21.02.2017

TINFO e-News | Theatre News from Finland | Winter 2017

THEATRE NEWS

TINFO Grant supporting plays going international

Theatre celebrating Finland's 100th anniversary

 

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EVENTS

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THEATRE NEWS

Humor saves from hate: a contemporary Finnish play to a theater in St. Petersburg

Aleksander Anria was born in St. Petersburg and now returns to the city to direct a Finnish play. Anria has been invited to the Liteiny Theatre to direct a production based on Anna Krogerus’ play Heikko Esitys!. Anria, who has lived in Finland for 26 years, has also translated the play from Finnish into Russian (Vot eto nomer!). 

Heikko esitys! is a story of theater professionals and shame that is often associated with working with a living form of art. The comedy in Anna Krogerus’ play rises from the starting point in which a working group with a premiere just around the corner has to develop the text for the play when the playwright is suddenly out of the picture.  
 
The train ride from Helsinki to St. Petersburg lasts three and a half hours. In addition to the short geographical distance, Aleksander Anria believes that art is one way of bringing neighbours closer together. 
 
When talking about artists, Aleksander Anria thinks the play talks about all of us, and especially it could open up the experience of being Finnish to Russian audiences: 

“This text presents a new opportunity to break the prejudices Russians feel towards Finns. In a way, the play depicts the Finnish soul.” 

Funny Finns 

The Finnish play will have its premiere in March, and it has inspired the theater to create additional program about Finnish humor for the St. Petersburg audiences. The sideshow runs under the name of “Funny Finns”. Aleksander Anria:

“The Russian sense of humor is like nothing else. Through Anna Krogerus’ play, the Russians have a chance to get to know the Finnish sense of humor. Understanding how others think brings people closer together and prevents hate, even wars! It is great that the theater decided to raise Finnish culture on the centenary of Finnish independence.

Active St. Petersburg theater enthusiasts recognize also Mika Myllyaho’s play Panic. The contemporary, smart comedy has been performed all around the world and also in several Russian cities and theaters. Anna Krogerus’ Heikko esitys! now has a chance to satisfy St. Petersburg audiences’ craving for comedy. 

The Liteiny Theatre was established in 1909, which makes it one of the oldest theaters in St. Petersburg. The theater has its roots in a glorious artistic tradition, and its new line includes stage adaptations of contemporary foreign plays. Anria’s directorial visit represents the institution’s current, future-oriented way of thinking to the theater’s Director Sergey Morozov. A good example of the theater’s own warm and humoristic attitude is how Vasja the Cat, who lives and works at the theater, is presented in the theater’s marketing. 

***  

In addition to Russian, Heikko esitys! has also been translated into German (Die Schwache Vorstellung). Aleksander Anria was awarded the TINFO grant to support the translation work. The performance rights of plays by Anna Krogerus are managed by Nordic Drama Corner.

Theatre Info Finland (TINFO)’s press and communications officer Sari Havukainen discussed with Aleksander Anria.

www.naliteinom.ru 
www.vk.com/theatrenaliteinom 
www.facebook.com/theatrenaliteinom 
www.instagram.com/na_liteinom51

The shamanistic White Reindeer in the Komi Republic in Russia

The joint production of Kajaani City Theatre and Routa Dance Company White Reindeer visited Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi Republic. It gave three performances at the Savin Theater of Academic Drama in January 2017. The three performances attracted a total of approximately 1,000 spectators. The play was received with warmth and enthusiasm at Syktyvkar. Some members of the audience had travelled up to 600 kilometres from the North to see the play. 

Written and directed by Hanna Kirjavainen, White Reindeer is loosely based on the classical Finnish film by Erik Blomberg, in which a beautiful Samí girl has been cursed to be a white reindeer and forced to kill every man who falls in love with her.  

Through dance and contemporary theatre, White Reindeer delves into the problems of the oil industry, arctic nature and traditional reindeer management, which seem incompatible. The performance also includes authentic interviews with Northern Komi people whose livelihood comes from reindeer management.  

The play has been translated from Finnish into Komi by Galina Misharina and Paula Kokkonen. The translation work was supported by a TINFO grant.

The production was largely covered in the Russian media, all the way to the national Russija Gazeta newspaper. The newspaper gave visibility to the performance arising from the conflicts between the oil industry and reindeer management. Additionally, the Komi television news reported extensively on the visit.  

According to audience feedback, the performance was considered a unique viewing experience with a shamanistic atmosphere that plunges deep into the collective subconscious.  

Links to Russian media coverage below:
https://komiinform.ru/news/143344/ 
https://komiinform.ru/news/143348/  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKxpvAa6uD4  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLhkL60PZ3I  
https://www.bnkomi.ru/data/news/58435/  
http://gazeta-komi.ru/komi-news/142774#more-142774  
https://rg.ru/2017/01/19/reg-szfo/v-komi-pokazhut-spektakl-o-konflikte-mestnyh-olenevodov-i-neftianikov.html  
http://www.xn--80af5aj3e.xn--p1ai/video/vUser/46/16346/  
http://www.xn--80af5aj3e.xn--p1ai/video/16351/  
http://usinsk-novosti.ru/novosti/article_post/161590  
http://усинск.онлайн/news/23675/

http://www.kajaani.fi/node/8255

TINFO Grant for translations

Theatre Info Finland (TINFO) awards grants for translations of Finnish plays. In year 2017 TINFO Grant can even be applied for the translation of subtitles.

We accept applications continuously. Grant decisions are four to five times a year. We aim to support international productions of Finnish plays.

Grants for published works or anthologies can be applied for from FILI - Finnish Literature Exchange.

Have a look at a selection of new plays: New Plays from Finland.

TINFO Grant total amount is 25 000 euro in year 2017.

Read more about the criteria and view the application form 
 
Recent translations of Finnish plays supported by TINFO Grant 
 
www.tinfo.fi/en/TINFO_Grant

New Plays from Finland

“An old lady embarks on her last conquest, on the stream of life with her two companions, sex and death. Marriage feels like a prison to her, and the stream of life symbolises freedom. This old lady is a conqueror, she is almost like a mask, Casanova’s persona, someone careless who never gets hurt or gives in to jealousy or petty behaviour... But a persona can never mean true intimacy. We do not wear masks at home, the home is not in the stream of life.”   

Leea Klemola, a playwright and theatre director on her latest piece

Take a look at New Plays from Finland for Casanova, My Wife by Leea Klemola and other selected plays.

www.tinfo.fi/newplays

Red Nose Company’s Punainen viiva “The Red Line” in Stockholm

Red Nose Company’s performance Punainen viiva (“The Red Line”) has been invited to the Finnish Institute in Stockholm with the Finland 100 tour. The performance is based on a Finnish novel classic from the early 1900s. It is social criticism in the form of a tragic family story. Now, the clown theatre has made its own version of the story.  

Red Nose Company, a clown theatre group based in Helsinki, will visit Stockholm for the first time when Punainen viiva is performed at the Finnish Institute in Stockholm on 12 March 2017. Punainen viiva started its Finland 100 Years tour in January at the Finnish National Theatre and it will cover all of Finland.  

The tour reaches people of all ages: in addition to theatre stages, Punainen viiva is taken to retirement homes and schools. The Finnish National Theatre’s Touring Stage and Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Taidetestaajat project are also involved in the co-operation. Punainen viiva is a joint production with Theatre Quo Vadis.

Sad Songs from the Heart of Europe at the Avignon Festival 2017

The Sad Songs from the Heart of Europe production visits one of the world’s largest theatre festivals, the Avignon OFF Theatre Festival in France. Sad Songs will be performed a total of 24 times during 7–30 July 2017. The production’s language is French, and it can be seen in Avignon at the Théâtre au Bout Là-bas under the name Murmures de Sonia – Crime et Châtiment.  

Kristian Smeds’ modern poetic play is based on the Dostoyevsky classic Crime and Punishment. In Smeds’ treatment, the focus has been switched: the perspective is not that of Raskolnikov but Sonia’s, Raskolnikov’s lover who has become a prostitute out of necessity. The role is played by acknowledged young actress Liisa Sofia Pöntinen. The play was directed by theatre director and playwright Jari Juutinen, who is working on a five-year state artist grant.  

Sad Songs from the Heart of Europe is one of Finland’s most international and most award-winning theatre productions, with which theatre group sadsongskomplex:fi has been touring significant festivals and theatres for years.   

Only two Finnish play scripts have previously been performed at the Avignon Festival: Reko Lundán’s Can you hear the howling? (Compagnie Circonflexe 2005) and Jari Juutinen’s I Am Adolf Eichmann (Théâtre du Centaure 2008). sadsongskomplex:fi is the first Finnish theatre group to perform at the Avignon OFF Theatre Festival throughout the entire festival.  

Sad Songs from the Heart of Europe in Avignon is part of Finland’s centenary celebration programme.

Bon Baisers de Finlande: A play reading festival of Finnish plays

This spring, the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux is highlighting new Finnish dramatic literature, in honour of Finland’s centenary of independence. A play reading festival of Finnish plays will take place on 29 and 30 March at the Comédie Claude Volter theatre in Brussels. The event is organised in partnership with Le Magazine d'Écriture Théâtrale (MET) and curated by director and playwright Jean-Claude Idée.

The aim of the festival is to present new Finnish dramatic texts and encourage their access into theatre repertories. The programme was compiled by Le Magasin d’Ecriture Théâtrale’s Belgian theatre experts during play reading sessions that took place in the autumn of 2016. Four plays were selected from contemporary significant Finnish playwrights: Saara Turunen’s Bunny Girl (Puputyttö), Juha Jokela’s The Fundamentalist (Fundamentalisti), Otso Kautto’s It’s a Girl (Tyttö tuli!) and Anna Krogerus’ For sheer love of me (Rakkaudesta minuun).

The plays will be performed in French. Saara Turunen and Juha Jokela’s works will be presented in French for the first time. Translations of their works were produced for this event. Turunen and Jokela will arrive to Brussels to discuss about their plays.

The collaboration between the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux and MET has its roots in 2011, when Jean-Claude Idée became inspired by contemporary Finnish drama through the performance of Mika Myllyaho’s play Panic (Paniikki) and decided to include the work in a series of MET play reading events. Idée has directed over one hundred plays over the last forty years. Having worked in Paris and Brussels, Idée is not only a playwright but has also adapted and translated numerous plays. In 1989, he established Le Magasin d’Ecriture Théâtrale to provide a platform for new playwrights.

The Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux is increasing awareness of Finnish contemporary drama and especially translations of Finnish dramatic texts in its target countries. Other collaborative partners in this event are Nordic Drama Corner and Theatre Info Finland (TINFO). The event is also supported by the Embassy of Finland in Belgium.

Entrance to the performances is free, booking is recommended.

Wednesday 29.3.
19:00 La Petite Lapine (Puputyttö) by Saara Turunen
21:00 Le Fondamentaliste (Fundamentalisti) by Juha Jokela

Thursday 30.3.
19:00 C’est une fille! (Tyttö tuli!) by Otso Kautto
21:00 Par amour-propre (Rakkaudesta minuun) by Anna Krogerus

For more information:
Alix Helfer | Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux | alix.helfer(a)finncult.be    

Finnish theater organisations petition for persecuted Iraqi artist

A total of 12 theater organisations have petitioned on behalf of the persecuted Iraqi theater professional Rajab Bakir (Bakr) Hasan. The petition was delivered to the Finnish government, judicial authorities and the Finnish Immigration Service, and demanded that Finland, a democratic state with guaranteed freedom of speech, must be able to provide a persecuted artist with a residence permit and asylum.  

