Jerma Art Festival 2025 overview

jerma
Oct 24
4 min read

The Village of Vlasi Once Again Hosted the Second Jerma Art Festival Organized by Our Association

Festival activities were spread across several locations in the village of Vlasi.

Report by Local Portal far.rs

Program

This year’s festival once again gathered local artists who had the opportunity to present their work to both domestic and international visitors, as well as artists from abroad — including Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Greece, and the United States. Over the three days of the festival, around 600 visitors from Serbia and abroad passed through our village. All rural tourist households in the Jerma area, as well as the festival camp, were once again fully booked.

The festival was opened by a true guardian of local tradition — veterinarian, shepherd, and musician Aleksandar Vasov, along with his ensemble, who presented to the audience a repertoire of authentic traditional music from across the Balkans.

Photography Exhibition

Young photographer from Dimitrovgrad Stefan Pavić presented his photo exhibition “The Silence of Space” displayed on the walls of old village earthen buildings. The exhibition portrays a realistic picture of the abandoned villages in the Dimitrovgrad municipality. Through this series of photographs, Stefan raises awareness about the severe depopulation of rural areas and issues an appeal to stop the departure of young people from their villages.

Photo by: Stefan Pavić

Film Program

The audience also had the chance to watch two award-winning documentary films by journalists from Pirot.

The first, “Awakening of Stone”, was directed by Dragica Pavlov Krstić, a long-time journalist with TV Pirot.

The second, “Zoran”, directed by Aleksandar Ćirić, tells the story of sculptor Zoran Mojsilov, who hails from the village of Vlasi but has been living and creating in Minnesota, USA, for over four decades.

On the second day, visitors saw the award-winning film “Playing Man” (directed by Matijaž Ivanišin), which explores male games in the Balkans.

On the third day, the film “Raising dust” by young director Nikita Ko was screened.

Music Program

The music program was diverse — guests enjoyed both traditional, indigenous sounds and the recognizable rhythms of Greece brought by our dear friends and guests from that Aegean country. For the younger audience, there were live sets of electronic and DJ music, and, probably for the first time in this part of Serbia, a punk performance by the young Belgrade punk band “Sveta Pseta” (“Sv. Pseta”)..

Workshops

The festival was also marked by four art workshops:

Zoran Mojsilov – Sculpture Workshop: “Pots, Pans, and Lids”
Stefan Stevanović Pepi – Paper Sculpture Workshop
Miloš Ćosović Desko – Sketchbook Drawing Therapy with Desko
Aleksandar Vasov – Lecture: “Music in the Service of Traditional Livestock Farming”

Local Community

The few remaining residents of the village enthusiastically welcomed the second edition of the festival and actively participated in the preparations and events. What delighted them most was that their small village once again became a place of encounter — where new, young people came seeking alternative artistic expression in untouched nature. Together with the guests, the locals prepared meals for campers and spent time in nature, at workshops, and during festival activities..

Festival Impact: More Than Just Art

During the festival preparations, association volunteers, together with local residents, managed to restore the interior of the upper floor of the village cooperative building, bringing new life to a space that had been neglected for almost three decades.

We are particularly proud of the progress made in waste management — on the last day of the festival, an eco-action was organized to clean the Jerma River canyon in the Vlasko ždrelo area. This year, we took our first step toward environmental awareness: all packaging waste produced during the festival was sent for recycling in cooperation with JP Regionalna Deponija Pirot.

he festival also had a multiplied economic effect: over 20% of the festival budget went directly to local tourism and hospitality businesses — not counting the added value brought by visitors who filled local accommodations, restaurants, and shops. Our conservative estimate shows that the festival brought the local community the equivalent of eight average net salaries for the Pirot district (based on data from the last quarter of 2024).

Plans for the Future

Our goal is for the festival to become an annual event and to inspire the creation of new, year-round activities. We will continue to support local artists and attract new young artists from Serbia and the region. We also aim to explore the possibility of establishing artist residencies, reviving the old village school, and repurposing other spaces and resources for new community uses.

We plan for the next edition of the festival to last longer and to be even more focused on contributing to the local community, the village, and the beautiful nature of the Jerma canyon. We are delighted to have found partners who were ready to support our idea and help make it a reality.

Festival Sponsors and Partners

Ministry of Culture Co-financed by: The Budget of the Republic of Serbia – Ministry of Culture

Special thanks to the Catalyst Foundation and all citizens who donated through the Donacije.rs platform.

Main sponsor: Farmix Ltd.Technical sponsor: Bios Company Ltd.Donor: Don Don Ltd. and the brand “Tvojih 5 minuta” (“Your 5 Minutes”)

Festival partners: