Open Call: The 2026 Berlin Performing Arts Market

On May 12, 2026, the Berlin Performing Arts Market will be held for the third time and we are inviting all of Berlin’s artists and groups to present themselves and their work!

The Berlin Performing Arts Market offers Berlin-based artists and producers the opportunity to present themselves and their work to national and international visiting industry professionals, to enter into contact with curators, presenters and multipliers in order to possibly arrange guest performances, residences or coproductions as well as to sustainably expand their networks. A central part of the market’s program is the presentation of artistic works, and we invite Berlin-based artists and collectives to apply.

Thematic Focus: Types of Relationships

This year, the Market will focus on the relationship between artists and curators and/or presenters as well as the qualities of this collaboration. With this in mind, it will not only be Berlin-based artists who pitching during this edition: curators, presenters and national networks will also present themselves and their work. Over the course of exchange formats, we invite you to search for the types of relationships that will carry the independent performing arts into the future. How do artists and curators find each other? What connects them, what do they need each other for and how does collaboration take place?

The Performing Arts Market is part of the Theme Days on National and International Collaboration in the Independent Performing Arts of PAP Berlin in May, which will invite national and international members of the independent performing arts community to Berlin for two days in order to deepen the exchange regarding international collaboration.

Application Criteria – Open Call for the 2026 Berlin Performing Arts Market
 

Who Is This Open Call Intended For?

• Berlin-based artists and groups who are interested in and would like to pursue national and international work and touring and whose productions are oriented toward a national as well as international audience. This include, amongst others, guests performances and works with little or no language, with translation concepts (e.g. titles) as well as works that use aesthetic means to overcome language barriers.

What Are We Looking For?

• Presentations of the artistic work of the members of Berlin’s independent performing arts community working in a variety of disciplines and that should not exceed a length of 5-7 minutes. We are looking for presentation forms that allow one’s artistic practice to be experienced aesthetically and which consciously diverge from conventional pitching.
• The presentations should be able to be realized with very simple technical requirements. Basic equipment for lighting, sound and projections will be available. The preparation time should not exceed a length of three minutes for the actual presentations.

Prerequisites for Participation / Who Can Apply?

• Artists or groups working in the independent performing arts whose work is based in Berlin.
• The participating artists or groups must have a portfolio of at least one current production that can go on tour at the time of the Berlin Performing Arts Market and this production must have already been presented in Berlin and have been premiered within the last two years. We recommend that the productions do not exceed a price of € 7,500 for a guest performance.
• The participating artists and/or groups must be able to demonstrate that they have previously presented at least one guest performance outside of Berlin and have work experience outside of Germany (e.g. residency, production).
• Productions that have been created as part of one’s course of study cannot be taken into consideration.
• In order to take part in the Berlin Performing Arts Market, it is necessary to submit video material of tourable production(s), the internet presence of the artist or group, promotional material, et cetera as described in What Has To Be Submitted?. This material must be submitted together with the application.
• All applications must be submitted completely by March 4, 2026 to: messe [at] pap-berlin.de (messe[at]pap-berlin[dot]de)

What Has To Be Submitted?

• The Completed Form

Please fill out the form directly in this PDF Formular.

- Name of the artist or group
- Links to the website/social media accounts of the artist or group
- A contact person with an email address and telephone number
- A brief description of the artist or group (max. 900 characters)
- A description of the work (focal points, aesthetic, et cetera) with a focus on the orientation toward a national and international audience (max. 1,000 characters)
- Genre 
- Brief concept for presentation at the 2026 PAM (exact description of the presentation form, number of performers, duration, technical requirements, space requirements, if applicable) (max. 1,000 characters)
- Motivation: What draws you to national and international work? What questions do you have about the relationship with curators or presenters? Which cooperation partners or guest performance venues are especially interesting for your future work (as specific as possible)? (max. 1,500 characters) 
- Guest performance price of the production (recommendation: not more than € 7,500)

Attachments

Additional material about your work:

• A portfolio of tourable productions, with video links (short forms like trailers are preferred / full documentation can also be provided) and photo documentation, et cetera (max. 3 pages, PDF format)
• Flyers/posters in digital form 

Formalities

• The application should be written in English.
• Please make sure that the mail you send is not larger than 5 MB, including attachments.

Basic Conditions / What We Can Offer

• Submitting applications and participation are free of charge.
• A preparation workshop and a mandatory information session will be held for all selected artists or groups before the Berlin Performing Arts Market.
• Basic technical equipment (light, sound, projector) will be available for the presentations.
• The Berlin Performing Arts Program will design the cooperations with a variety of networks and will also be responsible for the general coordination of the event.

Additional Information

• The goal of this open call is to present the diversity of Berlin’s independent performing arts community in all of its different areas and its various aesthetics, from solo performers to groups and collectives. In doing so, we sincerely hope to be able to take as many applications into consideration as possible, but will not be able to decide until after looking at the applications that we receive on March 4, 2026 what will be possible in terms of the chronological and spatial parameters of the Performing Arts Market.
• The selected artists or groups will receive a notification regarding their selection by the end of March.