29

30 Flora stands out with its friendly and nonconformist atmosphere. Thanks to it, each year Olomouc welcomes also the creative teams or producers of the festival productions Flora has a unique potential to become an important Central European focal point for encounters, artistic networking and place for establishing of new co-operations or co-productions. The festival circus tent was a place of the first encounter of certain personages of German theatre Franz Pätzold from Munich, who stayed at the festival for 4 days and compared it to an amazing rock n roll festival and his colleague from Berlin Dimitrij Schaad... dancers of the Japanese-Korean production Geisha s Miracle met local theatre makers. Some participants in the Fluid Europe Seminar symptomatically set out on a cruise down the river while others preferred an off-programme music production......and part of the team assisted the Berlin-Munich gathering in the legendary club in Olomouc. 30

31 The Flora Theatre Festival has a truly artistically innovative and original visuals each year. It has inventively designed promotional materials as well as professionally made presentation and thorough documentation. Stefanie Reinsperger, Actress of 2015, became the exclusive face of the Flora festival promo materials in Stanislav Majer, the Czech Actor of 2016, took this role a year later. The face of the last edition in 2018 was taken over (yet again) by Actor of the Year Miloslav König. The festival publicity playfully impacts the main square of Olomouc. Artistic portraits of the personalities Lukas Holzhausen and Rainer Galke from Volkstheater, Vienna were made spontaneously by the festival photographer Ondřej Hruška at Flora the image recalled their performance in Old Masters for the audience waiting for another production at 2017 Flora. 31

32 Olomouc is flooded with references to the festival programme apart from traditional promotional boards, the face of Miloslav König dominated not only the interiors of theatre venues during the 22 Flora......but also the fence of the Museum of Modern Art in the heart of Olomouc. The printed materials of the festival include, apart from various formats of POSTERS, LEAFLETS FOLDING PROGRAMMES or POSTCARDS and outdoor materials (CITY LIGHTS, BANNERS, BILLBOARDS), an extensive bilingual CATALOGUE and a 64-page-long programme BULLETIN. The printed festival MAGAZINE is distributed every day during the festival to the actual venues but also to cultural institutions, schools, galleries and cafés. Together with the daily VIDEO MAGAZINE, it thoroughly maps the festival events and brings them to the attention of the audience (in the form of programme tips, annotations, reviews, reflections, portraits, interviews and surveys). 32

33 Various forms of basketball were the omnipresent equipment of the last Flora... For their daily and nightly hectic work on the printed as well as video magazine......the editorial staff rewarded themselves with a picture stylized as rock stars. Festival productions are also documented and make up a unique VIDEO ARCHIVE of exceptional theatre productions which serves (with the approval of the creative teams) as amazing study material for reviewers, university students and theatre experts. All issues/episodes of the MAGAZINE and VIDEO MAGAZINE of the 22. DF + complete summary of media responses are available at and 33

34 Each year, the festival also produces original MERCHANDISE which includes, for example, T-SHIRTS, BAGS, HANDBAGS, BADGES and other souvenirs or useful everyday items. 34

35 Olomouc 23 September 2018 Petr Nerušil, Festival Director Simona Vičarová, Executive Producer

36 The best theatre festival in the country. Jan H. Vitvar, weekly magazine Respekt The most progressive festival in the country. When you arrive there, you will not want to leave. Lenka Dombrovská, Theatre Newspaper Flora is the best festival I know! Stefanie Reinsperger, German Actress of 2015 Flora keeps up with the trends. Barbora Kašparová, Taneční zóna The productions it offers are often hidden gems. Tereza Cigánková, Taneční aktuality Flora is unique due to its atmosphere of a student town with a perceptive audience and for the vigorous talent scouting dramaturgy. Ivan Buraj, Artistic Director, HaDivadlo, Brno Flora is a world-class festival. Kamila Polívková, Director It was our honour to open the Flora Theatre Festival. Ingun Bjørnsgaard, Choreographer The most prestigious theatre festival in the Czech Republic. Jan Horák, Artistic Director of Studio Hrdinů, Prague The most respected Czech theatre festival with a unique atmosphere! Dušan D. Pařízek, Director There is no need to look all that far when looking for well-running examples of good practice. a rock n roll festival. Amazing, I love it here! Franz Pätzold, Actor of the Year 2016, Nominee The city of Olomouc can be really proud of Flora. It is of course my honour to be the face of such a festival! Stanislav Majer, Czech Actor of 2016 Ján Balaj, Curator of the International Festival Divadelná Nitra, Slovakia