Excerpt from the petition (dated 30 Jan 2017): 

“Rajab Bakir (Bakr) Hasan, a 30-year old Iraqi citizen with a Sunni background, is a performing artist who was born and used to live in Baghdad, where he studied to be an actor. He was forced to flee his home country. The Finnish Immigration Service deemed the violations of justice he has experienced and the threats levelled at him only as general, which means he has been denied asylum and a residence permit in Finland. 
   
The Finnish Immigration Service is clearly not familiar with and cannot identify the exceptional need for an artist’s political and socially critical theater work in an environment with limited freedom of speech. The Finnish Immigration Service also denies the importance of such work in building the foundations of democratic development.  
 
In the reasoning behind the decision issued by the Finnish Immigration Service, it describes the professional artist’s work as an occasional hobby and thinks giving up the position would be as easy as changing from any job to another. In Iraq, Bakr is expected to make his living in “some other way than by publicly presenting such views as could place you in danger.”  

According to the Finnish Immigration Service’s interpretation, being an artist and doing that for a living is not a crucial part of the artist’s identity. The Finnish Immigration Service thinks it is something a person can be expected to “give up within reason”.  
 
However, this has not been the course of action for hundreds and thousands of authors and performing artists who have, throughout history, fled their homes, sacrificing contact with their own audience and community–some temporarily, some for good.”

The petition was created by and distributed to the public by Theatre Info Finland (TINFO).

For more information on the petition, please contact: 
Director Hanna Helavuori, Theatre Info Finland (TINFO), hanna.helavuori(a)tinfo.fi; tel. +358 (0)9 2511 2121

CO2lonialNATION is a truth commission on the relationships of the Northern states

The Rospuutto Group has created the performance together with Giron Sámi Teáhter. CO2lonialNATION starts in the theater what should ultimately also be started by political players. 

CO2lonialNATION is a theatrical truth commission on the relationships (and, too often, the complete lack thereof) of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia with the Sámi. And the relationships (and how they are shattered) among us, the Sámi: how the broken people continue to break others and themselves, from one generation to the next.   

In spring 2017, the performance tours in Sweden, Norway and Finland. 
    
We are too few. There is too much at stake. Too little time. Too much to react to. Too few to react. Every single action, each use of time must be weighed out, wise decisions made. There is no room for error. We don’t have time for breathers. Something new each day. Every day a new blow to respond to. What is colonisation? Can I ever explain it to anyone who has not been colonised in a way that can be understood?   
   
Why does colonisation continue? How can the object of colonisation break the cycle of exploitation? Will anyone else ever feel the need to? Why would the one who benefits from the current status quo change anything? What is going on and where?

Languages of the performance: Lule Sami, North Sami, English and Swedish. Surtitled in Swedish (in Sweden and Norway), in Finland partly in Finnish.

Myllyteatteri’s Performance Kolga Chosen to European Festival Venues   

The latest work of Myllyteatteri, the poetic performance by the name Kolga, is touring in Europe in the spring 2017. Kolga has been elected in the Teresa Pomodoro Prize event, in Milan, Italy. The performance is also invited in the venue of Feile Na Bealtaine –festival in Ireland.

The event in the name of the founder of Spazio Teatron NO'HMA, Teresa Pomodoro, aims to contribute in the revealing and promoting the forms of theatre which go down naked in the meanings, in the exploration of human and society he created, with curious and disenchanted look. The Prize is dedicated to the memory of Teresa Pomodoro, who first conceived and gave life to an idea of theatre open to all artistic cross-overs.

Twelve performances from around Europe have been selected to perform in Spazio Teatron NO'HMA in Milan, each one having two performances. The performances are evalued by Jury Of Experts, composed by: Eugenio Barba (Odin theatre), Lev Dodin (Mali-theatre), Tadashi Suzuki (SCOT, Japan), Ruth Heynen (Union des Theatres de l’Europe), Enzo Moscato (Italy) Luis Pasqual (Spain), among others. The President of the Jury is Livia Pomodoro.

Feile Na Bealtaine held in annually in the most westerly point of Europe, in Ireland, is a multi art festival. It gatheres makers of theatre, dance, literature, spoken word and film from all around Europe and Ireland. Myllyteatteri’s Kolga will be presented in An Lab Theatre in Dingle.

In the team of Myllyteatteri there are nine members, consisting of professionals of theatre, music and circus. 

The performance is a stage interpretation of a poem by contemporary Finnish poet, Tommi Parkko. Kolga premiered in Helsinki in October 2016 and it was well received by critics and audiences.

Myllyteatteri was founded in 2003 by theatre director and writer Miira Sippola, to create multi-layered performances drawing on the theatrical elements of physicality, strong visual imagery and music. Myllyteatteri’s particular interest is in combining physicality of theatre with metaphysical subjects, portraying the human mind on stage. Myllyteatteri has produced 16 performances in Finland and abroad.

Nature Theatre of Oblivia premieres in Stuttgart 

Nature Theatre of Oblivia is a live performance and an augmented reality (AR) work by Helsinki based performance company Oblivia co- produced by Theater Rampe and Künstlerhaus Stuttgart in Germany. The premier will take place in 24 June 2017, other performances will be seen in Stuttgart 25-28 June. 

The project will be exploring our relation to nature in a technologically charged world. Nature Theatre of Oblivia will be using performance, and augmented realities – AR, Arilyn technology creating a two-fold experience where the live-performance is one part and the smart phone performance using the Arilyn app another.  

