The EtnoKrakow/Crossroads Festival has been held for over two decades, combining in its cultural programme different faces of traditional, ethnic and what is termed “world music” There is room for both a return to one's musical roots and sources, as well as experimentation with tradition and surprising fusions of genres and styles. In addition to in crudo style creativity, hybrid genres such as ethnojazz, ethnoelectro or ethnorock regularly appear. Since the end of the 1990s each time this event took place, a space has been created for encounters, dialogue, and intercultural exchange. The aim of this chapter is to show the evolution of the EtnoKrakow/Crossroads Festival and the ideas of cultural diversity it conveys. The presented analysis is based in large part on interviews with festival organisers and participant observation carried out during its last three editions, namely: in 2019, 2020 and 2021. A separate part of this chapter is devoted to the challenges raised by the coronavirus pandemic and the resilience strategy chosen by the festival's organisers during this difficult time.

Keywords: EtnoKrakow/Crossroads festival, cultural diversity, encounters, ethnic music, COVID-19 pandemic

The EtnoKrakow/Crossroads Festival, formerly known as the Rozstaje—Crossroads—Festival, is one of the most recognisable cultural events in Krakow. Since the end of the 90s, the organisers of this international festival have been creating a space for encounters with cultural diversity. During the multi-day event, full of concerts and workshops, its participants meet with artists from different parts of the world. Traditional music is intertwined with modern arrangements, while cross-cultural fusions and experiments allow for new musical experiences to occur. The festival has evolved from popularising the music of Central and Eastern Europe—i.e. Slavic music, closer to the Polish tradition—to featuring music from more distant regions. By building connections between what is near and far, familiar and surprising, native and “exotic”, and finally—local and global, the organisers have been trying for years to find this special quality of gatherings with music, which allows one to connect people and unite them across various divisions.

In this chapter, I outline the main changes that the EtnoKrakow festival has gone through, contributing to building an increasingly cosmopolitan and multicultural face of Krakow. I try to show how the organisers understand the mission of the festival and the accompanying main idea of cultural diversity.