MENT Ljubljana is one of the leading showcase festivals and music conferences in Central and Eastern Europe and the largest event of its kind in the region. It is an award-winning festival of music discoveries, facilitating, in symbiosis with the conference, the presentation of music performers from all over Europe in front of international music professionals and audiences. At the last edition (February 2024), 88 artists from 23 countries performed across four days on 16 stages around Ljubljana, ranging from independent rock, pop, electronica and folk rock to hip-hop and DJ shows. The events of the tenth edition were attended by 7,000 visitors, the majority of whom were local, though many also came from abroad, mainly from nearby countries – Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria and Italy.
The international conference focuses on the music industry and creativity. The conference, which is the largest event of its kind in the wider region, was attended by more than 700 foreign and local music professionals (festival organizers, concert venue managers, publishers, music agents, managers, representatives of promotional agencies, media and other professional delegates). The participating delegates came from 35 countries.
In recent years, media coverage has come from all over Europe and beyond. The performing acts have appeared both in various local and regional European media as well as on the world-famous KEXP Radio, BBC Radio, Clash, The Wire, Under the Radar, The Quietus, The 405, Drowned in Sound and others. The event has proven to be extremely successful in terms of attendance as well as the quality of the performances and the positive response.
We are preparing the eleventh edition of the festival and conference for 2025.
"This is truly a showcase that channels the zephyr of rebellion present in Ljubljana’s thriving alternative and artistic communities, and defiantly gestures towards new European voices entirely deserving of a wider audience, in the Balkans and beyond."
KIERAN MACDONALD-BROWN, CLASH MAGAZINE, 2023
“For this reviewer, the promise of what “normal” could be was echoed by memories of a festival that was so much more than an “industry showcase”. But had I built it up to something more, some mythical nirvana because of everything that came after? The expectations for this festival were huge, but could it deliver? Thankfully, the answer is YES… The same unpretentious, friendly and connected vibes flowed, the same exceptionally curated line-up challenged any idea of Anglo-American exceptionalism in music, and it provided a sense of collaboration that we are often missing from Brexit Island these days. That was another MENT, it’s one of the best festivals around, without a doubt.”
JAMES THORNHILL, UNDER THE RADAR, 2023
"The best thing about popular places and events is the fact that they still manage to surprise. MENT Ljubljana is one of the traditional stops on the festival circuit and is very popular not only in the editorial staff of Full Moon. For the friendly but at the same time creative atmosphere, for the cozy spaces in which it takes place, as well as for the selection of bands, which has almost no competition in showcase shows. And also because every year is different."
FULL MOON MAGAZINE, 2023
The festival focuses on local, regional and underrepresented European scenes, but hosts artists from all over Europe. The same is true of the music professionals.
During the past ten years, we have hosted representatives of various festivals:
8 Festival, Atlas Weekend, Beaches Brew, Butik, BUSH, Colours of Ostrava, Das Fest, Dour, Druga Godba, Electric Castle, Elevate, ESNS, EXIT, Europavox, Fifty Lab, Flaam, Focus Wales, Fusion, Glastonbury, Haldern Pop, Iceland Airwaves, INmusic, INOTA, Le Guess Who?, Les Trans Musicales, Lighthouse, Monkey Week, Most Wanted: Music, Pohoda, Positivus, Pop-Kultur, Punk Rock Holiday, Reeperbahn, Roadburn, Rock 4 People, Rock En Seine, Roskilde, Sharpe, Skaņu Mežs, Sonica, Sziget, Taksirat, Tallinn Music Week, Tolminator, Up To Date, Waves Vienna, Wide Awake, Wrong …
record labels:
Bassivity Group, Beggars Group, City Slang, Dallas, Glitterbeat, Ghostly International, Hyperboloid, Ink Music, KAPA, Menart, Moonlee, One Little Indian, Low Income $quad, PIAS, Pop Depression, Sire Records, Sony Music Spain, Subroutine, Timedance, Universal Music, Virgin Music, više manje zauvijek, Warner Music Group, YUKU …
booking agencies:
A Gauche de la Lune, Analog Agency, ATC Live, Belmont, brighter, CAA, District 19, Doomstar, Earth, EBB Music, Ekipa, FMLY, Ink Music, LittleBig Agency, More Zvukov, One Fiinix Live, Paradigm, Pitch & Smith, Powerline, Primary Talent, Runway Artists, Scorched Asia, SPFM, Swamp Booking, Toolbox, Toutpartout, Voulez Vous Danser …
concert promoters and venues:4AD, A38, Arcadia Live, ARTmania, Bad Vibrations, Cankarjev dom, Channel Zero, DamnLoud, Dirty Skunks, Dom Omladine, Drugstore, Estragon, Gala hala, Go Ahead, Good Taste, Gromka, Hali Gali, Heartnoize, KRUNK, KSET, LAA, MKC Skopje, Mochvara, Nová Cvernovka, Palác Akropolis, Panico Concerti, Paradiso, Parallel Lines, Password Production, Peti Kupe, Pozitivan Ritam, Tvrđava kulture Šibenik, WORM, Yugofuturism, ZEZ …
management agencies:
3s Management, Chimes, Every Little Thing, Hoof, Ink Music, Trinifold ...
