Taibola Festival

Taibola is an international youth eco-cultural festivalthat takes place on the White Sea near Arkhangelsk, Russia, since 2012.

The festival combines culture (music, performance art, traditional crafts, workshops and so on) with voluntary activity, ideas of ecology and spectator participation. It is a non-commercial event that supports the DIY philosophy and healthy lifestyle, discouraging alcohol consumption and smoking.

The main goal of the festival is to involve the audience in the process of creation. In addition to the performances of the artists, audiences will have the opportunity to build art objects with their own hands and attend many master classes.

The festival traditionally operates 15 to 20 sites. More than 30 groups from Arkhangelsk, Severodvinsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Syktyvkar, Minsk, Petrozavodsk, Omsk and other cities perform on two stages and from 2014 it has attracted international acts. The musical spectrum ranges from folk and indie acoustics to electronics, pop rock and progressive rock. The festival hosts folk craftsmen — weaving, blacksmithing, pottery — as well as dozens of workshops, including performing arts (dance, gymnastics, martial arts, etc.).

In 2017, Taibola Festival developed a collaboration with Norway. The teams of Russian and Norwegian artists and designers cooperated to create new architectural, land-art and other forms to strengthen the cultural programme. At the same time, art-managers exchanged experiences working on on-going festival organisation.