10 April 2024, at 3 pm
Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Italy

This year, EPEKA will celebrate its 16th anniversary. During this time, we have carried out numerous projects, such as the establishment of the first Romani restaurant operating according to the principles of social entrepreneurship – Romani kafenava, the exhibition of comic strips at the eminent Comic Strip Museum in Brussels, various exhibitions of artists such as Miki Muster, Zoran Smiljanić, Tomaž Lavrič, Marjan Manček, Selma Selman, Marko Jakše, Jože Šubic, Gregor Pratneker, Luka Murovec and many others. With the Maribor 100 YC exhibition, we represented Slovenia at the Venice Architecture Biennale and coordinated or participated in a number of EU-funded projects.

We hosted well-known musicians such as Barcelona Gipsy Balkan Orchestra, Esma Redžepova, Harri Stojka, Pretty Loud, Lela Soto Flamenco Group, Parno Grazst, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Vlado Kreslin, Adi Smolar, etc. During the epidemic, we brought miniature golf to Maribor for the first time in a long time, and we carried out a lot of other projects that enriched our society on a local and a national level (Bademantl Day, Miss Trees, etc.).

What will we do in the future?

We have a lot of innovative projects in the drawer that we want to bring to life; we have plans to build the first private housing cooperative; we were the first in Slovenia to set up a new legal body, the SCE (Societas cooperativa Europaea), and this should be followed by construction. We have managed to build on the story of the Slovenian Roma Route project into the larger European Roma Route project. In the course of our work, we managed to register the European Capital of Roma trademark with the EPEKA Association, which also took us to one of the biggest art houses in the world – the Scala in Milan.

Together with an international consortium of partners, we are organising this year’s World Roma Day event at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 10 April 2024 at 3pm. We will celebrate the biggest Roma holiday with a cultural event and a concert by musicians Santino and Genarro Spinelli with guests and orchestra.

 

About the musicians:

The achievement of a father and son is unprecedented in Italy. It represents an important symbolic step towards greater cultural and social inclusion for the country and the Roma and Sinti communities. “Music speaks to everyone and is the most direct language for integration and cultural exchange,” said Gennaro Spinelli. Spinelli is a renowned Roma violinist on the international scene, serving as the International Roma Federation’s Ambassador for Roma Arts and Culture worldwide and as President of the Union of Roma Communities in Italy (UCRI).

Gallery – Teatro alla Scala – “courtesy of Giovanni Hänninen © Teatro alla Scala”

For more information, visit www.epeka.si and epeka@epeka.si.

EPEKA, Soc. Ent., is supported by the Office for Youth of the Republic of Slovenia, the Office for Culture and Youth of the Municipality of Maribor, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia, the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the Republic of Slovenia, the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia and the EU.