EXIT Festival calls it a day due to ‘government pressures’

EXIT Festival has announced that its 2025 edition will be its last in Serbia, citing ‘undemocratic’ government pressures.

The festival was established in 2000 as a grassroots student movement for peace and reunited youth across the Balkans, and in recent years, it has aligned itself with Serbia’s student-led anti-corruption protests.

Following the Novi Sad station collapse in November 2024 that claimed 15 lives, ‘state-backed pressure has ramped up’, the festival said, and EXIT has been stripped of government funding, including cultural grants, as a result of its stance.

As EXIT Festival‘s statement read, ‘Through music, creativity, and activism, EXIT has connected generations and nations, rebuilt broken ties, and built bridges where others route to divide. We have brought numerous European festival awards to our country and region, along with hundreds of millions of euros in tourism revenue and international recognition that global experts consider invaluable.

‘However, ever since we publicly stood with the students of Serbia in their fight for a freer and more just society, we have been subjected to immense financial and political pressures aimed at stripping us of our fundamental rights to freedom of thought and expression. Despite being completely cut off from public funding at all levels of government, and with some sponsors forced to withdraw under state pressure, we refuse to be silenced.

‘As a result, this year’s anniversary edition will be the last to take place in a Serbia where freedom of speech is systematically suppressed.’

‘Freedom has no price’

Dušan Kovačević, founder and director of the EXIT Festival group, said that the decision to end the festival was the “hardest” in its 25-year history, “but we believe that freedom has no price.

“With this act, we are defending not only EXIT, but the fundamental right to free expression for all cultural actors around the world. We invite them to stand with us in this fight.”

EXIT Festival takes place from 10 to 13 July in Novi Sad. Read the full statement here.

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