Serbia

Learning disabled man with yellow jumper

Per.Art’s 20th Anniversary celebrations

Show

December 10 – December 15, 2019 Gallery of Matica srpska, Novi Sad, Serbia

Seaside promenade space with five performers in the space. One wheelchair user and a group of onlookers.

Celebrating 20 years of Per.Art

Case StudyResource

Per.Art, the learning-disability theatre company based in Novi Sad, Serbia is celebrating its 20^th anniversary with a programme of performances at Gallery of Matica srpska 13-15 December. Joe Turnbull spoke to Artistic Director, Saša Asentić about the company’s development over the years.

Per.Art’s Dis_Sylphide. Photograph: Anja Beutler

The late 1990s was a very turbulent time in the former Yugoslavia: the country was being torn apart, by war, secessions, NATO bombings and international sanctions. Amidst the tumult, the Novi Sad Humanitarian Centre ran a series of projects bringing arts to multiple social groups in refugee camps, hospitals, orphanages and residential homes. A young Saša Asentić was amongst the facilitators. In 1999, Asentić had a fateful meeting with a group of learning-disabled people and their parents.