33rd Annual Slovak Heritage Festival in the Commons Room of the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland. We are excited to be back again for a joyous day of Slovak culture, history, food, crafts, and education. 

Admission is free, and masks are optional.  Street parking is free on Sunday.

Schedule of Events:

Festival Main Stage - Cathedral of Learning Commons Room - 1st Floor

12:00 Opening, Slovak National Anthem, Introductions

12:15 - Live performances

1:15 - Live performances

2:15 - Live performances

3:15 - Live performances

Lectures

1:00 in room 232 Cathedral - Donald Warhola

2:00 in room 332 Cathedral - Joe Bielecki

3:00 in room 332 Cathedral - Alena Kotlan and Ben Sorensen

Keynote Speaker: Donald Warhola, nephew of artist Andy Warhol
1:00 PM in?Room 232 Cathedral of Learning
Donald Warhola is the Vice President and board member of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Laison to The Andy Warhol Museum where he acts as the Warhola family historian and also works directly with the Learning and Public Engagement Department at the museum. Before his uncle's death, Donald spent lots of time with Andy Warhol and remembers him fondly, using his memories to tell the story of the human side of the artist we all know and love.

Lecture: The Sokol Movement from its inception in Europe to its arrival in the United States and how it has morphed and changed
2:30 PM?in?Room 332 Cathedral of Learning
Joe Bielecki, BA, MA, JD Is the National President of Sokol USA.?He is also an officer on the Board of Directors of the World Sokol Federation in Prague and is a practicing attorney on Pittsburgh's South Side.?Joe has been an officer of the Czechoslovak Room Committee at the University of Pittsburgh's Nationality Rooms and is on the Board of Advisors to the Western Pa. Slovak Cultural Association.?He has given numerous talks and lectures on immigrant history and Slovak culture and customs to a wide variety of groups in Pennsylvania.?He is also on?the board of directors of GBU?Life, a large Pittsburgh?regional life insurance company. Joe was also the recipient of a 1982 Fulbright Scholarship and studied in Eastern Europe.

Slovak Folk Culture: Lecture and Workshop!
3:00 PM?in?Room 332 Cathedral of Learning
Alena Kotlan is a native of Slovakia, who continues to share her love of Slovak folk culture and music even after relocating to the USA. During her university studies in Slovakia, she was a soloist singer in an ensemble “Lú?nica”, a Slovak National Folklore Ballet. She was also a member of a singing group “Vajana”, which performed and recorded many Slovak folk songs with the “Orchester ?udových nástrojov” (Orchestra of Folk Instruments) in the recording studio of the Slovak Radio in Bratislava. Currently, Alena works and lives with her family in Massachusetts. She continues to maintain and spread the beautiful Slovak folk culture - she volunteers as a teacher of Slovak folk music, culture, and traditions to children in the Slovak School of M.R. Štefánik in Boston. She is also a Board Advisor at the Czech & Slovak Association in Boston. She accompanies her singing with an accordion, and will take you on a journey to the different regions of Slovakia through her music.

Ben Sorensen is currently a history lecturer at Cape Fear Community College in North Carolina. He became interested in Slovak culture and music when he moved to Spišská Nová Ves in 2002 to teach English. He learned to play fujara from his good friend and fujara maker, the late Dušan Holík, in O?ová. He speaks Slovak fluently and holds a BA in History and Music as well as an MA in History. He is ABD at the University of Constantine the Philosopher in Nitra, Slovakia; his research focuses on Slovak Immigration to the USA and the Slovak role in American labor history.

Date: November 5, 2023

Time: 12:00pm to 4:00pm

Cathedral of Learning - University of Pittsburgh -

4200 5th Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15260

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