Founded in 2000 in Helsinki, Oblivia is a unique force on the Finnish performance scene. Oblivia merges the boundaries of genres, nationalities creating a performing arts universe of its own. From the beginning the core members have been working together for a common performance language and creating the “Do what you saw” method.  

Oblivia has finalised the five-year series Museum of Postmodern Art in 2016 and before that the trilogy Entertainment Island. Oblivia tours internationally. 

Nature Theatre of Oblivia  

We want to be trees. We want to serve as carriers of time. 
We want to be mushrooms, fungus deeply rooted. Rhizome. 
We are nature. We are the object of nature. 
We are the point where nature and technology meet. 
Nature Theatre of Oblivia works with the impressions, experiences and
desires that nature offers us, as a concept as well as a place 
to be, such as a forest in all its familiarity and uncannyness. 
The sky is just there.  

Premier 24.6 Theater Rampe Stuttgart. Performances 25-28.6 2017  

Working group: Meri Ekola (light), Alice Ferl (sound), Tua Helve (costumes), performers: Timo Fredriksson, Anna–Maija Terävä, Annika Tudeer. Augmented reality: Otso Kähönen - Arilyn. Production: Marina Andersson-Rahikka, Heidi Backström. 

Kristian Smeds´latest stage work Just Filming to Budapest

Finnish National Theatre presents Kristian Smeds´latest stage work just filming at Trafó House of Contemporary Arts in March 2017. Kristian Smeds is one of the leading theatre personalities in Finland. His latest work received its world premiere in the Finnish National Theatre in the fall of 2016 and toured also in Estonia before coming to Budapest. 
   
Just filming brings together two formidable acting talents:  Annamária Láng from Hungary and Juhán Ulfsak from Estonia. Their partnership produces a theatrical dance rich in passion, absurdity and humour. A highly visual and musical performance, just filming is also a heart-felt tribute to cinematic art.

Kristian Smeds has directed and written several stage plays. In 1996 he founded the famous Theatre Takomo, working as the Artistic Director during 1996-2001.In 2001-2004 he was the head of the historical Kajaani city theatre, which even gained international recognition during the time. Since 2005 he has been working mainly in Baltic countries.

Kristian Smeds (trans. Eva Buchwald) 

Actors: Láng Annamária, Juhán Ulfsak 
Music: Verneri Pohjola, Pekka Kuusisto, Timo Kämäräinen 
Light design: Teemu Nurmelin 
Video: Lennart Laberenz 
Audiovisual assistents: Eetu Hiltunen, Matias Koivuniemi, Olli Valkola 
Sound: Vranik Krisztián 
Sound technician: Mikki Noroila 
Stage master: Tarmo Tanttu / Aslak Sandström 
mascara consultant: Laura Sgureva 
Producers: Roosa Vaverka, Márkus Virág 
Dramaturge and director: Kristian Smeds 
Assistant to director: Ronja Louhivuori 
   
just filming 
   
Trafo House of Contemporary Arts 
Trafó Theatre Hall 
   
09/03/2017 8pm 
10/03/2017 8pm 
   
Language: broken English 
Duration: 90'
Ticket price: 2400 HUF / Student: 1900 HUF 
   
More information

TINFO AT YOUR SERVICE 

Toolkit for Theatre Production and Mobility 

The website gives theatre professionals practical advice on producing a stage play and taking a show on the road. The toolkit includes budget examples, sample contracts, tips for distribution of duties and other essential production tools. 

Case: Theatre Group W (TGW), run by a non-profit cultural organization, exempted from paying the value-added tax (VAT). TGW starts to produce a stage production and they want to tour with it after the domestic run of the show. Where and how will TGW find the resources (people, time, spaces, funding, etc.) to put together a stage production? Where to perform and how to expand the performance season? How to plan and manage a tour or a guest performance abroad? 

www.tinfo.fi/en/Toolkit_for_Theatre_Production_and_Mobility

New Plays from Finland

“An old lady embarks on her last conquest, on the stream of life with her two companions, sex and death. Marriage feels like a prison to her, and the stream of life symbolises freedom. This old lady is a conqueror, she is almost like a mask, Casanova’s persona, someone careless who never gets hurt or gives in to jealousy or petty behaviour... But a persona can never mean true intimacy. We do not wear masks at home, the home is not in the stream of life.”   

Leea Klemola, a playwright and theatre director on her latest piece

Take a look at New Plays from Finland for Casanova, My Wife by Leea Klemola and other selected plays.

www.tinfo.fi/newplays

Touring Performances

Finnish performances available for touring. 

www.tinfo.fi/touring-performances

What's On Stage 

What's On Stage in Finland NOW ... a selection made by TINFO. 

www.tinfo.fi/en/On_Stage__Now

Publications

TINFO News is a magazine on Finnish theatre, drama and artists. 

View the issues (e-publications): 

Also available in TINFO web store: 

www.tinfo.fi/en/TINFO_News_magazines

TINFO Grant for translations

Theatre Info Finland (TINFO) awards grants for translations of Finnish plays. In year 2017 TINFO Grant can even be applied for the translation of subtitles.

We accept applications continuously. Grant decisions are four to five times a year. We aim to support international productions of Finnish plays.

Grants for published works or anthologies can be applied for from FILI - Finnish Literature Exchange.

Have a look at a selection of new plays: New Plays from Finland.

TINFO Grant total amount is 25 000 euro in year 2017.

Read more about the criteria and view the application form 
 
Recent translations of Finnish plays supported by TINFO Grant 
 
www.tinfo.fi/en/TINFO_Grant

ILONA – Database of Performances 

ILONA is a Finnish theatre database. Theatre Info Finland and the Theatre Museum in cooperation created the online version of ILONA.  

