Bringing Together Around 80 Artists and More Than 600 Music Industry Professionals from Across Europe
Source: dalmatinskiportal.hr
Šibenik’s Azimut took part in the 12th edition of MENT Ljubljana, where it presented its work to the European music and festival professional community. MENT is the largest and most influential showcase festival and music conference in the region. It gathers around 80 artists and more than 600 professionals from the European music industry, serving as a key meeting point for promoters, labels, media representatives, and artists from across Europe.
As part of its presentation, Azimut set up a pop-up podcast studio in the lobby of Kino Šiška, at the very heart of the festival’s activities. The focus was placed on the development of audio and video production, the creation of digital content, interactive exhibitions, and tools for distributing content through digital channels. The presentation in Ljubljana was not solely centered on Azimut’s activities. It also highlighted Šibenik as a city that develops cultural programs throughout the entire year, hosts the SHIP festival, and connects the club scene, festivals, and contemporary professional production into a unified system. This combination of local energy and strong organizational structure was one of the key messages conveyed at MENT.
Through Azimut’s pop-up studio and the podcast “Nevidljive scene s Markom Podrugom” (“Invisible Scenes with Marko Podrug”), numerous guests took part, including MENT director Andraž Kajzer, Mirko Burazer (We Move Music Croatia, SHIP Festival), Zoran Stajčić (Ravno do dna), Luka Zadro (Žarište Festival, Zagreb), Ivan Šarar (Slow Motion Festival, Opatija), Tin Šemovčan (Regenerator, Zabok), and other key figures of the regional scene. In collaboration with Ljubljana’s Radio Študent, an interview was also conducted with Ho99o9, one of the festival’s headlining acts.
Azimut’s appearance at MENT reaffirmed Šibenik’s independent scene as a relevant cultural hub in Croatia. New professional contacts were established and concrete collaborations were agreed upon with festivals from Zagreb, Zabok, and Opatija. Hrvoje Jelković, founder of Azimut, spoke about the presentation in Ljubljana with visible enthusiasm:
Šibenik once again proved at MENT that it is a city with a lot to offer — not only through its programs, but through the way culture functions here: continuously and professionally. For the regional scene, MENT is a benchmark and a model — a festival that sets standards and points the way forward. That’s why it was a great honor and recognition for us to be presented at the very heart of the festival at Kino Šiška. Being at the center of such an event means being part of a serious European cultural conversation.This is precisely why we are making a strong step forward in digital production. If we want to remain visible in that context, we need the tools to support it. By investing in audio and video technology, we are raising the level of documentation and promotion of our programs while opening space for new multimedia, exhibition, and conference formats. It is a logical step in the development of the independent scene.
