Last night, a number of Bratislava residents chose to give up beds in their homes and slept on the streets instead. As part of the fourth annual Noc Vonku (night outside) event, volunteers took blankets and boxes to Župné square in the centre of Bratislava's Old Town to endure a night in the cold, organised by the civic association Vagus, in collaboration with Comenius University's Social Work Department.
"Public activities such as Night Out are an important tool for expressing dissatisfaction with the current workings of the social system," said Sergej Kára from Vagus. "At the same time, people take home extreme personal experiences of life on the street, which gives them a new dimension to the perception of homeless people," he added.
Organizers advised participants to bring warm clothes and a sleeping bag, while non-perishable food and warm clothes were accepted as tickets for the event, which will be given to recipients within Vagus.
Thursday also saw the start of the three-day international festival of homeless theatre groups, titled Error 2016, at Pisztoryho Palace in Bratislava. The 10th edition of the only festival in Europe focusing on theatre groups that work with homeless or otherwise socially excluded and disadvantaged people will also present the Norwegian theatre group called Vardeteatret, which works with prisoners.
According to the festival's organisers, the main star of Saturday evening's (November 26) performances will be the Czech group called Rozkoš (Delight) which helps women who work in the sex industry. "They perform a great cabaret show, and they will be participating in our festival for the second time," TASR learnt from Uršuľa Kovalyk, the director of Homeless Theatre, the only community centre in Bratislava in which homeless people, people with psychiatric diagnoses, severe physical disabilities and former prisoners work. Error 2016 is organised under the auspices of Slovak President Andrej Kiska.
