Kvirhana is festival of queer (LGBTI) art and activism organized by the Sarajevo Open Centre. With the Kvirhana Festival, we wish to create a space where queer people can not only be themselves, but can also celebrate their identities. Although Kvirhana is primarily a safe and celebratory space for lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender and queer persons, it is also a place of gathering and freedom for all those who support LGBTIQ people or question the established norms related to sex, gender, and sexuality.​

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The festival 2026 theme, Resistance and Struggle, emerges from the experiences of LGBTIQ+ people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region — from a context in which queer lives have long been suppressed, yet never erased. 

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In our context, queer resistance cannot be reduced solely to protest and public visibility. It is also expressed through everyday practices of care, friendship, and solidarity; through the creation of safe spaces, the sharing of knowledge, and mutual support. These practices are what enabled the community to survive and grow despite long-standing marginalization.

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The festival understands struggle both as an external political process and as the internal work of the community: confronting inequalities, unequal access to space, safety, and support, as well as taking responsibility for building relationships that are sustainable and just. Kvirhana creates space for encounter, dialogue, and collective reflection on a future in which resistance does not exhaust, but empowers.

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Through artistic, discursive, and community-based programmes, the theme connects past experiences, contemporary challenges, and future perspectives. The focus is not on dramatizing threats, but on a community that possesses continuity, resilience, and the ability to adapt.

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Kvirhana affirms resistance as a practice of existence and care, and struggle as a process carried out together — not only against injustice, but also for a space in which queer and trans lives are possible, recognized, and supported.​

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Kvirhana Festival is held with the support of Sweden.

Venue partner: Goethe-Institut

Media partners: FBL:ba, Urban Magazin