To ensure the festival's safe future, the state and municipality signed an agreement committing to long-term support for the festival.
The festival opened with an exhibition entitled Gremo na Borštnika! (Borštnik Bound!) at the Maribor Museum of National Liberation. It also included an e-exhibition presenting all the past recipients of the Borštnik Ring.
The exhibition wishes to present the beginnings, the development, and atmosphere surrounding the main Slovenian theater festival, and at the same time draw comparisons with the development of Slovenian theater and the city of Maribor.