In January, an international festival for children and youth KITOKS will take place in Vilnius for the thirteenth time! This year‘s festival program is focused on contemporary circus and musical shows that will be performed not only by Lithuanian creators but also by Catalan, French and Belgian performers and intended to the young audience.

Visual renewal of the festival

This year, the festival will welcome visitors with renewed visual identity. “Growing over the years, the name of the festival has acquired a new meaning; it now defines not only the format of the event but also the uniqueness and the diversity of the program. The program is open to everyone – from the youngest ones to adults, as everyone can experience the shows differently. We wanted to convey this in the new identity of the festival. The logo consists of different playful letters, with each one creating its unique mood and dynamics, which reflects the diversity of the festival‘s program and its visitors,” say Mantas Rimkus and Nerijus Keblys, creators of Taktika Studio.

Contemporary circus and music performances – for children! 

The festival KITOKS will take place on January 13-20 and will offer the audience several directions of the program. “When preparing the festival program, we chose several forming directions. The first one – presenting the works of contemporary circus creators to the young audience, because, we must admit – there are not so many performances of this genre intended for children in Europe. In the program of the KITOKS festival, many performances will feature the union of several performance arts – object theatre and circus, circus and contemporary dance. The second direction of the program – musical performances for children, including a Catalan work for babies to the rhythm of The Beatles music!”, the organiser and head of the Arts Printing House, Jolita Balandytė, presents the festival program.

The festival will kick off on January 13 with Catalan company La Petita Malumaluga and their performance Beatles For Babies, during which children and adults can enjoy a selection of sophisticated arrangements of The Beatles’ songs performed by professional musicians. During the performance, the audience can freely play, move around the stage and interact with the performers. Other Catalans visiting the festival will be Rauxa Cia, who will present their performance – The Paper Theatre, which uses the innovative techniques of puppetry, object manipulation, clowning, physical theatre and the unlimited power of imagination. The French artist Fabrizio Rosselli will introduce his mimed show BAKEKE, where a foolhardy character will face the impossible, and his ambitions will bring him face to face to his own limits and obstinacy. Belgian company Be Flat will present a social experiment about boundaries and identity. Double you is a circus performance which constantly teases boundaries and offers each spectator a unique experience. On the last day of the festival, the program will offer the audience a playful virtuoso duet Lamento Company & Academy Fratellini, where circus and dance intertwine in The fabulous tale of BasarKus. 

The program of the festival was selected by the Young Critics

For the first time in the history of KITOKS festival, the participants of the educational program Young Critics, which has been running for many years at the Arts Printing House, were also used to shape the Lithuanian program! “We can most definitively call these young people our loyal audience – they experienced KITOKS performances in the winter of 2023 and visited other festivals and events we organised. We must admit that the discussion with the young experts, their insights, comments and arguments strongly contributed to the decision of what to include in this year’s festival program and which specific Lithuanian performances to choose”, says Jolita Balandytė about the festival creation process.

Therefore, this year, in the Lithuanian program of KITOKS festival, the audience will see the performance of the Klaipėda Puppet Theatre Tunnel, the collaborative work of Juozas Miltinis Drama Theatre and No Shoes Theatre A Lullaby to the Earth and No Shoes theatre performance Rams. 

The international festival for children and youth KITOKS, already on January 13-20 will take place in the spaces of the Arts Printing House. Full festival program is available at menuspaustuve.lt. The festival is supported by Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality.