The venue is the old one, but many new features await visitors at this year's event.
"In 2021, we organized the MCC Festival for the first time, which is a science festival, but from the beginning, the evening parties and light music concerts have the same importance as the professional programs during the day, and this year is no different," chief organizer Gergely Papp told Mandiner in August this year about the festival starting on the first Thursday.
As he said, the event is the outside celebration of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) in Esztergom, but it is also open to the general public. Accordingly, all professional programs are free, as are a significant number of concerts.
Wristbands only need to be changed for performers in the highlighted time slots.
Gergely Papp revealed that 12,000 people visited the MCC Fest the first year, 32,000 the next time, and even more last year: 47,000 people were welcomed in 2023.
This year, compared to the past, the fact that the Olympics are taking place during the festival is a big change, for which the organizers have also prepared.
Accordingly, there will be a sports stage where sports-related discussions will take place, and it will be possible to follow the various competitions on a projector.
This year's Edu Promenade will host more than a hundred exhibitors. This time again, the organizers are paying attention to ensure that the festival produces as little trash as possible, environmental protection principles have also been enforced in the decoration, for example LED lighting will be used.
Regarding the music programs, Gergely Papp said: "Thursday we start with a super day, after Follow the Flow comes Dead Money, then Majka will give a concert. On Friday, there will be Ivan and the Parazol, Margaret Island and Ákos, and on Saturday, after the performances of T. Danny, Valmar and Suhancok, Tankcsapda will set the stage in order".
The concerts listed above will all be in the special, i.e. paid time slot, but big names will perform before and after. Just a short taste of these: Irie Maffia, Blahalouisiana, Lotfi Begi and Friends.
In addition to these, Gergely Papp also recommended the folk tent of the festival to the attention of those interested, which this year will double in size compared to the previous ones.
"What I would definitely highlight among the professional programs is "How should my child learn? - debate on conservative pedagogical methods" will be a discussion. Representatives of the Civil Public Education Platform and MCC experts will discuss the various nuances of conservative education philosophy and the state of Hungarian public education," Dávid Kostrihán, who is responsible for the festival's public programs, told our newspaper.
I am also excitedly waiting for the debate on the inflow of foreign working capital, which will be attended by Imre Komjáthi, Member of Parliament from MSZP, and István Joó, CEO of HIPA," he added.
We learned from Dávid Kostrihán that they are also organizing a debate about the Olympics.
Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy, chairman of the board of trustees of the BOM a Magyar Sportért Foundation, and János Kele, economist and football expert, will talk about whether Hungary can host the Olympics.
"We will also have a conversation called Olajinfó, where Egon Rónai, the presenter of ATV, will make Zsolt Hernádi sweat on stage. So we will practically see an outsourced Straight Talk. We are also holding a journalistic debate, which also promises to be exciting," said Dávid Kostrihán. Latter
The Mandiner Debate: What's Wrong with the Other? will have the title, and in addition to our colleague Dániel Kacsoh, the deputy editor-in-chief of Mandiner, Krisztián Lentulai, senior employee of Mediaworks, Szabolcs Dull, former editor-in-chief of Index and Telex, journalist András Hont, and Károly Nagy, manager of the Transparent Journalism Foundation, will participate.
More than a hundred foreign guests from all over the world are expected, including academics and a satirical writer.
"The number of international programs increased enormously this year. 120 foreign guests will arrive in Esztergom in the next three days, and we will organize roughly twenty panel discussions in English, which will deal with the most negotiable social, cultural and political issues," said Noémi Pálfalvi, the international director of the festival, who also revealed that the foreign policy panels they mainly revolve around geopolitical issues and the foreign policy theory and practice of connectivity.
"For example, Peter Frankopan, professor of global history at the University of Oxford, is the author of the bestselling Silk Road series. Personally, I am also very much looking forward to Samir Saran, who is coming to us from India and as the president of the largest think tank there, the Observer Research Foundation, will tell us about the relations between India and Hungary, India and Europe.
I would also like to highlight Konstantin Kisin, who is a Russian-British satirist, he is the host of the TRIGGERnometry podcast, and he can talk very humorously about our future, politics, and what concerns young people today," Noémi Pálfalvi introduced us.
Cover image: The organizers of the MCC Fest are preparing exciting podium discussions again this year
Source: Facebook/MCC Fest
