Xfest Cyprus – Petreon Sculpture Park – Mazotos – 01/08/19

XFest started at 119 Gallery in Lowell MA in 2008. The idea was to bring together improvising musicians, dancers and visual artists. We invited 10 artists from outside our region, New England, and 30 local artists. Set lists randomly mixed locals with outsiders. The festival grew both in size and enthusiasm. We stopped distinguishing between regional versus national and international artists. Instead we sought genders balance, inviting an equal number of women versus men. and welcoming LGBTQ artists. The festival has always been free and open to the public; however we have never actively marketed our publicized the event. We realized that the festival itself was less important than community of artists that participated year after year. In 2014 Y Sok, who, as a 119 Gallery Executive Director, helped plan the initial festival in 2008, moved to Manchester UK. Our first international festival was XFest Manchester 2017.

This is our second international festival. We have 34 artists, 17 women and 17 men. We have a place fo stay, Panoramic Village in Mazotos, 15km from the International Airport in Larnaca.