The Maribor Theatre Festival is the main Slovenian theatre festival, which has been enriching the Slovenian theatre and cultural space for more than half a century. It takes place in the first half of June at the Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor. The programme includes a selection of performances by Slovenian institutional and non-governmental producers in a competitive and accompanying programme, invited theatre performances from abroad, training, workshops and audience development activities, student theatre and professional events in cooperation with Slovenian and foreign co-organisers. It usually lasts for 14 days and is attended by numerous national and international guests, including foreign festival selectors, artistic and programme directors, journalists and other interested and professional public. The festival is financed in comparable proportions by the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Maribor and is independently managed by an artistic director. 

In over five decades of its existence, the festival has realised and surpassed the vision of its founders and has become the most important Slovenian theatre event, a promoter of Slovenian theatre creativity and an ambassador of Slovenian theatre in international relations and abroad. It is an important institution for the development of national theatrical expression, a rounded programme structure based on the presentation of current productions as well as on the reflection of relevant theatrical issues and the verification of current theatrical phenomena. It has also always been a central celebration of Slovenian theatre creators. The festival awards prizes for achievements in several fields of theatre creativity, the most prestigious of which is the Borštnik Ring, a prize for an outstanding acting opus. 

The Festival's fundamental aim is to select and present the finest achievements of the Slovenian theatre season, to award theatre artists and their creative achievements, to promote and popularise theatre creativity among audiences of all ages, both at home and abroad, to encourage the quality and professional level of Slovenian theatre artistry, facilitate the flow of information and exchange of performances, present foreign theatre creativity and to promote the diversity as well as the coherence of theatrical space and expression. 

Welcome to Maribor Theatre Festival!

Ignacij Borštnik (1858, Cerklje na Gorenjskem) is considered the founder of modern theatre in Slovenia. He was the first Slovenian stage director in the contemporary sense of the word and a superb actor, excelling in the most demanding roles, particularly in modern realistic theatre at the turn of the 20th century.