KGŠ Summer Stage

The Summer Stage near the old cinema, organised by the Club of Goriška Students (KGŠ), long provided a vibrant summer programme not only for students but for the wider population of the Gorizia area—from teenagers to retirees. In its many iterations, the Nova Gorica Summer Stage left a visible mark on local life. Although the events were never comparable to those in major cities, the Summer Stage ensured that the town remained lively and connected to its residents during the summer months.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the square between the town hall and the Vrtnica restaurant became a lively venue for cultural and artistic events. The programme included concerts, performances, literary events, travel lectures, and more, all free of charge. The organisers initially developed the programme out of a desire to enrich the atmosphere around student initiation events and other gatherings. The first edition took place in 1993. For several years, organisers faced complaints from nearby residents about noise, which they addressed by placing the stage in the corner of the municipal building to limit sound dispersion. The Summer Stage was particularly important for local students, who could gain experience in various roles, from bar work to programme curation.

With the arrival of new generations and changes within KGŠ, the Summer Stage evolved. Criticism that the programme, originally intended for students, was not sufficiently appealing to a broader audience led to a more commercially oriented approach. Between 2006 and 2007, the initiative was temporarily taken over by the company Hit with the project Hit’s Summer Beach, which for two summers brought concerts by some of the biggest names from the Slovenian and Balkan music scenes to the lawn in front of the municipal building.

In the following years, various attempts were made to revive the summer programme—either through smaller events in the city centre or through shortened editions of the Summer Stage, as well as the Gas Summer events in Vrtojba. Without a clear shared vision, these initiatives mostly failed to recapture the spirit of the “true” Summer Stage.

In recent years, contemporary versions of the Summer Stage have been organised by the municipality on the square now named Silvan Furlan Square. These programmes, with varying concepts, typically offer a more modest and less ambitious selection of events, ranging from film screenings to concerts and DJ evenings. In 2021, for example, the Goriška Summer programme took place, while the Summer Stage itself was held at the Mostovna Cultural Centre.

Avtor: Jaša Bužinel

Kraj: Nova Gorica

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