For the second time in a row, Shtip, just an hour away from Skopje, exchanges its calm nature with loud spectacle and becomes the host of Macedonia’s largest summer festival: D Festival. 

Founded in 2011, it has already hosted around 30.000 music enthusiasts and can best be described with: freedom, positivity and smiles, according to Ognen Stojanoski. Being part of the organizing team means for him D Festival starts long before the first guitar string is strummed.

As Operations Manager at Password Production, what does your role involve during the preparation and organization of D Festival?

I’m doing a bit of everything since we are a small team and I always wanted to bury my head inside all of the things. But currently I’m mostly preoccupied with the PR and communication side of things. 

What were the biggest challenges and opportunities of moving the festival to a new city?

D Festival entered a new phase after 15 years. Insurmountable challenges forced us to find a new home. We loved the previous town and the previous venue. 

But when we moved we wanted to find a new energy, not that it wasn’t perfect before but every venue is different which can also lead to different logistical problems, but also opportunities. 

Nevertheless, the people and the festival itself are what makes the energy so we will bring this positive energy and this festival energy with us wherever we go. Together with all the musicians and visitors that come.

What atmosphere or feeling do you want to create for the visitors? 

We want to leave an open space for the people to express themselves.

Especially for the younger people for whom it might be a first-time experience in the festival, in love, heartbreak, staying late at night. Because I think that society is challenging enough and has enough borders so we need to make a space to let them do what they want to do.

That’s why we try to build a utopian city during the festival for 3 days where we design it as we imagine the whole country to be all year long.

How do you choose which artists and acts to include in the lineup? 

Well, it is quite the process, you talk with friends, you talk with your neighbours, you talk with your grandma, you talk with everybody, but you also need to see what you can bring financially. We are always trying to get big headliners to give the audience what they want, but also give newcomers a platform.

That leads to the music being all over the place excluding what we don’t like, of course. 

But usually we are very open to music as long as it’s not hurtful, it’s not abusive or racist.

We are open to everybody that plays music with the intention of making people happy.

What do you think: how do festivals like D Festival contribute to shaping the Macedonian music scene and youth culture? 

Since we are a small circle of listeners here I think that the impact is quite big especially because the festival is the only one of its kind in Macedonia. So it is one of few opportunities for bands to build a new audience. Like maybe some people might show up for a big headliner and then find their new favorite band by accident on another stage. That’s why we want to have such a diverse line up. 

What are your plans for the future of D Festival? 

Well, we always have some crazy new ideas to make it bigger but I think our main goal is to keep on improving because there is always room for improvement to make sure everybody has a great time and to grow our audience more and more. 

Because, in the end, if we hear one or two people that say: “Wow, you know, 20 years ago at your festival I went to this act and that’s how I met my love.” That is more than enough to keep on going and experimenting. 

So no matter if you want to find your new favorite band or some friends, from the 26th till  the 28th of June, D Festival might be the place to be. 

Nelli Winzer