e Garage from Pohoda went on a journey around Trenčín and parked in the M. R. Štefánik Park for three months. The alternative cultural space will bring concerts, readings and visual art. The programme is run by young people from Trenčín, Yasmine Cabanová and Marek Niejadlík, who won the running of the Garage in an open call from Trenčín 2026 and Pohoda festival. The Garage will open on Saturday 6 August with concerts by Charms kids with Matúš Oravec, Random Choices, JAAN and DJ Matwe, headlined by Tamara Kramar. During the day we can also watch artists from Fest Art, who will give Garage a new look.
Garage is the smallest stage of the Pohoda festival. It is a real concrete garage transformed into an alternative cultural space drawing on the background of the Trenčín underground. In cooperation with Trenčín 2026, it is also reaching outside the festival grounds into the city.
The Garage project comes with the ambition to educate a new, capable generation of producers, bands, artists and other creative industry professionals. It gives them the space to apply themselves, for beginners and to try everything they have only dreamed of so far. But it doesn't leave them on their own. The project also includes sharing know-how from Trenčín 2026 and the Pohoda festival, mentoring and active organizational, marketing and technical support.
The pilot phase of the project was launched in the Trenčín skatepark in 2021 during Trenčín's candidacy for the European Capital of Culture.
“The Garage project is part of the Bid Book - our plan for the European Capital of Culture 2026 - and has a great benefit for it. Firstly, in 2026 Trenčín will need a lot of people who are able to organise cultural events. At the same time, cultural education is one of the essential tasks of a European Capital of Culture. Knowledge, experience and skilled people is what will remain after 2026,” explains Lenka Kuricová, artistic director of the Trenčín 2026 team.
The new operators are two young people from Trenčín
Yasmine Cabanová and Marek Niejadlík drew Garage to Trenčín's M. R. Štefánik Park for the period from August to October. The two friends from Trenčín, who share an interest in art and a desire to gain new experiences, perceived the open call for new Garage operators as a huge opportunity.
Yasmine Cabanová says: “When the open call for projects was announced, young people from Trenčín may not have realised what an opportunity this represented. I think that a project like this is unprecedented in Slovakia. We have already gained a lot of valuable experience during the planning process, which will come in handy in our future work. Winning has opened up a new world for us, it's already such a chain reaction.”
In their private life, both are devoted to music. Yasmine studies dramaturgy and music management at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, she also spent one year at the Department of Music Production at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. Marek organizes his own drum and bass event called Deer Bass and is a co-founder of the rap group Spicy India, for which he creates music.
“Garage is also an opportunity for us to show in one place that Trenčín has a lot of quality bands, excellent visual artists, and can offer other formats as well. That's why we give the biggest space in the programme to local artists,” explains Marek Niejadlík.
They have reached out to a number of bands and artists when organizing events at the Garage. They are assisted by well-known Trenčín cultural brands, such as Fest Art and the civic association Formaat, founded by a group of artists from Trenčín.
Opening of the Garage in the Park on 6 August
The three-month long program in Garage in the Park will open with an event on Saturday, August 6. First, artists from Fest Art will give the Garage a new look, accompanied by DJs from the Face2bass crew. They will create on the theme of the climate crisis and the solutions that young people can bring to the planet. Inside the Garage, patterns will be created from words that can also be designed by the participants of the event. Later, we look forward to a performance by Trenčín musicians Random Choices, JAAN and DJ Matwe. There will also be a band combining Slovak and foreign musicians Charms kids playing together with Matúš Oravec. The unique voice of Tamara Kramar will add to the atmosphere of the opening.
Garage will continue with the August programme on Friday 19 August. The well-known Trenčín format of author readings Divotvorba will be complemented by concerts. The singer and musician Veronika Jarábková, the instrumental Trenčín band Personal Spaces will perform, and Analogrunner with Lara Abou Hamdan will complement their music with video projections.
Garage in the Park is financially supported by the City of Trenčín, the Trenčín Self-Governing Region and the ZSE Foundation. The partners of Garage in the Park are the European Union, TRAKT and Fest Art. Garage in the Park is run by the informal group Clique.