As every year, Carnival brings to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre (SNFCC) lots of music, dance and imaginative activities for children, in a rich festive programme! On Sunday 17 March, a street band with Afro-Brazilian percussion and a rock’n’roll band will stir up the Stavros Niarchos Park with their rhythms, while on Ash Monday 18 March, the SNFCC welcomes Lent with a spring mood, a traditional feast with songs and dances from the Greek musical tradition and, of course, the traditional kite flying.

The events on Sunday 17 March and Ash Monday are free of charge thanks to the donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

Below are the detailed actions of the festive weekend:

Sunday 17 March 

Jaguar Bombs and Bloco Swingueira

12.00-15.00, Great Lawn

On Sunday 17 March at the Stavros Niarchos Park, a celebration will be held! Live music, a parade of percussionists, workshops, masquerades, fun and imagination give the signal for a Sunday different from the others! The beloved multicultural percussion band Bloco Swingueira brings, as every year, its explosive energy and Brazilian rhythms to various parts of Stavros Niarchos Park, while the Jaguar Bombs set up the most frenetic celebration by covering timeless hits.

Moving Gardens

11.00-15.00, Pine Grove

A funny interactive installation, starring three anthropomorphic green sculptures that move freely, awaits the visitors of Stavros Niarchos Park!

Young and old interact with them by placing flower constructions on them.

VYCA Very Young Contemporary Art.

Art activity: We make masks!

11.00-15.00, Mediterrenean Garden

Inspired by the imaginative creations of artist and designer Daniel Palillo, children unleash their imagination, discover how through the random composition of colours and materials imaginary characters can be created, and, like other pioneering artists, build their own masks to tell their own little stories of visual anarchy.

Design and implementation: Michalitsa Kozakopoulou, visual artist

Workshop support: Archontoula Tsatsoulakis, visual artist

Eleanna Baletsi, visual artist

Maypole: colours and steps

12.30-14.30, South Lawn

A merry-go-round is set up at the Great Lawn and awaits adults and children to swirl to the rhythm of the music. With the help of choreographer Charitini Galanopoulou, participants are inspired by classical choreography and create new dance patterns based on contemporary dance.

Design and implementation: ap’Ousia group, Haritini Galanopoulou

Ash Monday 18 Μαρτίου

12.00-15.00, Great Lawn 

From 12.00 to 15.00, the professor of ethnomusicology Lambros Liavas curates and presents a panorama of Greek music and dance tradition at the Great Lawn of Stavros Niarchos Park.

Knowing the codes of traditional music as few people do, through studies, academic works and travels to every corner of Greece, Lambros Liavas invites young and old to celebrate Carnival and welcome Lent in the traditional way.

The tone is set by the traditional brass instruments from the famous “Band of Florina of the Balkan brothers”, as well as the dynamic musical group “Eptasimo” with Ilias Gakos and Marianthi Lioudaki on vocals.

The Pontian lyrist Elias Yfantidis and the Cretan lyrist Manolis Boundalakis and his company will participate in the feast. The dance group of the Pontian Association ” Argonautai Komnenoi” (curator: Kostas Savvinidis), invites all visitors to participate in the dance circles!

Art action: kites in the sky

11.00-16.00, Agora

On a large paper surface, young and old alike capture a sky filled with kites. Colours, shapes, stamps and stencils help to create a unique collective painting inspired by the octagonal kite by artist Opi Zouni.

Design and implementation: ap’Ousia group