The Theatre City festival is a cultural event unfolding in summer months in Budva under the auspices of Budva Municipality. From its establishment in 1987 this festival restores the Mediterranean spirit of the Old Town and each of its squares and piazzette, but also of the town parts beyond the heart of the Old Town, turning them into an outdoor stage where both visitor and passers-by become participants of the acts of art. Given that it has been an inevitable part of the city tourism offer from its very beginnings, Theatre City, and thus Budva, is a must-visit destination for both residents and cultural tourists, which is evidenced by the number of 15,000 festival visitors every year.
Conceptually designed as a cross-section of contemporary works, primarily of theatrical opus but also of fine arts, music and literature, Theatre City assures its reputation by the quality of its programme, and not only as a host to numerous troupes and artists, but also by the quality of production activity which questions a genuine cultural heritage of Budva and Montenegro as well as its implementation within contemporary models of artistic action.
Music, fine-arts and literary programmes are also unavoidable part of Theatre City.
Music programme has been established as a large festival within the Theatre City itself. Unifying at the same time the cross-section of contemporary trends in art music at international level and aspirations towards the promotion of local cultural product, featuring concerts of chamber music but also of alternative, jazz and choir music at larger-scale outdoor stages, the festival succeeds in awakening the interest of the audience and involving both classical-music enthusiasts and explorer audience; thus it may be said to have already raised a generation of its own audience in this area.
A special phenomenon of the festival is a literary event titled "Poets Square", a place of unique encounters between authors of literature and the audience. Conceptually designed as a place for presenting new works, poetics, methods and publishing ventures, Poets Square reaches its final sense through opening a dialogue of authors and interpreters with the audience, whether in the form of text reading sessions or live dialogue, proving once again that literary and social issues are alive and always topical only through shared information.
The festival features numerous discussions with popular artists as well as round tables and scientific events, the topics of which are related to the questioning of contemporary cultural and artistic work and operation models in the cultural sector of today. In addition to the above, Theatre City also deals with publishing activity.
Since 1994 the Theatre City festival has been granting Theatre City Awards for drama and Stefan Mitrov Ljubisa Award for literature.
