Dear residents, dear guests, dear artists and creators,
This year the Akko International Fringe Theatre Festival marks 46 years since its founding. Over more than four decades the festival has become an inseparable part of Akko's story and an important, highly regarded cultural center in Israel.
This year we wish to widen the encounter between art and audience even further, and to give the public space a central role. Over the three days of the festival the streets of the city will fill with dozens of outdoor shows, street performances, music, acrobatics and live art, turning Akko into one large stage, open and accessible to everyone.
Alongside this celebration of culture in the public space, the Acco Theatre Center will present a range of fringe productions that bring original, intriguing and groundbreaking work to center stage. The meeting between the outdoor shows and the theatre will give the audience a rich and varied cultural experience, and will allow each and every person to find at the festival the experience that speaks to them.
To my mind this is the particular strength of the Akko festival: the ability to take culture out into the street and bring it closer to people, and at the same time to offer a stage to bold, thought provoking work. Akko, with its unique human and cultural mosaic, is the natural place for this encounter.
I invite the residents of Akko and visitors from all over the country to come, to wander through the streets, to watch the plays and the shows, to meet the artists and to share three days of culture, creation and experience.
My thanks to all the artists, the creators, the producers, the festival staff, the Acco Theatre Center, our partners and everyone working for the success of the festival and for the continuation of the proud cultural tradition that has been built here over 46 years.
