2nd Athens City Festival attracts over 175,000 Athenians and visitors
More than 175,000 Athenians and visitors took part in the 2nd Athens City Festival, the month-long event organized by the City of Athens at 104 locations across the city. Participation nearly quadrupled in comparison to 2022 when 50,000 visitors were recorded.
This year’s celebration of Athens took place from May 1 to 31 at more than 265 events including tours of the hills of Athens and the urban underground, concerts and parties in the city’s squares and markets, park picnics, exhibitions, bike rides, treasure hunts, and open-air film screenings.
Mayor of Athens Kostas Bakoyannis said: "Participation in the 2nd Athens City Festival this year exceeded all expectations. I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who embraced this year’s festival - and of course to the incredible team at ADDMA that took charge of the organization. Our goal is that every year this celebration of the City of Athens becomes bigger and more dynamic. See you next year!”
The program of the 2nd Athens City Festival was developed following an open call inviting groups and organizations to propose and promote events taking place during May. The website of the Athens City Festival – online at cityfestival.thisisathens.org – had more than 760,000 pageviews and 140,000 unique users throughout the month.
The festival was developed and planned by the City of Athens Development and Destination Management Agency (ADDMA).
Highlights of the Athens City Festival
The festival had something to offer for all musical tastes. The free concert by the Cinematic Orchestra on May 6 attracted more than 6,000 people to atmospheric Kotzia Square in from the Athens City Hall. Later in the month, the distinguished pop musician Kutiman performed at the Amphitheater of the French Institute. Athens welcomed the first accessible hip-hop festival organized by the Cool Crips at Technopolis, as well as Mammal Hands at the Acropolis Museum, PanPan at the Anglican Church of St. Paul, Savvina Giannatou and the Jasmine Quartet at the Stoa of Attalos, and Psarogiorgis showed his mastery of the lute at the Roman Agora. We also celebrated the combination of international and local vibes during the 22nd Athens Jazz Festival at Technopolis.
We saw the city spring back to life in every corner of the city. More than 15,000 people gathered for the Street Outdoors party on top of Mount Lycabettus. We celebrated big time at the party of the Yucatan team in the heart of Omonia square and at the parties in Santaroza and the Varvakeios Market. The Kypseli City Market opened its doors for the concert of Rena Morphi as well as an amazing ceramics festival with unique and locally-made art objects.
The Athens City Festival also included dozens of outdoor activities for children and a series of activities and guided tours in collaboration with major cultural institutions such as the National Archaeological Museum and the Benaki Museum. The festival opened with a family picnic at Plato's Academy on May Day and continued with bike rides in the neighborhoods of Athens, guided tours of the Athens Observatory, a visit to the fine sculptures in the First Cemetery of Athens, and open-air screenings of new Greek films in Eleftheria Park.
This year the action continues until June 3 on the open-air stage on Ermou Street where Release Athens has curated a free concerts series.
Catch all the video highlights with impressive scenes from the 2nd Athens City Festival here.
Photos: Thomas Gravanis, George Makkas, Orestis Seferoglou
