01 19 - 23
First Act. The Confusion

At 19:30 (7:30pm) on 22 January, all are invited to an historic event: the Opening Ceremony of the Kaunas European Capital of Culture programme! The ceremony will be held near the Žalgiris Arena. The show programme will be kept a secret until the last minute before the opening.

All we can tell you right now is that the show is being created by hundreds of performers from Kaunas, Lithuania, and abroad. A synthesis of contemporary music, gigantic video projections, and slam poetry will tell the story of a city as a living, always renewing miracle. The show calls everyone to the city’s creative uprising. Kaunas will invite everyone watching the live broadcast of the opening ceremony throughout the European Union and around the world, to harness culture to create a new, post-pandemic future.

Opening Night will be the main, but not the only event. Introductory events will already begin on 19 January at the edges of the Kaunas District, each evening drawing ever closer to the centre of Kaunas, bringing together local communities, one after another, for the great Opening Night event.

This entire opening cultural fuss will awaken the Mythical Beast of Kaunas. And from that moment on, the excitement will begin…

More about event here

05 20-22

Second Act: The Confluence

The Confluence is the second main event in the Contemporary Myth of Kaunas Trilogy. We invite you to one of Lithuania’s most impressive sites to encounter the contradictions that lie within all of us and celebrate unity together. Everyone will face the event with a water show on a scale never before seen in Lithuania, directed by British theatre director Chris Baldwin.

The date of this event was chosen for a very specific reason. The city of Kaunas celebrates its birthday every year in late May, while at the same time the Kaunas District will hold one of its most memorable celebrations, the Between Earth and Sky international kite festival. This is why an entire weekend will be devoted to all of these events. The name “Confluence” symbolizes the community shared between the people of Kaunas and the surrounding Kaunas District and the region’s ties with other European cities. It is our hope that this weekend’s events will inspire us all to reconnect with the waters around Kaunas and fulfill the city’s dream to reunite with its rivers!

The entire weekend will feature shows by acrobats, contemporary circus performers, river excursions, and musical tours to river towns and settlements in Kaunas. Public will be invited to the unveiling of Nemuno7, an environmental design project that is unique in the European context. If the pandemic permits, we also hope to welcome guests from the other two European Capitals of Culture and also from Alytus, which carries the title of Lithuania’s Capital of Culture in 2022.

Finally, the weekend’s events will also give everyone the chance to get a close glimpse of the Mythical Beast of Kaunas...

When? 20–22 May 2022
Where? Confluence of Nemunas and Neris & various places by the rivers in Kaunas & Kaunas District

11 24-27

Third Act: The Contract

The official Closing Ceremonies of the Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022 programme will be dedicated to signing contract with ourselves and with our city – a pledge to live long and happy lives from this moment forward!

The creators of the Great Contract event are Lithuanian artists, including composer and Lithuanian National Prize laureate Zita Bružaitė, director Gediminas Šeduikis, dramatist and Gold Stage Cross winner Daiva Čepauskaitė, hundreds of Lithuania’s best performers in the production of a contemporary opera composed especially for the occasion.

For the entire weekend of the Closing Ceremonies, various public spaces around Kaunas will be adorned with contemporary light installations brought to Kaunas from sister European cities and other European Capitals of Culture. On Friday evening, we will bid farewell to our year as Capital of Culture with a magnificent audio-visual show staged at the Raudondvaris Estate, accompanied by an exhibition commemorating the year 2022.

Although these events will officially bring to an end Kaunas’ tenure as a European Capital of Culture, the city will have already become a city of contemporary culture.

The Beast of Kaunas will remain in the city and watch over the Contract concluded by all who live here...

More about event here