Skopje just hosted its edition of the PASS Festival, spread across two venues and two days: 22 May at Nikola Karev High School, followed by 23 May at Teatar Komedija.

Artists from different parts of Europe worked side by side with the local crowd, painting murals that took shape as a group effort rather than a solo performance. Alongside the painting, the days filled up with hands on workshops, DJ sets that kept the energy moving, breakdance battles, and open talks with the artists themselves.

What stood out was not just the art on the walls. It was the way strangers ended up working on the same mural, dancing to the same beat, or sitting in on the same conversation about inclusion and belonging. Street art turned into a shared language, one that did not need much translation.

None of this would have come together without the artists, facilitators, volunteers and everyone who showed up and got involved. The Skopje edition are proof of what the PASS initiative set out to do: use art to bring people closer and chip away at the barriers between them.

PASS The Street Art, Shake The Hand is co-funded by the European Union and carried out by a consortium of organizations from North Macedonia, Serbia, Belgium and Slovenia.