EXIT organised three opening ceremonies this year, with a focus on sending messages of peace and love, designed festival zones where no mobile phones were used, encouraged recycling, and decorated the Petrovaradin Fortress with messages emphasizing the importance of mental health and connectivity with people in real life.
The very beginning of the festival on 6 July was marked as a sign of peace and love, from the cocoa ceremony and the meditative musical performance of the Saraswati Druna Band, to the performance of the mystical Vylane Marcus at the mts Dance Arena in honour of the celebration of female energy, the children’s choir “Vocal Kids” and the elementary school choir ” Stevica Jovanović” from Pančevo, who performed the song “Zemlja” (Country) by the cult group Ekatarina Velika on the Gorki List Main Stage, rounding off the opening by sending a powerful message to humanity from space – the Universe is watching, listening and hoping, and only together can we create a better world.
“We can help build a more beautiful world that will exist for our children and our children’s children, a world of peace, love, dance and joy. We have the opportunity to build that world together,” motivational speaker and philanthropist Aubrey Marcus said in his speech at the opening of the EXIT Festival.
“Life Is Live“ Campaign
Right before the beginning of this year’s festival, EXIT Foundation started a multi-year campaign aimed at raising awareness about the importance of taking care of the mental health of young people. The first phase of this campaign, called “Life Is Live“, is focused on digital addiction and drawing attention to the alarming proportions it has reached. One of the activities within this campaign was two Phone Free zones at EXIT, with the aim to encourage visitors to give priority to live experience and full presence for a certain period of time. In these zones, they tested their readiness to part from their phones for a while, take a break, talk to other visitors in the zone and get inspired to continue the practice of balanced and moderate phone use in their everyday lives.
Green EXIT and ecological activities
Through the Green EXIT platform, a large recycling campaign was conducted in cooperation with partners Ball Packaging Serbia, Heineken Serbia and Ekostar Pak. This year, according to initial information, three times more packaging was collected, including PET plastic bottles, plastic cups and cans. The company Ball Packaging and the Recan Foundation, in cooperation with the project “Every can counts”, launched a campaign to collect used aluminium packaging in order to recycle it, but also to remind visitors that this is the packaging that can be recycled an unlimited number of times, with minimal losses. There were 20 promoters on site with 10 backpacks, in which was possible to dispose of used beverage cans. The promoters also had digital scanners with which they printed vouchers in order to reward responsible visitors, which contributed to the collection of three times more cans than the last year.
Within the Green EXIT powered by Ball zone, numerous activations were organised for the audience, with an option to win prizes. The famous Pixelata was there to creatively remind the audience of the infinite recyclability of aluminium. The letters “I Love Music” with a digital counter, in which it was possible to store cans, were placed in the most beautiful place on the Fortress, near the Clock Tower. The whole action of collecting used aluminium packaging was “spiced up” by Ida Prester, who provided support on the spot and encouraged visitors to join the action.
To dispose of plastic and PET packaging, visitors used three recycling stations, set up in cooperation with Heineken and Ekostar Pak. Two specially designed spheres were highlighted in the ecozone – a planet made of plants, a symbol of nature and a healthy environment, as well as a planet made of plastic packaging, which reminds us that by inadequately disposing of plastic, we endanger our future. With the slogan “Be the recycling superstar”, everyone had the opportunity to be a superstar by properly disposing of their waste at the Festival. Collected vouchers for discarded cans and stamps for discarded plastic packaging enabled visitors to receive a prize – for seven used packaging discarded, they received a Heineken Silver beer as a gift refreshment at one of the five replacement points.
In addition, recycling machines for cans and PET water bottles were installed at the Petrovaradin fortress and in the EXIT camp, and for using them, visitors received prizes such as tickets for EXIT 2024, season tickets for Strand Beach, EXIT t-shirts and bandanas, backpacks, bags… This action was carried out jointly by the City of Novi Sad, Sekopak, PUC Čistoća and EXIT Festival.
Find out more about the festival’s green initiatives here.
