The Last Dance At The Fortress? Serbia’s EXIT Festival Considers Exile After Facing Government Pressure For Supporting Student Protests

EXIT Festival, Serbia’s main event, and one of the biggest festivals in Europe, is considering leaving Serbia, its home for the past 25 years, after being faced with political backlash for supporting the current student protests.

It marks a true full-circle moment, as the festival launched in 2000 as part of a student movement across Serbia, which played its part in bringing down Slobodan Milošević, former president of Serbia and convicted war criminal.

Today, the students of Novi Sad, as well as all over Serbia, are once again taking the streets to protest political corruption. Their demands are simple: a full investigation into a roof collapse at Novi Sad train station in November, which killed 15, and that Serbia’s institutions start doing what they were elected to do.

The government has been retaliating against anybody showing solidarity with the students, which includes actors, TV hosts, NGOs, as well as EXIT.

EXIT festival is celebrating its big 25th anniversary this year, at Petrovaradin Fortress, Novi Sad, July 10-13. And it might be the last iteration in its home country.

As source familiar with the matter, but wishing to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, confirmed with Pollstar: if politicians don’t come to their senses, the festival will leave Serbia in 2026, and take place elsewhere. Exit in Exile is a real possibility.

Some background: For the past four months, Serbia has been experiencing massive student protests against the country’s government, which the students condemn as corrupt, and autocratic, to say the least.

The catalyst for the protests was a roof collapse at Novi Sad train station in November, which killed 15 people, and occurred mere months after renovations to the building had been completed.

It was the straw to break the camels back, as the reigning Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić, and his neo-liberal SNS party hadn’t exactly covered themselves in glory since coming into power in 2012.

From accusations of voter fraud, which was never investigated, to attacks by SNS party members on members of the opposition – an ongoing practice, with news reports showing that SNS members have also been attacking the current protesters – as well as threats against government-critical organizations: the people of Serbia in general, and the country’s young students in particular have had enough.

It’s not the first time, students are taking the streets to bring about political change. They did the same thing 25 years ago, when the dictator Slobodan Milošević was in power. EXIT Festival was born out of those protests.

Back in 1998 – the brutal Yugoslav wars had been going on for almost a decade – the Serbian government passed the so-called Universities Act aimed at snuffing out dissent at universities, which had always been anti-regime, anti-war, and anti-authoritarian in nature. How could they not be: young people were dying senselessly, soldiers as well as civilians, and critical journalists were being murdered.

After another NATO bombing campaign had ended in 1999, EXIT’s original founders organized a protest concert, which laid the foundations for the first EXIT festival a year later. From the very first edition in 2000, EXIT has been about using music and entertainment to inspire political change, and positive change of any kind. It’s the festival’s guiding philosophy to this day.

Over the years, the festival has grown into a massive cultural and commercial operation, generating a lot of income for local businesses in and around Novi Sad, and brings in many tourists each year. There’s nothing coming out of Novi Sad that’s even close in terms of marketing the city in particular, and Serbia in general. Not even the country capital of Belgrade has an event with the international clout and appeal of EXIT. Since its launch, it has contributed some $300 million to the local economy.

In light of this, the government’s attitude towards the festival, as well as its organizers, is even more baffling, as they’re willing to drive away a cultural and economic force of nature that’s done more for the unity and well-being of the people of Novi Sad than any politician in history.

One source Pollstar spoke to said that it is disappointing that the government declaratively calls for dialogue with students, but instead of genuinely listening to their voices for a better Serbian society, it chooses to govern through fear, escalating repression and silencing dissent. This wasn’t surprising at all, as autocrats had never been able to see beyond their own noses. History offered ample evidence of the fact that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Organizers of EXIT, Pollstar understands, hope to remain in Novi Sad, of course. But, seeing that revolution is in their DNA, they will leave the country if they have to. In which case 2026 would see the very first edition of EXIT in EXILE.

EXIT was honored with the Take a Stand Award at this year’s European Festival Awards, where it won Best Major Festival for its editions in 2013 and 2017.

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