Using the ILONA database, you can find all Finnish professional theatre performances from the 19th century right up to the present day.  

You can search information based on the name or date of the performance, theatre or playwright. You can also carry out searches on other team members.  

In addition to the actual Performance Search, you can use the Quick Search facility, where you can enter the name of a team member or a play.  

http://ilona.tinfo.fi/ 

Theatre Map of Finland  

Finland is a true theatre land. The Finnish theatre network covers the whole country from South to North. Every year, Finns buy three million theatre tickets, which is a lot for a country with a population of five million. 

Welcome to the theatres of Finland!

EVENTS 

On artists’ freedom of expression on World Theatre Day 27 March 2017, Helsinki 

"(…) that you could not be reasonably expected to give up performing your views in a manner deemed derogatory in general.”   

Theatre Info Finland (TINFO) and the Finnish National Theatre’s Touring Stage is organising an event on artists’ freedom of expression and politics in the theater on World Theatre Day, 27 March 2017 at 15:00–17:00. We ask what it means to be an artist. Our starting point is that an artist must have the right to act in his or her profession without persecution and that a persecuted artist must be protected from it.   

World Theatre Day’s OIKEUS JA KOHTUUS (“Poetic Justice”) event includes Iraqi theater professionals Bakr Hasan and Harth Raad, who currently live in Finland, among other performers. Also other artists from the Finnish National Theatre’s Touring Stage’s Other Home documentary theater project are featured. A more detailed programme will be released later.     

Location: Finnish National Theatre’s Lavaklubi   

More information will follow, stay tuned – we would like to wish everyone a warm welcome! 

Inquiries: tinfo(a)tinfo.fi

Theater der Welt 2017 | 25 May - 11 June 2017, Hamburg 

Theater der Welt 2017 Hamburg 
A Festival of the International Theater Institute (ITI) 
25 May - 11 June 
presented by Thalia Theater in co-operation with Kampnagel Hamburg 

Festival Director: Joachim Lux 
Artistic Programme: Amelie Deuflhard, Sandra Küpper, Joachim Lux, Andras Siebold 

www.theaterderwelt.de

Meeting of dance producers | 2- 3 Jun 2017, Budapest 

On 02./03. June 2017 at Bakelit Multi Art Center in Budapest, Hungary  

Since 2012 the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland gathers dance and other cultural producers from all over Germany in the context of the so-called InfoPlus-meetings: to support the professional exchange and to discuss working conditions and the standing of independent cultural producers and production offices. After two international InfoPlus-meetings in March (at German Dance Platform, Frankfurt/Main) and September 2016 (at international tanzmesse nrw, Düsseldorf), the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland aims to further strengthen the exchange with independent cultural producers in Europe and beyond. 

What is on the agenda? 

The Budapest meeting intends to further exchange contacts, know-how, experiences and good practices, to create bonds and networks and to strengthen the standing of independent cultural producers and production offices. 

We want to discuss working conditions and funding programmes in different countries, to think about ways and means to facilitate international cooperation and work processes; furthermore, we would like to encourage an exchange on the artistic level, about the artists and companies the participants are representing. 

While the meeting is open to cultural producers in general, the dance field will be the focus. 

If you would like to join the meeting, please write an email to info(a)dachverband-tanz.de, indicating your name, function and contact details. You will receive a confirmation email shortly afterwards. 

www.bmac.hu

Berlin Performing Arts Festival | 13 - 18 June 2017, Berlin

From June 13 to 18, 2017, the Berlin Performing Arts Festival invites dance and theater lovers and makers from around the world to celebrate Berlin’s independent performing arts!

The one-of-a-kind independent performing arts community of the German capital will show what it has to offer both at familiar performance venues as well as at locations unusual for theater. The artistic positions of Berlin-based artists and groups working in all genres of the performing arts will be presented in collaboration with numerous venues in an event that has made Berlin the hotspot of the independent performing arts for one week every year since 2016. In addition, newcomers to the community have the opportunity to present their work at the performance venues Ballhaus Ost, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Sophiensæle and Theaterdicounter within the framework of a curated Newcomer’s Platform. The schedule of programming will be supplemented by ancillary programming as well as special formats and events for German and international professionals.  

With over 120 performances at more than 50 performance venues, the Berlin Performing Arts Festival has been exciting the Berlin audience as well as theater lovers and industry professionals from throughout Germany and abroad since 2016. Over 70 presenters from 10 different countries attended the first edition in 2016, giving Berlin-based artists and initiatives the opportunity to present their work across Europe and the rest of the world. 

www.performingarts-festival.de

OPEN CALLS 

Call for Proposals: Disability Studies, Arts, and Education | deadline 28 Feb 2017

Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Hämeentie 135 C, Helsinki, Finland
September 28th and 29th, 2017

The 1st International Conference on Disability Studies, Arts, and Education brings together researchers, students, and members of the disability and crip art communities who share an interest in, or whose work addresses, the intersections and interplay between critical disability studies, arts, and education. The scope of the conference comprises all art forms, as well as different contexts of education, such as primary education, artist education, and public pedagogy. The conference is co-hosted by Aalto University and the University of Kansas. 

The call for presentations opens on January 1, 2017, and ends by the end of February 28th, 2017. The working language of the conference is English, and therefore presentation proposals should also be written in English. The proposals should be no longer than one page. It is important to mention the presenter(s) name(s) in the heading of the email. 
Please, send your proposal to the following email address: dsae-conference(a)aalto.fi

Important days: 

  • Deadline for proposals: February 28, 2017 
  • Acceptance letters received by April 15, 2017. 
  • Registrations and final commitments to present (presenters): August 1, 2017. 
  • Registration to attend: September 1, 2017 (non-presenters). 

