ECHO III: For Memory’s Sake (January 2022 – June 2024) is an arts and heritage project aiming to bring together artists working in the fields of theatre, music, visual arts, and literature to explore traditional and cultural practices related to marriage, arranged marriages and nuclear families in the Balkan context. Specifically, the aim is to explore gender roles and norms through history, and how these affect young people and artists living in Europe.

Also, ECHO III aims to:

  • Strengthen transnational co-operation through (a) the creation of original artworks in the fields of theatre, music, visual arts and literature, (b) the artists’ mobility and exchange, and (c) the circulation of the artworks between Balkan countries. 
  • Empower artists from old, new, and prospective EU member-states in the Balkans by building their artistic research capacities, and by offering them opportunities to discover important gender issues embedded in Balkan traditions and histories.
  • Disseminate their work through art residencies, local performances and exhibitions and a Wandering Arts Caravan.

ECHO III aspires to involve emerging artists from the Balkans through cultural and artistic practices, exchanges and stimuli, especially during critical and challenging times for the artistic communities. 

By boosting the engagement of different audiences, the project wishes to bring different generations together to ponder upon questions about the ways that society has chosen to raise its children. Older generations will be asked to reflect on the rules and traditions that have defined their lives, and younger ones will be asked to observe if said practices have had an effect on the way they lead their relationships.

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