{"id":10984,"date":"2025-10-14T20:28:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T18:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lori.hr\/?p=10984"},"modified":"2025-11-04T19:44:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T18:44:29","slug":"smoqua-proslava-zajednistva-velikih-25-godina-lori","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lori.hr\/en\/smoqua-proslava-zajednistva-velikih-25-godina-lori\/","title":{"rendered":"Ninth Smoqua: Celebrating togetherness for 25 years of LORI!"},"content":{"rendered":"

With its theme Togetherness, <\/strong>during three colourful days filled with events, Smoqua gathered hundreds of<\/strong> artists, activists, collectives, organisations and friends from Croatia and abroad<\/strong>. We celebrated queer and feminist culture, as well as the strength of our resilience, the stories we carry and the big anniversary: 25 years of LORI!\u205f<\/strong> And while we are sitting in the office (which is in a mess \u2013 because now we have to clean everything up! \ud83d\ude02) and retelling what happened, laughing, we are thinking about all the people who made this celebration so wonderful \u2013 \u205fTHANK YOU, PEOPLE, THANK YOU SO MUCH!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solidarity knows no boundaries!<\/strong>!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It's touching how many people from LORI\u2019s different eras came from all around to celebrate its birthday with us \u2013 thank you, Ari, Jay, Seka and all the wonderful people who came with you; Jupiter, the crew from Slovenia, the crew from Vienna\u2026 When it got (financially) tough this winter, Smoqua got enriched with valuable knowledge from our friends from Brussels, Hamburg, Bosnia and Herzegovina and all over Balkan<\/strong>: Sarajevo Open Centre<\/a>, European Center for Digital Action, ERA LGBTI<\/a> and Foundation CURE<\/a>, Sonja - came, held workshops, supported the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smoqua volunteers<\/strong> always hold a special place in our review because really, without them the festival would be soulless. More than 20 people handed out flyers, climbed walls to hang posters, carried bags, hosted people, dealt with lunches, safety, people\u2019s wellbeing, made sure posts went up on time, translated, made last minute film subtitles, made stickers (Mateja and Jelena: they\u2019re great!) \u2013 really there is nothing our volunteers didn\u2019t do. Always there for everyone, you make us laugh and when it gets rough, we know we can count on you \u2013 thank you for everything!<\/strong> \ud83d\ude0a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thank you Erin&Tina for being great panel moderators, Emina Hermann and Milena Biber for \u2018jumping in last second\u201d, Palach<\/a>,\u00a0O.K Gallery<\/a>,\u00a0SKC Gallery<\/a>, Circolo, Rock pub<\/a>,\u00a0Austrian Culture Forum Zagreb<\/a>, SRCE VBZ bookstore<\/a> and organisations SOS Rijeka<\/a>, Proces<\/a>, Delta<\/a>, Domino<\/a><\/strong> for all sorts of support, as well as and\u00a0Rijeka<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for hanging our festival and rainbow flags along Korzo street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tudor vina<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Suza\u205f<\/a><\/strong> liquors made Smoqua sweet again this year: the crowd loves you, you have a fan base. \ud83d\ude09 We thank\u00a0Croatian Railways<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>for a return ticket discount and\u00a0Adria Print<\/a>\u00a0who helped us with cool new stickers alongside flyers and posters. Menstrual cups by\u00a0<\/strong>Intimina<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/strong>LELO\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0intimate accessories<\/strong> got given away as part of the game Queer mystery and the quiz \u201cWeakest Barbie\u201d and they were also handed out at our info booth so as many people as possible could try out these valuable gadgets. \ud83d\ude01<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we can\u2019t possibly leave this out \u2013 mom Zlata\u2019s cake.<\/strong>\ud83c\udf70<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danijela\u2019s mom made a LORI birthday cake with lots of love and patience so this is for her:\u205f\u201cThe middle crust wasn\u2019t dry<\/strong> \u2013 everything was sweet enough \u2013 Thank you, Mom!\u201d<\/strong>\u201c. \u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is how the festival went<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The sun hit the rainbow and Smoqua flags on Korzo on Thursday which means the crew is gathering: Smoqua is starting. <\/strong> Youth mingled in front of Palach on the Youth Tiramol<\/strong> and hung some of their ideas for their local community. Amina from Sarajevo Open Centre spoke about youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina and teams investigated who stole the queer agenda as part of Alex\u2019s \u201cQueer mystery\u201d.<\/strong>That is also part <\/strong>of our new project ReActivate yourself<\/a> and we are looking forward to it continuing. After the great workshop about the possibilities of fundraising organisation with experts from ECDA followed the panel \u201cLGBTIQ+ Inclusivity in the Workplace\u201d<\/strong>. It\u2019s great that the VBZ bookshop space was packed: people from institutions, unions, University of Rijeka and different firms wanted to hear how IKEA<\/a>, Decathlon<\/a> and K-Zone<\/a> build safe working spaces for their employees and society.<\/p>\n\n\n