Inquiries: 
Mira Kallio-Tavin 
mira.kallio-tavin(a)aalto.fi 

Mikko Koivisto 
mikko.koivisto(a)aalto.fi

More information

Open call for Nordic Street, Sweden and Denmark | deadline 1 Mar 2017

Halmstad International Street Theatre Festival (SE) and PASSAGE Festival (DK/SE) are happy to send out this Open Call for Nordic Street 2-3 August 2017.

Nordic Street is a platform for highlighting and promoting performative street arts conceived and produced in the Nordic countries. This new platform is a result of a 10 year long cooperation between the two street performance festivals in both programme, scheduling and logistics. During 2017 the two festivals will have a special focus on Nordic street performances inviting international festival managers and programmers for two days of curated programme.

Concretely the first iteration of Nordic Street will be executed 2-3rd of august 2017, first day in Halmstad and the second in Helsingør. The programme will contain 12-14 shows with pitch sessions over the two days as well as networking and knowledge events.

The ultimate goal of Nordic Street is to allow for Nordic artists to reach beyond their national or Nordic touring routes and into an international context. Extending both their touring season and their access to new audiences. The performances are selected by the two festivals through an open call in dialogue with Norwegian and Finnish partners.

Cost including travels will be covered for the selected Nordic artists. 

Deadline: 1 March 2017 

Find all details online

Call for Papers: Sound/Theatre: Sound in Performance | deadline 1 Mar 2017

Inspired by recent productions in theatre and dance as well as by scholarly attention given to an acoustic/sonic turn in recent years that is closely linked to the growth in scenographic and design studies, this special issue of Critical Stages (number 16, December 2017) will focus on sonification/musicalization of the stage environment, generative sonic processes, theatre aurality, music theatre/opera, digital performance and sound design. 

Looking at a widening arena of composed theatre as well as interactive and sonic installation art, we encourage vigorous debate on emerging concepts of rhythmic spaces, resonant dramaturgies, audiophonic scenographies, vibrational theatres, multisensory atmospheres in performance. 

Many creative processes today (enhanced by diverse technologies and ever-changing techniques) gather momentum, in which audible, but also tactile, haptic and/or visible dynamics, actions, atmospheres and traces are recreated, without that theories of affect and perception have yet fully defined or explored the contours sound affords for the spectators/listeners, especially if interactions unfold within the area of the non-verbal and beyond alignment with signs, narrative threads. 

We are also interested in hearing from practitioners who work in collaborative production on such contouring. 

This issue invites a broad range of interdisciplinary perspectives drawn from compositional processes and production aesthetics as well as from investigations into the perception of the interplay of analogue/digital, instrumental/vocal, and musical or noise-sound, or various manifestations of sound design and sonic scenographies. 

KEY THEMES 

The issue will approach the role of sound in performance/performance of sound with the following general headings in mind: 

  • Practices  
  • Sonic Design/Sonic Scenography  
  • Vocabularies  
  • Experiences  
  • Acoustic Ecologies  
  • Aesthetics and Politics  

Length of papers: maximum 4000 words 

Proposals: 1 March 2017
First drafts: 1 August 2017
Publication date: December 2017 

All proposals, submissions and enquiries should be sent to: Johannes.Birringer(a)brunel.ac.uk.

www.critical-stages.org

Festival of Alternative Theatrical Expression – FAKI, Zagreb | deadline 5 Mar 2017

The 20th edition of International Festival of Alternative Theatrical Expression - FAKI - is held in Zagreb from May 23rd to May 27th 2017, in various adapted spaces of former medical factory Medika. As a festival of alternative theater, street theater, performance, off- and low-budget theater, FAKI has, in the last few years, become the central place for an overview of innovative, critical and independent, international theater and performance scene, maintained by traveling artists and groups whose research on original, experimental and research models of art expression generates universal existential spectacles and performances.  

FAKI denounces politics of slavery and racial discrimination, devoting its 20 years of activity to the delivery of brutal facts about racism against blacks in contemporary society. 

The organisers hereby invite performance, theater, dance and circus artists and collectives to apply for participation at FAKI 20, dedicated to the theme of Africa and racial discrimination against blacks. FAKI also offers art residencies three weeks prior to the festival, for final rehearsals and international premiere on the opening day. The performance halls are equipped with basic technical tools (light, sound, projection screens and projectors, technicians, stage manager). FAKI provides technical and stage assistance, refunds part of the travel costs and gives modest accommodation and vegetarian meals for artists residing outside Zagreb. FAKI doesn't give fees or per diems. Admission to the entire festival is free. 

More information

Open call: UNIDRAM 2017 | deadline 15 March 2017 

24th International Theatre Festival Potsdam
October 31st – November 04th, 2017 

Dear friends and colleagues,  
   
this year, UNIDRAM will once again be presenting a wide-ranging programme of diverse theatre companies from throughout Europe. There will be a special focus on contemporary visual theatre that spans different genres. Suggestions and applications can be submitted now together with all relevant application materials and a DVD with a full version of your performance by postmail. 

Deadline for application will be March 15th, 2017.  
Please note that we don't consider theatre productions for children or classical plays as well. So we are looking forward to your application.  
 
Best wishes and kind regards  
 
Yours, 
UNIDRAM Team 

application form here!

Open call/Residency: Platonov Arts Festival, Russia | deadline 20 Mar 2017 

The Platonov Arts Festival and the Russian Theatre Union invite young theatre professionals to apply for a Residence within Platonov Arts Festival. 

