CULTTERRA participated in the 27th Athens Anti-Racist Festival

**On 3, 4 and 5 July, CULTTERRA participated in the Athens Anti-Racist Festival at Goudi Park, presenting the participatory action "Gentrifying Myself...". **

Recycled materials, cardboard boxes we collected from recycling bins, old paintbrushes and leftover paints from the team were spread across the ground, allowing everyone to freely create with them. Right next to the installation, our information booth became a meeting point where team members connected with festival visitors, distributed stickers and leaflets, and introduced them to the Thriasio Plain, a region that remains unfamiliar to many people living in Athens. The cardboard was painted in the colours of the Palestinian flag, while participants collectively created trees, small houses, a youth centre, football fields, rivers, streams and "free spaces for expression" an improvised landscape of painting, making and imagining together.

The 27th Athens Anti-Racist Festival was far more than an ordinary event. It was a meeting place for people from entirely different backgrounds, united by shared values such as solidarity, equality, humanity and respect for diversity.

As members of CULTTERRA, we had the opportunity to experience the festival as a whole. What impressed us the most was the inclusiveness it fostered. We found ourselves surrounded by people of all ages and nationalities—including newborn babies—as well as dogs, reminding us that art, culture and collective spirit can become a common language that brings people together.

The concerts brought even more life to the festival grounds, creating a hopeful atmosphere and celebrating the possibility of harmonious coexistence among people with different backgrounds and experiences.

Leaving the 27th Athens Anti-Racist Festival, we take with us the belief that embracing difference is not just a slogan. If we truly want this vision to become reality, each of us has a responsibility to participate actively. Every voice within a community deserves to be heard, and our different backgrounds should be what connects us rather than what divides us.

We are especially proud to have become part of this great self-organised celebration of Athens, a place where we listened, learned, shared meals and found inspiration. Three days grounded in humanity, a value that deeply represents who we are as well.

A heartfelt thank you to the Festival's Culture Team and the entire Coordination Team for giving us the space to make this action happen.

See you at the next Anti-Racist Festival.