Workshops, street theatre and neighbourhood games at Pame Kaimakli Festival

Every year, Nicosia’s Kaimakli neighbourhood welcomes performing artists, residents, visitors, migrants and beyond as NGO Urban Gorillas host the Pame Kaimakli Festival. On October 24 and 25, the 12th edition returns, bringing this year’s festival to a new part of the neighbourhood: Synergasias Street. The 2026 theme is Collaborative Works, putting the emphasis on the act of working and making together. Urban Gorillas, together with local and international artists, explore the dynamics when different people, practices, ideas, histories and experiences come together to produce something collectively. A diverse series of events, participatory performances, workshops and installations are about to take over Synergasias Street and the spaces around it, as the festival changes up the scenery this year, briefly leaving behind its familiar setting around Ayia Varvara Square and the historic centre of Kaimakli. For two days, the street will become a meeting place for artists, residents and visitors, with performances, site-specific and participatory artworks, music and other unexpected encounters. Synergasias Street follows the route of the former Cyprus railway and carries its own history of collective action. Following the removal of the railway, local memory recalls residents working together to help shape and improve the street, a story reflected in its name. This year, the festival brings that forgotten history into the present. The programme invites visitors to discover another part of Kaimakli through art, encounters, shared experiences and stories of the street and its railway past. The two-day programme is the culmination of a process that begins well before the festival. Throughout September and October, artists, residents and collaborators have met through residencies, workshops, research and interventions developed in direct relationship with Kaimakli. The 2026 programme brings together over 35 projects and more than 60 artists and creative practitioners from Cyprus and abroad, including two international artist collectives from Italy and France. Additionally, it welcomes 30 architecture students from the University of Nicosia who will experiment with spatial installations in the neighbourhood. On Saturday, October 24, the programme includes neighbourhood games, marbling workshops, craft workshops, curated walks, street interventions, performances by teens, staged readings and live music. On Sunday, the events continue with screenings, tablecloth workshops, creative writing, street theatre, tango and live storytelling. Presenting works are: Orientaction, Miss Marble, Yasemin Κemal, Carolina Vasilikou, Suzana Anastasi, Metamorphe, Eidekanou Theatre, Elena Agathokleous, Nektarios Theodorou, Gaba Project, Valentina Otmačić, Stephani Andreou, Tina Rousou, Antonia Kattos, Roz, Annie Sofocleous, Savvas Kourtis, Nikolas Kourtis, Koullou|Makka collective and Ariana Economou. 12th Pame Kaimakli Festival Neighbourhood festival with street performances, workshops, screenings and more. By Urban Gorillas. October 24-25. Synergasias Street, Kaimakli, Nicosia. https://pame-kaimakli.org/, https://urbangorillas.org/