The 16th year of the International Art Festival Snina 2009 started on September 27th, 2009 with the arrival of artists to Snina. We would like to draw your attention to 17 exhibitions held in various towns of the Prešov and Košice regions (Humenné, Svidník, Trebišov, Prešov, Bardejov and Košice), as well as in Bratislava, Rzeszów (Poland), Michalovce, Poprad and Snina. Two of these exhibitions are particularly special for us, as they present works of two Rusyn artists, Orest Dubay in the Vihorlat Museum in Humenné and Andrej Smolák in A. Smolák Gallery in Snina as well as in the Autonova Automobile Showroom in Poprad. We would also like to inform you about the event Ausgrenzung of the Austrian artist Odin Mohamed Rosenzweig, which will be held at Námestie Centrum (Central Square) in Snina on October 9th, 2009 at 6pm. The happening lies in the author’s protest, or drawing the attention of European politicians to solving, or, rather, not solving the issue of Romany life. At the fountain in the square, there will be a ring with pictures of Roma people separated by barbwire and behind it, 12 tables will be placed in a circle with actors sitting at them dressed in white, wearing masks picturing European politicians and, after a while, they will be served dinner by stylish waiters. We would also like to invite you to the festival final gala programme on Saturday October 10th, 2009 at 6pm in the cinema of Snina Town Hall, where an exhibition of the artists’ works created during their two-week stay will be held, a concert by the violin virtuoso, Ivan Stebila, and guests, and the Tibor Bartfay Prize will be awarded to the sculptor Marek Žitňan. A considerable number of artists from the Ukraine will be attending the festival, as the project is co-financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism and the Slovak state, and it is also supported by the Slovak Ministry of Culture, from direct grants of the Prešov self-governing region, ART.EAST Foundation and private sponsors. The main organiser of the festival is the artist Andrej Smolák, who was born in the Rusyn village of Starina (the Snina region), the owner of the Andrej Smolák Gallery situated on the Central Square in Snina.