Place: Voronezh, Russia
Duration: June 8-13, 2017
Application deadline: March 20, 2017

The Residence will offer an opportunity to: 

  • see Festival’s events; 
  • participate in the Festival's side program of workshops, seminars, discussions, etc. and other events for the residency participants.

During the residency participants are expected to develop collaborative project related with the Festival’s space or context. There are no restrictions as to the project. 

The organizers expect 16 participants from all over the world, and welcome applications from a wide range of professionals, working in theatre arts: actors, dancers, directors, artists, musicians, designers, critics, producers, art and festival managers. 

The selected applicants will be given a practical task that needs to be fulfilled prior to the Residence. 

Working language: English
Age limit: under 35

Expenses paid by Organizer: hotel accommodation (double rooms), meals, tickets to the festival performances & events
Expenses paid by participants: travel and applicable visa costs (visa assistance will be provided)

International participants can apply for partial cover of travel costs (applicable only to the air fare or train between Moscow and Voronezh). Applicants should apply for travel support additionally by sending free-form request to platonovresidency(a)gmail.com

Russian participants traveling from distant parts of the country can apply for a partial compensation of their domestic travel expenses. 

Application deadline is March 20, 2017
Selected participants will be notified on April 5, 2017

For information: VII edition of Platonov Arts Festival will take place in the Russian city of Voronezh from June 2 to June 14, 2017. The full Festival’s program is available online at platonovfest.com/programm2017. 

Contact person - Nastya Mashtakova
E-mail: platonovresidency(a)gmail.com

Open call: HIGH FEST Festival, Armenia | deadline 31 Mar 2017

We are pleased to inform, that the HIGH FEST International Performing Arts Festival welcomes performing arts companies and artists to present their productions in all genres of performing arts including theatre (drama, comedy, mime, movement, circus, street performances, puppet/marionette, fingers theatre, visual), dance (modern, folk, classic etc.), music (opera, classical, musical, contemporary, jazz, folk etc) and other forms of performing arts. 

More information (pdf)

HIGH FEST International Performing Arts Festival. Main festival in the countries of the former USSR (outside of Moscow) 
1 – 10 October 2017 / Yerevan, Armenia (Fifteen Edition) 

info(a)highfest.am  
www.highfest.am

Open Call: Tbilisi International | deadline 1 Apr 2017 

TBILISI INTERNATIONAL runs every year by the end of September, beginning of October and is one of the major events in International life of Georgia and Black Sea Region. 
   
The festival’s reputation has been built on the quality of its program, with the selected works of major international directors and companies from all over the world. This was the frame for the Festival for first two years since foundation.  But in search of theatre and artists, that were beyond our focus and knowledge, we decided to resize the frames, rethink the idea and as a result the Festival presented program “NEW”, first in 2011.

In 2015 the Georgian Theatre Critics Association decided to name the best performance of the program. “On the Desperate Edge of Now” - a performance from Norway became the first company with prize from Festival and from Georgian Theatre Critics Association. 2017 will be the next year for the selection of the best performance “NEW 2017”. 
   
Announcement for the 2017 -  This year we decide to announce the call for participation with special emphasis on street arts, visual and unconventional shows to create a  non – stop street miracle in Beautiful city Tbilisi.
 
Please take note that TBS international does not cover your travel costs and does not provide an artistic fee. The final program is based on selection. 
   
Please send in the application form together with a link of a registration of your complete performance on vimeo and the requested appendixes to: new(a)tbilisiinternational.com  (Download The Application Form)

www.tbilisiinternational.com

Open Call: International Theatre Festival, Bucharest | deadline 10 Apr 2017

Ion Creangă Theatre has launched the Call for Applications for the 13th edition of the International Theatre Festival for Children ‟100, 1.000, 1.000.000 Stories” – FITC, that will take place between 7-14 October 2017, in Bucharest, Romania. 
   
Organized on a yearly basis, with the financial support of the Bucharest City Hall, the Festival is a complex educational and cultural programme, whose purpose is to develop children’s interest and involvement in arts. FITC includes a wide array of performances, workshops and theatre related activities, as the Festival intends, with each edition, to ensure a cultural selection that is representative for the development of children’s theatre worldwide.  

How to apply:

Ion Creangă Theatre encourages professional Theatres and Companies to apply not only with dramatic performances for children, but also with lyrical theatre, dance-theatre, puppetry, physical theatre etc. However, please note that the organizers reserve the right to give priority to dramatic performances.   

The documents can be submitted by post or by e-mail, at festival(a)teatrulioncreanga.ro, no later than the 10th of April 2017.
   
The results of the selection process will be announced on the 10th of May, on www.fitc.ro and www.teatrulioncreanga.ro. 
   
The Application form and Regulations are also available for download on www.fitc.ro. 
   
Contact person: 
Magdalena Coroiu – Artistic Consultant 
E-mail: festival(a)teatrulioncreanga.ro

Call for Proposals: CARPA5 | deadline 18 Apr 2017

CARPA5 : Perilous Experience? - Extending Experience through Artistic Research                     

CARPA5 Call for Proposals is open now!
Until 18 April 2017 at 23:59 (GMT+2)

Please, submit your proposal here

Find more information about CARPA5 and read the Vision Statement

The 5th Colloquium on Artistic Research in Performing Arts is organised by the Theatre Academy and the Academy of Fine Arts of the Uniarts Helsinki.

Ibsen Scholarships | deadline 30 Apr 2017

International funds for theatre performances are now available. Ibsen Scholarships are applicable to individual artists, theatre companies, organizations and institutions. Scholarships guidelines: 

  • The Ibsen Scholarships award innovative theatre projects.   
  • The projects must act as incentives for critical discourse in regards to existential and society-related subject matters concerning Henrik Ibsen’s plays. 
  • Applications are submitted electronically through www.ibsenawards.com.  
  • Performances already staged are not eligible. 

