Students of the Theatre Faculty of the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts have organized the 31st edition of the International Festival of Theatre Schools SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER that will take place on 23-27 March 2021. It will be online this year!

The festival is associated with a communication topic every year. The 31st edition is called JUMP! Festival has experienced 30 years of its existence and it is necessary to jump now. A jump is a demonstration of courage, exemption, and a point in space and time. We have to evaluate what we have learned from the previous generation, abandon troubled waters, and take a step.

We will jump into something new and unknown. What will the upcoming years bring? What about the possibilities? What is there to come? You will never know unless you jump!

Future needs a choice. #JumpOrDie

The director of the festival, like in the two previous years, is doc. MgA. Michal Zetel, Ph.D. The ambassador of this year’s edition is prof. Mgr. Emília Vášáryová, a successful actress and an honorary JAMU doctor, who should have been the ambassador last year already. However, the festival could not take place due to the Covid-19 pandemic and we are happy that she accepted our offer for this year’s edition as well.

In January 2021, 11 out of 19 schools were selected and they will become part of the main program at the festival and represent Armenia, Italy, Germany, Poland, Austria, Russia, Slovakia, Serbia, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.

There will be an extensive accompanying program featuring discussions with the professionals and unique concerts of local bands. Festive ceremonies will be prepared as well.

One of the outputs of the accompanying program is ENC: STAGE!. It will be possible to enjoy the live stream of the concerts from two clubs in Brno one day before the festival starts.

We are compelled to stream the festival online now, but we are determined to bring great experience to the audiences. Detailed information about the festival program will be featured in the next press release, on social networks, on the Facebook account of SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER, the Instagram account of @setkani_encounter, and the website www.encounter.cz