Night Basketball (Naktinis Krepšinis) – Lithuania’s leading street culture festival, now in its 22nd year – is making a comeback to Kaunas on 20 June. This year, the event will take place in the car park of Žalgiris Arena and will invite everyone to celebrate street culture together. Street culture fans can also look forward to a new highlight in the programme – rollerblading performances.
The ‘Night Basketball’ festival is organised by the student union of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Design at Kaunas University of Technology. The project is supported by Kaunas City Council. The event’s media partner is LRT.
Event coordinator Rokas Pečiulis, for whom street culture and basketball have been an integral part of life since childhood, says that this year’s Night Basketball vision is to return to its roots: authentic, time-tested hip-hop and genuine street culture, from which the festival – now a tradition – first began.
“We don’t want this event to be just another date on the calendar. We aim to bring the community together so that everyone who comes feels at home and welcome,” says Pečiulis.
Night Basketball has long since outgrown the confines of a simple tournament. Pečiulis adds that today it is a place where the whole of street culture pulses to a single beat, and where the street basketball, skateboarding, scooter, BMX and rollerblading communities come together in one space.