See application form and guide lines here.  
 
The Scholarships are awarded biennially and the applications are subject to scrutiny by an appointed jury. The Ibsen Scholarships were initiated by the Norwegian government and will be handed out for the 9th time in 2017. Ibsen Awards has until now handed out 29 scholarships in 22 different countries.  

The application deadline for The Ibsen Scholarships is April 30th 2017. 

The winners of The Ibsen Scholarships 2017 will be presented at Skien International Ibsen Conference October 18. and 19. at Teater Ibsen in Skien, Norway.   

More information

Chekhov Theatre School: The Method with Lola Cohen | 4-10 Jun 2017, Copenhagen 

From June 04 – 10, 2017 in Copenhagen, as a part of the major international Danish theatre festival: CPH STAGE, Chekhov International Theatre School is hosting the educational venue Within the Art of Acting: “DISCOVER THE METHOD” — under the artistic direction of the most innovative master teacher of Lee Strasberg’s Method today, an actress, stage director, writer and editor of “The Lee Strasberg Notes” & “The Method Acting Exercises Handbook” – LOLA COHEN (USA). 

This highly intensive seven-day course will help actors to finesse their understanding of Lee Strasberg’s Method. Participants will learn and practice the foundation exercises of The Method, as well as experience a training of the imagination, the senses, and emotions, including relaxation and sense and emotional memory exercises. These Method exercises develop a strong will through a process of exploration and discovery, which leads to a more truthful and organic expression of behavior.

We firmly expect that our time together with Lola Cohen in Copenhagen will give our participants the tools for applying Lee Strasberg’s Method to their own work, and will further their acting craft with an even greater and more realistic expression in their work as artists. “DISCOVER THE METHOD” will unfold as part of the CPH STAGE theatre festival at one of the most historic and atmospheric gems in the City of Copenhagen — The Chapel at The Assistens Cemetery. 

June 04 – 10, 2017 (NON - Residential setting)

DISCOVER THE METHOD with LOLA COHEN (USA) – editor and writer of “THE LEE STRASBERG NOTES” & “THE METHOD ACTING EXERCISES HANDBOOK”

Participants will have an opportunity to share their artistic work at presentational showcase and symposium afternoon on Sunday June 10th, 2017 at The Theatre Chapel at The Assistens Cemetery in the City of Copenhagen.

VISIT chekhovtheatreschool.com for more information on the venues and how you can APPLY today. If you have any questions about participation, please contact Viktor Melnikov at Feedback(a)chekhovtheatreschool.com.

Etchings Festival, Performing arts training program | 26 Jun – 3 Jul 2017, France 

Since 2009 the American contemporary music ensemble, ECCE ensemble, has been conducting the Etchings Festival for composers and musicians in Auvillar, France, in the Midi-Pyrenees region between Bordeaux and Toulouse. 

This year the Festival inaugurates a performing arts training program -- a movement-based program and creation residency for performing artists, to develop new performance works with composers and musicians. Developed with and taught by esteemed performing artist Colin Gee, participants will have the opportunity to build or choreograph works for the new musical compositions being premiered in the Festival. 

Total Festival Participant Fees: $1,800

Need-based funding for those admitted may be available. If in need of financial assistance, please make a note of your situation in your online application.

For more information please visit the Etchings site.

European Cultural Foundation: STEP travel grants

STEP stands for ‘Supporting Travel for Engaged Partnerships’. The STEP travel grants funding programme has been initiated and managed by the European Cultural Foundation (ECF), with the support of Compagnia di San Paolo (CdSP).

STEP travel grants support creative and critical individual cultural workers who are travelling across Europe and neighbouring countries, to help foster a society with greater solidarity, equality and a stronger sense of social justice. 

Find all details online and/or the attached document

Call for Entry: Dramatic Arts Center of Iran

Dramatic Arts Center of Iran (DAC) is pleased to inform that there are some international activities which are going to take place in Iran. They have been indicated and illustrated as below:

  • 18th International Ritual and Traditional Theater Festival; 12th – 18th Aug. 2017, deadline for submission: 20th Jun. 2017; 
  • 12thInternational Street Theater Festival - Marivan, 8th-12thSep. 2017, deadline for submission: 23rd Aug. 2017; 
  • 24th International Children and Adolescents Theater Festival, 30thNov -5thDec2017, deadline for submission: 2ndOct. 2017; 
  • 36th Fadjr International Theater Festival (for all genres), 21st January to 1st February 2018, deadline for submission: 8thNov. 2017

Note 1: DAC and mentioned international theater festivals would like to invite manager or the representative of Theatre Company in order to be selected the Iranian productions; 

Note 2: We highly appreciate it if you could send us the accessible links of your new productions of your Theater Company. The attached application form should reach DAC by the mentioned deadline. The selection committee will announce the accepted international performances through international affairs office of Dramatic Arts Center of Iran; 

Note 3: You could send your request data (which mentioned in application form) by email or post through the following address to Director of International Affairs Office, Mehrdad Rayani-Makhsous or dramatic.artcenter.iran(a)gmail.com

Please send all the Documents mentioned in application form (in English) to the following address: Vahdat Hall, Ostad Shahryar st., Hafez Ave., Tehran, 1133914934, Iran

Please note which festival you would like to participate.

Dr. MehrdadRayani-Makhsous
Director of International Relations
Dramatic Arts Center of Iran 

dramatic.artcenter.iran(a)gmail.com
Website of Fadjr ITF: http://fitf.theater.ir/en
Website of Children and Adolescents ITF: www.festival-children.ir
Website of Street Theatre Festival: www.mariwanfestival.com/default.aspx

Call for Entry

Application Form

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