The Festival of Multilingualism is organized under the auspices of Ministry of Culture by the Municipality of Thessaloniki’s Directorate for Education and Sport through its Programs and Lifelong Learning Department and the Municipal Company of Information, Spectacle, and Communication (D.E.P.Th.E), with the support of bodies and educational institutions from both within and outside of Greece.
The main aim of the Festival is to highlight the notion of pluralism and continuity as an experience of a society that actively participates in the efforts for collaboration, awakening of the individual, solidarity, and social action both within and outside its walls.
The Festival of Multilingualism attempts to highlight the multiculturalism and multilingualism of cities, to contribute to the universal understanding of the rich potential generated by the intersection of cultures, all the time seeking to create new opportunities of meeting and collaboration, thus rendering Thessaloniki a polymorphic laboratory of art, speech and common action creation in collaboration with bodies, organizations and institutions from abroad. Above all, the Festival of Multilingualism promotes, encourages, and highlights the languages of a city and of the participating countries as well as the active multilingualism of our communities in the Europe and elsewhere, in more remote areas, thus documenting the crucial role of languages in culture production and contributing to the cosmopolitan image as a multilingual city of Europe.
The Festival of Multilingualism involves volunteers which organised in groups in order to prepare events in align with the fest principles. The event preparation phase end to a three days celebrations where the groups present their work.The preparatory phase is form February until last week of May, and the final phase is at the last week of May from 3 to 5 days.
The Festival of Multilingualism includes: round table discussions, theatrical productions, music and dance performances, film screenings, multilingual workshops, research projects, a multilingualism café, memory and photography exhibitions, talks, thematic cycles of academic and research interest, seminars in the form of workshops, language stands, tributes to authors who focused on pluralism, interchangeability, networking and interaction, participatory knowledge workshops for citizens, parents, educators, and children, open discussions, multilingual literacy and calligraphy, the citizen’s cuisine, and the highlighting of the transnational nature of regional cuisines etc. While at the roundtables concerns may arise and a contemplative mood may be created, it is therefore important to ensure active listening and consultation between the present bodies and the citizens during the interim meetings.