The Kult - Štajerska / Kult - Steiermark festival is organised by the Austrian-Slovenian friendship societies from Maribor and Graz in neighbouring Austria.

It will involve some 450 artists from both countries. "They are all performing for free and in this way contribute to the idea of symbiosis between nations," one of the organisers, Karmen Teržan Kopecky, says.

The festival will open tonight with a concert of wind orchestras from Maribor and Austria's Strass at Union Hall with a high-profile line-up of guests.

The attendance by the mayors of Maribor and Graz as well as both ambassadors and the Slovenian diaspora minister has been announced.

Teržan Kopecky, who heads the Slovenia - Austria Friendship Maribor Society, says the festival takes the cue from the Carinthia Cultural Days linking the regions of Koroško and Carinthia across the border.

Both festivals are thus designed to enhance the links between the respective regions in both countries. In the case of Štajersko, one of those is a growing number of people working across the border.

"The festival seeks to present and bring together artists, youth, scientists, while we also plan to involve businesses and tourism," Teržan Kopecky has told the STA.

The programme includes an open day at the Austrian reading room at the Maribor University Library and a concert by opera singers from Graz and Maribor on Saturday.

A seminar will discuss traces of the Mura river in Slovenian and Austrian literatures, and a workshop will debate contemporary problems from the aspect of youth in both countries.

Presentations of artists and photographers as well as a showcase of organic farms from both sides of the border are also planned, among other things.