Best of Budapest & Hungary

This year, the five-day Street Artists' Competition will be held again in the town center of Eger from July 26 to 30. The program will be accompanied by three other festivals: the Street Festival of Fine Arts, the ÉTER Plus Talent Search Festival and the VINO Wine Tasting.

According to the organizers’ statement sent to MTI, the 9th edition of the Street Artists' Competition, organized by Zoltán Ábry, was launched in 2015 by entrepreneurs in the town center joining forces and with the support of the Municipality of Eger.

This year, 90 musical formations applied for the street musicians' competition, from which 48 teams will compete in the competition after the preliminary selection. The unique feature of the event is the so-called ‘like coins’. The street musician who collects the most like coins from passers-by over the five days will win the HUF 500,000 prize that comes with the recognition as the city's favorite.

There will also be a professional jury: the best ensemble and the best solo/duo will be selected, with prizes of HUF 100,000 each. The members of the jury are Zsuzsi Kollányi (singer), Gábor Szentmihályi (drummer, sound engineer, music producer), Péter Szolnoki (Artisjus award-winning musician) and Zoltán Nagy (music director, conductor).

According to the information, on July 26, the Street Festival of Fine Arts, organized by Klári Teleki, an art patron from Eger, will join the five-day event in Eger for the fourth time. The aim is to showcase the work of talented amateur painters, sculptors and artists to a wide audience. “At the same time, an important aspect of the street art event is to involve passers-by in the process of creation. The most significant new feature this year is that not only musicians but also painters can be voted for with like coins," the statement stresses.

The organizers say that the number of applicants to the Street Festival of Fine Arts has increased so much in the last three years that not only artists from Eger are exhibiting, but also artists from 17 towns and cities across the country.

The festival will also feature barrel painting and spectacle painting to music.

For the first time, the ÉTER Plus Talent Search Festival, organized by Jácint Jakab, will join the series of events, with a professional jury listening to and awarding prizes to 12 young emerging bands after a pre-screening session. “Although the Street Musicians Competition and the ÉTER Festival are two separate events, thanks to the collaboration, two of the 12 bands will be selected from among the street musicians," the announcement said.

The aim of the talent show is to give amateur Hungarian talent from the country and beyond the borders of the mother country a chance to showcase and develop. This year, the talent show will be held in cooperation with the Joy of Music and the Street Musicians Competition on July 29 at Eszterházy Square.

As part of the event, Eger winemakers will present their best white, rosé, red and sparkling wines at the VINO Kostoló Wine Festival on Dobó Square. “Visitors will also be able to learn about the history of the wineries, the characteristics of the production areas and the process of making the wines," the summary says.