A four-member delegation from Open House Brno traveled to Athens
The delegation to the Greek capital included Michal Kovařík, Stáňa Wiedersheimová, Lucie Pešl Šilerová, and Martin Pešl. Following last year’s summit in Dublin—where the Open House Brno team also took on a co-organizing role and brought along two Brno-based architects to present in the public expert program—the delegation arrived in Athens this time without additional participants, focusing instead on connecting with peers and drawing inspiration from colleagues across partner cities throughout Europe.
“For me, the most valuable part is meeting other organizers. We all run similar festivals, but each in our own way. It’s precisely in those differences that the greatest inspiration lies—we share how we handle reservations, mapping, logistics, or volunteer coordination, and often come away with ideas we might never have come up with on our own,” says Lucie Pešl Šilerová, the festival’s director.
The Open House Europe Annual Summit program featured discussions as well as guided city tours
The Athens program opened on Friday evening with the launch of the Visual Stories exhibition. On Saturday, it continued with presentations and panel discussions focusing on the future of Open House festivals, their impact on cities, and ways to engage the public.
Among the speakers on the public sustainability panel was Tania Davidge, Executive Director and founder of Open House Melbourne. Together with Manijeh Verghese from Open City—one of the organizations behind the original Open House format in London—and Martynas Germanavičius, they opened a discussion on how collaboration between festivals strengthens both the reach and overall quality of the movement.
“The highlight for me was the public panel featuring Robert Newcomb and Tadas Šarūnas. The research on the impact of Open House Europe presented there showed not only the project’s benefits and limitations, but also its strong pan-European potential,” adds Lucie Pešl Šilerová.
The summit program also included guided tours of the city. Although not in the traditional Open House format, participants visited sites such as the Acropolis and also the Athens City Hall, where they were welcomed and personally guided by the city’s mayor.
What did the Brno delegation take away from the summit?
In Athens, our delegation met with partners from Essen, Zagreb, and Vienna, among others. “With the organizers from Essen, we’re exploring the possibility of helping them arrange concerts in a new building they’ve included in their program—a deconsecrated church. With Zagreb and Vienna, we’ve been in long-term discussions about volunteer exchange programs and joint projects,” says Lucie Pešl Šilerová.
The delegation also brought back the Visual Stories exhibition to Brno, where it will become part of the festival program. It will be on display in May at the Brno City Architect’s Office.
