Summer Festival Feedback

Last month we reported on the magnificent Renaissance Festival that took place in July. This was always going to be a tough act to follow! However, the Municipality rose to the challenge in style by organizing a great programme of events for August. The central theme of the programme was ‘Celebrating Greek and Cretan culture’, and we were privileged to be able to hear live performances by some of Crete’s finest musicians. Aside from the music, there was theatre to suit all tastes, traditional dance and ballet, along with art exhibitions running in parallel in a variety of locations across town. Most of the performances took place at the open air Erofili theatre within the grounds of the Fortezza — which is a beautiful setting. And on a hot August evening there really is no be better place to be.

For the Bugle team, the music and dance evenings were events that really stood out, particularly the evening that honoured Rethymnian creators of Cretan music of the latter part of the 20th century along with the first female Cretan recording artists. Another unforgettable evening was spent watching an interesting (if somewhat idiosyncratic) adaptation of The Merchant of Venice in modern Greek. Here at the Bugle we would like to thank everyone involved in organizing the Summer Programme — we really enjoyed ourselves!

The ‘L Kanakakis’ Art Gallery: Rejuvenation and Reinvention….

The ‘L. Kanakakis’ Contemporary Art Gallery, which had been closed for some time whilst undergoing refurbishment, reopened to the public on the 18th of August. The opening of the ‘new’ contemporary art space marks the beginning of a formal collaboration between the Municipality of Rethymnon and the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA). The inaugural exhibition ‘29 Graduates of ASFA’, which will run until the 18th of September, showcases the diversity of talent of up-and-coming Greek artists in a variety of media which includes painting, sculpture and installation art. When this exhibition has finished, the Gallery will house works from the permanent collection of the Rethymnon Centre of Contemporary Art.

Endorsement of a formal relationship between the ASFA and the Municipality of Rethymnon is seen as symbolic at many levels. The ASFA has long-standing ties with the town, largely due to the presence of the ASFA annexe on Evligia Hill in Rethymnon which was established close on thirty years ago. Over the years, the annexe has welcomed many international students, artists and teachers, and has hosted a variety of seminars and workshops. The location of the annexe - here in Rethymnon - owes much to the hard work and dedication of Pandelis Prevelakis, Rethymniot author of ‘Tale of a Town’, who himself was a Professor of the ASFA. Furthermore, organisers of the exhibition feel that flagging the work of new artists in a town with such a rich architectural and artistic heritage is an important statement in itself.

You will find the ‘L Kanakakis’ Municipal Gallery at Himaras 5 (off Melissinou), Rethymnon.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 10.00 – 14.00 & 19.00 — 21.00, Saturday and Sunday 11.00—15.00, Monday closed. Entrance is free.

Pedestrian Power?

In our ‘Around Town’ section we gave you some good news about the ‘greening’ of Rethymnon. Bugle fanfares all round. However, much though we love this town, it’s not always good news being a pedestrian here! From left to right our photo montage shows 1) An example of sheer genius in terms of where to leave the car when out shopping; 2 & 3) The zebra crossing from Hell. Oh, and 4) If all else fails, a demonstration from the Bugle mascot of how best to park a shark….