The Futuroma festival showcased Romani aspirations through personal stories, music, and visual art.
In early April as cherry trees blushed into bloom, Czech Romani artists and activists transformed Prague, not with grand parades or official ceremonies but through carefully curated spaces where Romani voices took center stage. Organizers ARA ART dubbed this year’s annual Romani culture festival Futuroma – an event centered on visibility, equality, and the flourishing of the Roma community, etched in sculptures, stitched into tapestries, and carried in music that honors the past and dreams ahead.
Futuroma was the only event in Prague marking International Roma Day on 8 April.
“International Roma Day is not only a celebration of Roma identity, but also a message for the whole of society – a reminder that the future begins today,” said David Tiser, director of ARA ART, a nonprofit that has worked to increase Romani representation in the Czech Republic through artistic expression.
This year marked the 11th edition of the festival. Audiences were invited to imagine a future where Romani culture and identity are shaped not by exclusion but by possibility.
International Roma Day honors Romani history, culture, and identity. The observance began in 1971 at the first World Romani Congress, where delegates of the International Romani Union introduced the Romani flag, anthem, and the term “Rom” to identify the community, rejecting the term “Gypsy,” which was in frequent use at the time.
Tiser believes that this is all about offering the Romani community “visibility in public life and representation in decision-making roles.”
Despite being one of the largest minorities in the Czech Republic, Roma remain vastly underrepresented in politics, media, public institutions, and even in culture. Estimates suggest that Roma constitute approximately 2 percent of the Czech population, yet their presence in political and decision-making positions is minimal. According to a 2019 study, the representation of Romani men and women in the Czech Parliament after the 2017 elections was zero, and only 10 Roma individuals were working in the state administration. Additionally, the community continues to face significant discrimination in education, housing, and the labor market.
Kicking off the celebration, ARA ART hosted ROMx, a TEDx-style series featuring five Romani voices, who shared personal stories of perseverance, growth, and transformation. They included musicologist/musician Petra Gelbart, Miss Czech Republic 2019 Nikola Kokyova, and Irena Bihariova, who almost uniquely as a Roma in either the Czech or Slovak republics scaled the political heights, heading and now co-chairing the Progressive Slovakia party.
Music also featured at Futuroma, with shows at a popular jazz club and the cavernous Lucerna Music Bar and a gala concert at the National Theater’s New Stage on International Roma Day with violin virtuoso Barbora Botosova and her band backing more than half a dozen other singers and performers.
“Traditional approaches of course matter,” said Dominik Ertner, a manager at ARA ART. “But for us, artistic expression is central to how we build community and push for change.”
The Timebox and the Power of Reflection
ARA ART this year included two bespoke art installations. At the unveiling of Futuroma 2050 Timebox by queer Romani artist Lubos Kotlar on the New Stage premises, hundreds of visitors were invited to write messages to the year 2050 – letters to a future when identity is embraced, not punished.
Kotlar, a Slovak who teaches at the Bratislava Art Academy, described the work as partly a continuation of a “chapel series,” inspired by his visit to Poland’s Tatra Mountains.
“I was surprised by the amount of Christian chapels of various sizes and shapes which basically stood in front of every house,” Kotlar wrote in an email. “The house itself is supposed to provide shelter and safety (speaking of our physical bodies), but the chapels…are probably there to provide another kind of shelter – a spiritual one, to bring peace and love into the house.”
The installation’s dominant element is a 180-centimeter-high polished steel structure, its gleaming surface catching the light and the gaze of any passerby. It reflects its viewers not only physically but metaphorically, pushing them to confront themselves within the context of the work. “It is an object which of course you know is there…but is at the same time also kind of invisible,” Kotlar explained. “If you want to perceive it fully, you have to pay attention.”
Etched across the mirrored surface are the words “I’ve already waited a long time.” The phrase strikes a deeply personal chord for Kotlar – echoing the years he spent waiting for acceptance, for safety, for the space to live authentically as a queer Romani man. But its resonance stretches further: “It refers to a sense of collectivity,” he said. “You can understand it as a broader statement from the Roma community, which has already waited a long time for recognition, for the same opportunities and treatment.”
Alongside the sculptural piece, a three-channel video loop shows a young man running on a treadmill against a green screen – presented in full body, mid-body, and portrait. It’s an image of physical effort, movement, and agency.
“It is not bringing answers,” Kotlar said, “but contemplating endless possibilities of where this collective body can move to in the future.” Above all, he hopes future viewers – especially young Roma – feel something simple but powerful: “Be proud. That’s all. No big statements. Be proud.”
The Horned Ones Reimagine Roma Identity
The Horned Ones, an installation by Romani artists Monika Kovacova and Adrian Kriska, on show until 7 June in the central Prague exhibition and discussion space Kampus Hybernska, fused the ancestral crafts of blacksmithing and leatherwork to explore identity, marginalization, and transformation. The title itself is layered – referencing folkloric creatures with horns often seen as ominous or “othered,” while also nodding to society’s perceived projection of fear and misunderstanding onto communities it refuses to see.
Blacksmithing holds deep roots in Romani history, dating back centuries to when many Romani families across Europe sustained themselves as itinerant metalworkers, repairing tools, forging horseshoes, and crafting iron goods in rural villages. Kovacova channels that legacy not just through technique but also through symbolism: For the work, she forged twisted, vine-like structures of iron, which curled protectively around the gallery space like organic armor. One piece featured a towering iron crown bristling with curved spikes – part war helmet, part woodland relic – meant to evoke both defense and dignity.
Kriska, drawing from a long family tradition as leatherworkers, used reclaimed leather – scarred, stained, and worn – to assemble massive, tapestry-like hangings stitched with visible seams. One of his pieces resembled a flayed creature mid-transformation, with branching antlers and eyes made of burnished brass rivets. The leather, in many cases discarded or forgotten, was intentionally chosen for its flaws, turning industrial scraps into ritual-like garments or skin-like banners. In doing so, he honored a craft often dismissed as obsolete while reimagining it as a tool for storytelling.
By choosing to present their artworks in an authentic, unpolished, and rugged state, Kovacova and Kriska aimed to flip expectations of how art itself is perceived. What was once deemed strange becomes artistic; what was once discarded iron scraps, leather remnants, forgotten histories becomes the foundation for imagining a different kind of future.
ARA ART’s Ongoing Mission
“When we started in 2012, there wasn’t a single organization addressing LGBTQ+ Roma issues – not in the Czech Republic, not anywhere in Europe,” Ertner said. “So we said, if no one else will do it, we will.”
In the early days, ARA ART relied on small grants, passion, and a lot of perseverance. “There were times we felt completely alone,” Ertner recalled.
But over time, that persistence began to pay off. “Today, we have supporters, funding, and a solid team. We’re no longer just in survival mode – we’re building something that lasts.”
Funding sources for the organization include the Czech Culture Ministry, Prague City Hall and other regional authorities, the U.S. Embassy in Prague, the European Commission, and individual donations.
That progress, however, doesn’t mean the work is over. As ARA ART has grown stronger, so has its understanding of the ongoing need for visibility and equity. Director David Tiser put it plainly: “If we still need such a day, it’s because discrimination hasn’t been overcome. Futuroma is about more than celebration. It is also about showing that Romani men and women were a full part of society on many different levels, not just when it came to singing and dancing.”
Manahil Naveed, a student of journalism at Northwestern University in Qatar, is an editorial intern at Transitions this spring.
