It is clear that processing all the impressions and emotions that the sixth Smoqua brough will take quite some time. So much happened during these three days of hanging out and exchanging ideas and experiences – it was a combination of wonderful energy, lovely people, spontaneity and – sun! 🙂
Alongside more than 30 artists and activists, 18 events, guests from various parts of Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia (and beyond), our hearts are filled with happiness, pride and gratitude. To see you all in a good vibe, smiling to one another, dancing, holding the door for each other, encouraging each other – that is priceless. Thank you all, Smoqua is love and unity – Smoqua is you!!
Of course, Smoqua could not be so great without the support and hearts of everyone involved, so first and foremost we want to thank our partners, PaRiter. A huge thank you to our devoted volunteers : thank you for your contribution, time and heartiness. It is a pleasure to organise a festival with you. Another thank you from the heart to all programme participants for your involvement, openness and selflessly sharing your knowledge with us all. 🙂
We need to express gratitude to RiRock: the crew really pulled through when needed, Art-kino and Cukarikafe for hosting us, Tifan for all the delicious and wonderful vegan lunches and DeltaLab for quick and easy arrangements. Without all of you the programme would not have been this rich. We are especially happy to be able to thank Austrian Cultural Forum Zagreb who were true allies since we started creating this year’s programme. OPG Davor Tudor offered us their tasty wines at the opening and Adria print printshop has been would always give us some extra posters and pamphlets since 2017. Croatian railways again this year approved discount so Smoqua could be even more accessible. Rainbow flags proudly hung once again alongside Korzo and on the City hall because the City of Rijeka stands for all of it's citizens and supports Smoqua..

Thank you INTIMINA and LELO for phenomenal gifts, educating us about menstruation, reproductive health, a fun game and sex toys. 😊
And of course, the creative force of queer youth impacted this year’s Smoqua as well: LORI Youth group as a great driving force with many wonderful ideas (such as the promo video for Smoqua! :D) and all the little details that go straight to the heart – handmade table decorations, 'conversation menus' for speed-dating, closing the festival with a dance under the rainbow flag... The crew also organised two events: World Cafe: Queer Youth for You(th) and Quicky – queer speed dating marking ErasmusDays and the European Year of Youth. Both events were packed and marked by a great atmosphere. Many people approached us and said: ' This youth of yours are wonderful, lovely people, just great, almost to cry for!'.
We will remember for a long time the flipcharts Equity, Sisterhood, Solidarity on which visitors wrote their own definitions of the terms during the first day – the flipcharts were of course decorated by the diligent hand of the Youth group (who else? 😀).
Followed by drumming, a short performance and a few words, we opened the festival with a special homage to our dear collaborator and colleague, a woman that served for a long time as voice for those who don't always have one, Nina Deranja. The roundtable that followed the opening focused on the personal experiences and identities of two young persons from LORI with Marinella Matejčić as well as presenting research on bisexuality. The night ended in a friendly and romantic atmosphere with conversations and music during speed dating - there were barely enough tables. 😀
The next day we enjoyed selfcare, a drumming workshop, brilliant Austrian writer Gertraud Klemm and art documentary movies in Art-kino, Trans*Gaze and For They Know Not What They Do, as well as talk with the authors. The films moved us, we definitely recommend it.
On the third day, we presented the work by Austrian street artist Chinagirl Tile who permanently marked Rijeka, after doing so in many other cities in the world, with a ceramic crocodile, which can be found on the Delta 5 building. After that we hung out by creating new narratives and queer stories, tried our luck in a new LELO game and at a drag workshop. And after that…the grand finale, Queer-UP! Party. Together with drag queen Karmen Daš from Maribor and DJ Nun (Serbian: Časna sestra) from Belgrade: oh, this was a party to remember. Palach was bursting at the seams, at one point it was so full that one had to wait to enter so thank you all for solidarity and patience, which made everything go well.
Finally, we have to share how many people told us that Smoqua especially queered Rijeka this year, it was literally everywhere: promo videos were played on the Autotrolej bus displays, as well as on the big screen of the Tourist Board on Korzo, on digital poster displays across the whole city, on city lights, posters everywhere – From Zagreb to Istria, Ogulin and Gorski kotar.
As we always say, Smoqua is people. Your presence in such big numbers shows that a different and better tomorrow is possible and that we will bravely, firmly and proudly continue to grow and develop. <3
Here are some impressions of Smoqua visitors and volunteers that we found especially touching;
An unforgettable volunteering experience in LORI! They try to ensure a space to freely express our identities in a wonderful way. Smoqua is a great opportunity to meet people with similar life experience, but it's also a great place to gather new knowledge on diversity.
This year at Smoqua my heart was crying tears of happiness. That energy and atmosphere were indescribable. Everyone I talked to said the energy was something special and I thank you for everything, half of it I can't even put into words.
Love to all <3