FestivALT

In Kraków in 2017, The Jagiellonian University celebrated 30 years of its Jewish studies program, multiple international conferences and forums were held at universities in the city, and Kraków was chosen to host the 2017 UNESCO World Heritage Session— all in the same year. Thus, born in this “intellectual crucible” of Kraków in 2017, FestivALT emerged from the minds of Michael Rubenfeld, Lena Rubenfeld, Maia Ipp, Jason Francisco, and Magda Koralewska, born from a recognition of the pressing need for profound and multifaceted explorations and representations of Jewish culture in the modern Polish landscape. FestivALT serves as a vibrant cultural platform, championing civic engagement and fostering critical inquiry about (primarily Eastern and Central) European Jewish heritage and diaspora. As a 10-day annual festival, FestivALT’s primary mission involves emboldening, endorsing, and advocating for a society that is not just inclusive, but democratic at its very core. The key activities and functions of FestivALT include advocacy and activism against anti-semitism and all forms of bigotry, promoting the protection of Jewish heritage and cultural memory, and supporting contemporary Jewish art and artists.

In 2019, FestivALT collaborated with Krakow’s Ethnographic Museum, which had been formerly bereft of Jewish and ethnic-minority representation. Marred only by remnants of anti-semitic artifacts, the museum underwent transformation under FestivALT’s influence in June of that year. In 2025, the most recent FestivALT festival celebrated a new theme: Hope. The event highlighted the many complex and ongoing conversations taking place within Jewish communities around the world regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict— conversations that challenge long-held personal identities and communal relationships. At the same time, the material urgency of building cultural bridges, questioning narratives, and holding space for complexity has never been greater. Thus FestivALT’s decision to make Hope the theme of this year’s festival strived to create a forum for open dialogue and community-building for the sake of multiple humanitarian ends. While FestivALT, doesn’t offer slogans or solutions, it does provide space to listen, to reflect, and to struggle with difficult questions through art, dialogue, and memory.