Serbia’s EXIT Festival has announced that this summer’s edition will be its last in Serbia.
The decision, says the festival, comes after EXIT publicly aligned with the country’s student-led anti-corruption protests, which occurred after the Novi Sad station collapse in November 2024. The tragedy claimed 15 lives.
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Since showing support for the protests, EXIT says that after it “publicly stood with the students of Serbia in their fight for a freer and more just society,” the festival has “been subjected to immense financial and political pressures aimed at stripping us of our fundamental rights to freedom of thought and expression.”
Despite being completely cut off from public funding at all levels of government, and with some sponsors forced to withdraw under state pressure, we refuse to be silenced.”
EXIT founder and Director Dušan Kovačević went on to say “This is the hardest decision in our 25-year history but we believe that freedom has no price.
“With this act we are defending not only EXIT but the fundamental right to free expression for all cultural actors around the world. We invite them to stand with us in this fight”
This year’s festival will still take place on 10-13 July in Novi Sad, Serbia.
