International Street Arts Festival 6Fest is the first independent festival in Bulgaria dedicated to performing street arts such as contemporary circus, puppet theater, living statues, fire arts, stilts, street magic, historical reenactments, dance, music, etc. The festival was established in 2017 and has 19 editions so far.

The festival was part of the official program of Plovdiv – European Capital of Culture 2019 and the Cultural calendar of the Municipality of Plovdiv since 2020.

So far, the festival has been held in 10 cities. The first three editions of 6Fest were in Gabrovo in 2017 and 2018. Since 2019, the main edition of the festival has been held in Plovdiv. The festival has held editions also in Sofia, Burgas, Yambol, Sliven, Stara Zagora, Tsarevo, Troyan, Dzhebel. (More information on traveling editions of 6Fest here)

6Fest has received the ‘EFFE Label 2024-2025’ by the European Festivals Association (EFA). The EFFE Label is Europe’s quality stamp for remarkable arts festivals showing their engagement in the field of the arts, community involvement and international openness.

The purpose of the 6Fest festival is to promote carnival and street arts in Bulgaria, to support professional street artists and improve their relationship with audiences. The concept of 6Fest inherits the spirit of the European type of carnival, which appeared in Bulgaria after the Liberation and a number of Bulgarian cities have their own carnivals and masquerades, in which society is actively involved.

6Fest organizes multi-genre and thematic festival editions. In 2020, 6Fest made for the first time in Bulgaria a special thematic edition dedicated only to street fire performances, funded by the Ministry of Culture. In 2022, within the support of the Cultural Calendar of Plovdiv, 6Fest made for the first time in our country a special thematic edition dedicated to street music, in which popular performers took on the role of street musicians. A distinctive feature of the multi-genre editions of 6Fest is the combination of different street arts (circus, theater, living statues, music, dance, historical reenactments), which distinguishes it from other similar festivals dedicated only to the contemporary circus or puppet theater.

The festival has been realized over the years with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, the National Culture Fund, the Plovdiv 2019 Foundation, the Municipality of Plovdiv, Sofia Municipality, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Yambol, Sliven, Troyan, Gabrovo and others.