music media:
BBC, beehype, Clash, Complete Music Update, DIY Magazine, Drowned in Sound, Electronic Sound, First Floor, FM4, Full Moon Magazine, Inverted Audio, IQ Magazine, KEXP, Kiosk Radio, Loud and Quiet, Louder Than War, Muzika.hr, Noisey Austria, Ravnododna, The 405, The Quietus, The Wire, Under the Radar, Val 202 …
sync agencies:
Eastaste, Lusitanian, musicsupervising.com, thag's Agent …
PR agencies:
FACTORY 92, Global Publicity, mashupmash, Modern Matters, popup-records …
networks:
EEnlarge Europe, EMEE, EMMA, ESNS Exchange, Europe in Sync, IMPALA, INES, Keychange, Liveurope, Music Managers Forum, RUNDA, Yurope ...
digital distributors:Bandcamp, Believe Digital, Phonofile, Spotify, The Orchard, TuneCore …
and other music-related companies, representatives and music export offices. The conference features heavy attendance by regional professionals – mainly from Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia, as well as from nearby countries: Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Italy, Germany.
As a platform, MENT supports and promotes Slovenian performers and authors abroad, doing so in cooperation with the Music Slovenia brand and as part of different EU networks (INES, ESNS Exchange, HEMI).
As part of the activities of the MENT platform since 2014, 64 Slovenian bands and acts have performed a total of 195 concerts at various foreign festivals and venues in 16 different countries. Since 2014, MENT has been organizing lectures and workshops on the topic of the music business in cooperation with SIGIC (Slovenian Music Information Centre), called fundaMENT. At fundaMENT, local and foreign music professionals pass on their knowledge to the interested public.
Andraž Kajzer / artistic director & festival manager
Miran Rusjan / conference manager
Ružica Petrova / manageMENT assistant
Jaša Bužinel / announceMENT – media relations, translation & proofreading
Dominika Maša Kozar / digital marketing
Matic Urbanc / delegate service & receptions
Jure Brglez / visual departMENT
Tina Ocvirk / visual departMENT
Matic Lovšin / web departMENT
Anja Pia Biščak / marketing
Urška Črnič / finance & administration
Andreja Bolčina / lead production
Matej Bobič / technical production
Matej Ahlin / technical production
Črt Batagelj / technical production
Staš Kramar / technical production
Matevž Bitenc / technical production
Žan Debelak / technical production
Maša Pavoković / New Faces project manager
Marijo Zupanov / volunteer departMENT
CE/MENT curated by Jera Topolovec, Jaša Bužinel & Andraž Kajzer
appointMENT curated by Špela Pečjak, Tisa Kučan Lah & Urška Kleindienst
+ the Kino Šiška team, all the personnel at the venues, stage managers, runners, drivers, volunteers and everyone else that lent a hand
Produced by Kino Šiška, represented by: Mitja Bravhar
Conference co-produced by SIGIC, represented by: Primož Kristan
We reserve the right to change the programme.