Session 87 summary
EXIT started in 2020 as a market business company, but more like a student movement allocating for the peace and democracy for Balcones. The name EXIT was chosen to represent exit from all the conflicts that happened in the 90s in Balcones. After that EXIT grew year by year up to be the greatest social-cultural entertainment events in the world and won the Best Major European festival Award in 2013 and 2017, a renowned award in the European event/festival industry. In 2021 they celebrated their 20 year anniversary and it was special because it was held during the pandemic- it was the first major festival held after the pandemic started, they also followed the pandemic measures which later became the standard. EXIT is one of the most significant tourist attraction in Europe. Some of the biggest international media outlets such as CNN, The Guardian, BBC, The Times, MTV and many others regularly present EXIT as one of the biggest festivals in the world.
What is unusual about EXIT besides it unique beginning is also the unique venue, it is held in Petrovaradin Fortress, a medieval fortress from 17th Century, largest in Europe from that period and second largest in general which makes it a perfect location because it is huge with a capacity of 55,000 people and can hold more than 40 zones and stages together. So, it is around 35 stages of different kinds of music and other special zones, basically every trench in fortress is one stage and since the fortress wall is so big there is no mixing of music as the walls are protecting the sounds which is going up in the sky and there is no mixing for the visitors visiting different stages.
According to USAID research, EXIT brings around 15 million euros to Novi Sad’s tourism revenue every year. This survey was done 12 years ago, now the prices have gone up and every year it is more than 20 million of direct income. It is counted by all the spending the visitors and tourists are bringing to the city i.e. through their money spent on transportation (plane/train/bus/car/etc.), accommodation of any kind (hotels/hostels/private apartments/ open air camp/etc.), there is counted income from the shopping, buying souvenirs, going on local excursions, restaurants, bars, etc. everywhere the tourist is spending money is basically the local income and also engaging local population in the field.
EXIT had an explosive growth before the pandemic and they have been organising a number of festivals in Novi Sad/Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Belgrade, etc. like; EXIT, Sea Dance, Sea Star, etc. Their other festivals apart from EXIT also got recognition like the Sea Dance Festival in Montenegro (2014) won The Best European Medium-Sized Festival Award in 2015 and the contribution to the Montenegro economy exceeded over 100 million in total. Then they started Sea Star Festival in Croatia which was also quite a success with a large contribution to the Croatian economy. They also had the No Sleep Festival in Belgrade which also got the Best European New Festival award which is very rare. During pandemic they started EXIT Life Stream project because of the motivational words of their fans ‘when you are in trouble you help others’, so in 2020 because all festivals were shutdown they decided to organise just one stage with big DJs without any audience and do a live stream of that together with the United Nations World Food Programme, this programme gathered more than 5 million views from around the world and in advertisements they put United Nations World Food Programme to donate for the needs during pandemic. They also have new projects like InfinitX where they introduce incredible destinations to the visitors around the world with big music stars to play in special occasions. The Revolution Festival in Romania was held since 2015 where they were helping out with promotional destination. The biggest contribution of these big festivals apart from the direct spending of tourists, is in the promotional destination. For this they put great importance in naming the festivals based on the venues where they are being held at, like the Sea Dance being held at Seaside, the venue for Sea Star Festival is Stellamaris which means sea-star and the name for the festival held in Romania was chosen as Revolution Festival because the revolution was started in that city. Festival 84 was held in Bosnia, and called as such because in 1984 the venue for the festival had held the winter Olympics there and for the opening of the festival they did something similar to the Olympic lighting of the torch which symbolised the important event of 1984. They always try to use local brands to support locals and give more recognition to the destination. The performers of these festivals are the biggest and greatest stars like; David Guetta, Madonna, Robbie Williams, The Cure, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Depeche Mode, Guns and Roses, The Prodigy, etc.
They have also built the EXIT Foundation, where they are promoting the Youth Heroes, First World Peace, #Stayclean, EXIT Aid, Share love and many more. They are also using Conscious ᴙ: Evolution platform to share how humanity is destroying our planet and making life unsustainable. Conscious ᴙ: Evolution platform is their answer to evolve collective and individual consciousness in order to achieve a completely different way of looking at our planet and our lives. Conscious ᴙ: Evolution brings a series of online panels, workshops, retreats and festivals with prestigious and leading global speakers, artists, scientists, leaders, entrepreneurs and activists with the aim of discussing possible directions of individual and collective development of humanity.
About the Speaker
Ivan M. Petrovic
Ivan M. Petrovic is the President of the Managing Board at EXIT Foundation, responsible for running social activities and public affairs of EXIT Festival (Novi Sad, Serbia), Sea Dance Festival (Budva, Montenegro), Sea Star Festival (Umag, Croatia) and Founder of the Public Idea Consulting Agency. Ivan has been an active part of the EXIT growth and development since 2013. Ivan is a consultant and international speaker in the area of social activism & CSR, creative industries, public affairs, festival & event management, motivation& consciousness, Diaspora & development topics, tourism, destination branding etc.
