As Pristina readies for another Sunny Hill festival, Dukagjin Lipa, father of global star Dua Lipa and the event’s founder, says he wants to help turn Kosovo into a major cultural draw.
According to him, “45 per cent of the tickets sold are international, based on previous years [of attendance]”.
While he acknowledges that Kosovo’s big diaspora adds to the visitor numbers, Lipa explains that “our goal is to develop an event in Kosovo that perhaps no one else could develop to the scale that we have”.
In past years, the festival was held in the protected Gërmia park, which drew criticism for damaging nature. This year, the festival has its own site in the village of Bërnicë, on the outskirts of Prishtina. “We have transformed a place from a waste dump into a city park,” Lipa says.
According to him, the 17-hectare site provided by the municipality of Prishtina for 99 years will help the festival grow.
In 2022, there were bureaucratic hurdles related to the festival’s site, and due to organising it in Albania as well. But Lipa says they have now an agreement with both local and central authorities addressing logistical and infrastructural issues.
Sunny Hill Festival. Photo: Dua Lipa/Instagram
“The land is given for 99 years [and] the municipality has the right to evaluate it every 20 years and can remove us. If this happens, we have five years to find something new,” he explains.
Lipa is clear that he does not want the festival to become politicised: “It belongs to Kosovo and its youth.”
Beside the festival, in 2016 the Sunny Hill Foundation was also established to help nurture young talent in Kosovo in the fields of art, culture and sports.
“When we created the festival, in 2016, we said we also needed a foundation because we have talented youth who unfortunately are not living the lives they deserve. They should have many more music schools, theatres, and cultural institutions, because this creates society,” he says.
As for this year, “We expect up to 25,000 people, whereas in Gërmia Park the maximum was between 15,000 and 20,000,” Lipa says, adding: “We have a lineup of the best in Europe, surpassing many festivals in the region that have been around for years.”
Aside from creating a positive image but the country, the festival brings significant economic benefits to the capital, according to a study they conducted with an English company.
“Currently, Prishtina has 100-per-cent hotel occupancy, including small hotels, and as far as I’ve heard many Airbnb properties are also rented out in Pristina. The economic impact of the festival is around 20 million euros in one week,” he claims.
“Maybe it sounds corny, but we have the best youth I have ever encountered. Since 2016, when we started, it has been fulfilling for us to say that we haven’t had a single incident at the festival, which is very rare.”
This year’s headliners include Bebe Rexha, Burna Boy, Dj Snake, Stormy, Black Coffee and many local artists.
As in previous years, Prishtina municipality will organise free transport to the festival, with buses running every 15 minutes from the city centre.