Idea of the Festival

Our mission is to create a music festival at the highest artistic level, where we can show how unique and talented people are blind and visually impaired vocalists.

What makes this festival so special? It has the form of a competition to which only original songs can be submitted, created by the vocalists themselves or in collaboration with professional musicians. Only original, unpublihed songs are performed by blind artists. Thanks to the competition, they can be noticed and start a real career. Lions clubs from around the world help blind vocalists create a song and come to the festival where artists will be able to sing their song to the accompaniment of a professional symphony orchestra.

It is also way to increase awarness about needs of people with sight problems. In compliance with Lions Clubs International Foundation SightFirst programme, Kraków Lions Clubs have initiated Lions World Song Festival for the Blind ‘Sounds from the Heart’. The idea was approved by all the delegates of the Europa Forum, which took place in Brussels in September 2012, and the Special National Convention District 121 Poland, which took place in October 2012 in Zakopane.

Previous editions

Since 2013, every two years, Krakow hosts blind vocalists, participants in the competition, who, for three November days, take part in festival events. After a slightly longer break, we are back in 2024 with another edition. So far, a total of 90 performers from 24 countries and 4 continents have graced the festival stages: Argentina, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Gambia, Ghana, Georgia, the Netherlands, India, Ireland, Iceland, Kosovo, Lithuania, Morocco, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Romania, Sweden, Slovakia, Ukraine, the USA, Hungary, and Italy.

So far, they have gathered in Krakow four times:
1st Lions World Song Festival 18 - 20 November 2013
2nd Lions World Song Festival 12 - 14 November 2015
3rd Lions World Song Festival 2 - 4 November 2017
4rd Lions World Song Festival 14 - 16 November 2019