The budget for this year's Trnfest is around 30% of last year's, festival coordinator Andrej Sevšek explained at a press conference on Wednesday, but stressed that the only real difference may be the slightly more modest lineup of foreign guests.

Although dubbed "The Last Trnfest?", the festival will once again offer a wide array of concerts, theatre performances, exhibitions, film screenings, workshops and other events.

According to Sevšek, Trnfest is dedicated to artists, as it is the only chance for large-scale presentation for much of Slovenian alternative and independent musical, theatre and film production and is visited by over a thousand people a day.

The festival will kick off with the openings of cartoon exhibitions by Zoe Thouron from France and by Miha Hančič, followed by a concert by Slovenian rock band Demolition Group, which has become a regular opening act of Trnfest.

The main foreign guest will be Jello Biafra, the former frontman of punkrock band Dead Kennedys, who will perform with his band The Guantanamo School of Medicine on 21 August.

Other concert highlights will include bands like Bitch Boys, Leni Kravac, Dandelion Childern, Dirty Sanchez and Red Five Point Star Orchestra.

This year's Trnfest will continue the tradition of a rich theatre programme, based on the productions by the theatre group of the organising KUD France Prešeren arts society. As part of this a record-breaking 30-hour impro marathon is to be staged.

Children will get their treat at the festival on Thursdays, while Thursday evenings are reserved for film screenings. Different workshops will take place on weekends.

The future of the festival in its present form meanwhile seems grim, since the organisers are unable to find a buyer for their facilities, as the sale was planned to cover around EUR 400,000 in debt that has accumulated in the last 20 years.