Dedicated to promoting the artwork of Serbia's youth, Belgrade’s Art Week opened 3 July 2011 in downtown Belgrade's central square Trg Republike to the funk-soul tunes of the band Marakuja. The upbeat rhythms that launched the Serbian capital's newest summer festival seemed to linger throughout for the entire duration of the festival until 10 July as a series of workshops aimed to combine three great fields of art: theatre, visual arts, and film.

Event coordinator Milica Spasojević explained the format of the workshops to Southeast Europe: People and Culture. "Each workshop was divided into two segments. In the first, participants had the opportunity to hear about interesting aspects of the chosen area. In the second part, participants practically applied what they had learned."

The festival was organised by cultural management students from Belgrade University's School of Dramatic Arts. The programme included concerts, an exhibition of documentary photos entitled "BELGRADEcycle!" which provided a humorous glimpse of the capital's landscape, the "Young Walk" fashion show by burgeoning fashion designers, and five artistic workshops, aimed at promoting up-and-coming artists and design students.

One popular workshop was held by fashion photographer Miša Obradović, who practices his craft at prestigious Paris fashion studios. The most successful photos shot during this session will be on display at next summer's festival.

Young director Stevan Filipović, known to Serbian audiences for his films Sheitan Warrior (2006) and Skinning (2010), held a workshop with the title "Guerrilla Filmmaking", i.e. "How to make a movie in Serbia, despite impossible circumstances."

A workshop entitled "A Dance of Light and Shadows," which took place at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre, discussed how sources of light are used on stage and drew in quite a crowd. Participants had the opportunity to take part in solving a practical issue entitled "light tuning," and learned some of the basics of music production from music producer and composer, Vladimir Racković.

"There are many events in Belgrade that contribute to the richness and diversity of the city's cultural palette, yet we believe that too few promote the works of young and up-and-coming artists, who have a great future ahead of them. Belgrade Art Week thus aims to give Belgrade something new and interesting," said event coordinator Milica Spasojević.

Spasojević believes that the greatest challenge faced by the festival organisers now is maintaining the high level of quality and keeping the festival fresh, because such events can stagnate over time.

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There are plenty of special annual cultural events and festivals in Belgrade that embrace every aspect of the arts. In the course of the summer, the spirit of Belgrade is celebrated with famous festivals like the Festival of Nitrite Film, held in June (the Museum of Yugoslav Film Archives is the only institution in the world that shows a selection from its “inflammable” archives every year); the International Chivalry Tournament – Svibor, held in June in the Lower town below Belgrade Fortress (display of medieval artistic craftsmanship - calligraphy, painting, heraldry, iconography, armourer’s trade); the Belgrade Summer Festival (BELEF), held during August and gathering gathers three large artistic disciplines: performing arts (theatre and contemporary dance), visual arts (video art, installations, prints and performances) and music; and Beerfest, which is a festival of beer and music, also held in August at the Friendship Park (New Belgrade) with about 40 varieties of beer on the stalls of the  manufacturers.

The “grand summer finale” however is the Boat Carnival - a whole-day party on the river with rowers, boats, sailing-boats, jet-skis and skiers, while “on land” guests can enjoy Gypsy and tamburitza orchestras, fish soup and pork roast with unforgettable fireworks after nightfall.