Creative Jazz Clinic Velenje is a series of workshops and masterclasses started in 2016 by Slovenian musician, teacher and Prešeren Award recipient Jure Pukl, who was raised in the town and is widely regarded as one of the best young saxophonists in the world. The huge roster of musicians with whom he has collaborated over the last two decades means that Pukl has been able to attract many top names from the world of jazz to teach and perform at the clinic, which generally takes place over five days at the end of February.
Although he has lived in New York City since 2013, Pukl continues to take a keen interest in the jazz scene in his homeland, and was also instrumental in reviving the Max Club Jazz Festival in 2012 after a hiatus of ten years.
Launched in 2000 by a small group of women – members of associations KUD Mreža Arts and Culture Association, ŠKUC_LL, Monokel and Kasandra Lesbian-Feminist Association (now defunct), the International Feminist and Queer Festival Red Dawns takes place annually at Metelkova mesto Autonomous Cultural Zone in Ljubljana. Since its very beginning some festival events were also held at other locations around the country. Red Dawns presents young Slovenian and international creators and activists whose work questions the position of women and transgresses gender roles and identities in the tangled mesh of art, culture, politics, activism and everyday life.
