Skateholders Forum is happening in České Budějovice aka Budweis – yes, where the beer comes from (the original one). In 2028, the city will be a European Capital of Culture, which is why it has started and supported various projects. One of those is the Skateholders Forum, a festival that focuses on connecting architecture and design interventions in public space with education and social work. There were workshops, panel talks, concerts, art shows, video screenings, and of course – skate sessions. Skaters from around the globe, like Ted Barrow, attended this year's edition and enjoyed the ride. You could not only learn a lot about skateboarding and everything connected to it, but the lovely city and its welcoming residents also made for a great time. To give you a deeper insight, we have this video from the event made by Czech master lensman Marek Lovás, alongside an interview with Jakub Novotný, one of the main organizers behind the festival. You should definitely check it out next year!
We’ve got a strong street skateboarding and sort of underground or OG scene, although the traditional industry is getting a bit weaker and skate shops are not doing so great. And overall, there’s no media. I think it’s the same everywhere, but it’s maybe more felt in a smaller scene like ours. But the skaters still keep pushing it, like the Darkslide team, for example, they are a big inspiration. The love and passion and commitment is still there. There’s also a quite strong DIY movement in a few cities. I think the Czech scene is doing well, although if you look at smaller cities like Budějovice, most of them don’t have the scenes that they used to have. In the early 2000s we had a regional competition with 120 people, which is unthinkable these days. I hope because of Skateholders, there’s a new renaissance.
Jakub Novotný
Martin Kalenský
There was the idea for creating Skateholders as a part of the European Capital of Culture, which came around 2022, when a team of people that has been working in different cultural projects spanning across theater, film, videomapping, etc. approached Martin Kalenský, who was running a skate space, which no longer exists. But it was an important cultural hub, not only for skateboarding, also for music. They asked him if he wants to do something around skateboarding as a part of this project. He was looking for someone to help him out, and approached me and asked if I would like to curate this project? Then there was year zero in ’23, before they won the title, to show the commission that we can do events. That was just a small version to demonstrate. And then ’24 was the first official edition. So this was the third one.
"We want to address topics that are relevant in skateboarding, but they can be relevant outside of skateboarding, too."
Well, I think that because we are part of the European Capital of Culture and we want to be accessible to skateboarders and non-skateboarders alike, that’s why we are trying to make a complex thing that can accommodate a lot of stuff. In creating that festival I was really inspired by Pushing Boarders. And that’s why the panel discussion format is one of the most important things of the festival. Through this we want to address topics that are relevant in skateboarding, but they can be relevant outside of skateboarding, too. So what partly shapes the concept of the festival is a certain responsibility to the public.
We were pretty lucky that the people from Budějovice decided to go for this, and that they wanted to include skateboarding. The EU gives money for the European Capital of Culture for the final year 2028, but until then, the main source of funding is the Ministry of Culture and the municipality.
We had three main panel discussions. The first one was that you were a part of, was focused on skate media, then we had a panel discussion on the real magic of skate spots, which was, I think, the highlight of the festival, featuring Ted Barrow, Brian Glenney, Harry Meadley and Ema Ostrízková. This one was charged with ideas. And then we had a discussion on skate festivals, which I think also made perfect sense in the context of being at a skate festival. And then an exhibition, a few skate sessions, concerts, video premieres – that was my favorite part, especially being in the cinema, with the videos on the big screen. And everything happened in different locations.
Skateholders started as a part of Transforma festival, a music festival that happens in Tabor. That’s why we always did Wednesday to Friday in Budějovice and then Saturday in Tabor where we did a little skate event. But I think at this point, Skateholders Forum is mature enough that it can exist on its own. So next year we do it on the weekend and I’m sure more people will come.
Mostly besides seeing an interesting and diverse program, I think it’s the chance to hang out with overall great people. It’s a great excuse for a trip to watch some videos with a bunch of skaters and just having a great time. And you can also learn some stuff and see new ways how to look at skateboarding, how to approach skateboarding, and network with people that share the same vision.
Yeah, and you are in the capital city of beer also.
