Symposium From Local to International - Festivals and Distribution
Symposium From Local to International - Festivals and Distribution
Festivals bring people together and bundle attention. In doing so, they create other opportunities to present artistic work than is possible, for example, during the standard operation of a fixed performance venue. They also enjoy greater freedoms in terms of presentation, exchange and networking formats. Most of all, however, they attract a different and, in the best cases, larger audience and are able to bring together industry professionals such as curators, managers of performance venues or other festival makers together in one place within a short period of time. This intensive exchange and the visibility of the artistic works presented during them make festivals a hotly desired performance option. But how does a production end up being including in the programming of a festival? What do festivals bring to a local community? And how can networks and distribution structures be improved between festivals so that productions can be presented more frequently?
Speakers
Daniel Brunet (LAFT Berlin, English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center, Expo Festival), Caroline Galvis (freelance theater maker & cultural manager), Mateusz Szymanówka (director of Tanztage Berlin), Anica Happich (Phoenix Festival, Erfurt), András Siebold (director of the summer festival at Kampnagel), Stefan Prohorov (director of ACT-Festival Sofia), Nora Schneider (representative of the IMPLANTIEREN-Festival in Frankfurt, member of the Festivalfriendsverbund), Franziska Pierwoss (artist and author of the Eco Rider), Inge Ceustermans (General Director of The Festival Academy, an initiative of the European Festivals Association (EFA)), representatives of the nine Festivalfriends-Festivals (Rodeo München, Der Rahmen ist Programm Chemnitz, Implantieren Frankfurt, Favoriten Dortmund, Freistil Festival Völklingen, Phoenix Theater Festival Erfurt, Hauptsache Frei Hamburg, PAF Berlin, 6 Tage Frei Stuttgart, Festivalmakers of the Bridging the Scenes network and of Selected Works (Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark).
Schedule of Events
9:30 am: Registration & Coffee
10:00 am: Welcome & Presentation of the Schedule of Events
With: Catherine Launay, In-Sun Jung & Florian Hohnhorst (Performing Arts Program Berlin), Simone Willeit (Uferstudios), Daniel Brunet (LAFT Berlin, English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center, Expo Festival)
Keynote Presentation: Why Festivals?
With: András Siebold (director of the summer festival at Kampnagel)
What exactly are festivals and what can they achieve as temporary gatherings of people - regionally, nationally and internationally? What alliances, networks or cooperations can they support? And what characterizes a successful festival?
Keynote Speech: The Development of a Local Discipline With the Help of a Festival
With: Mateusz Szymanówka (director of Tanztage Berlin)
How can the development of Berlin’s independent dance community be narrated on the basis of a genre-specific festival like Tanztage? To what extent can artists expand their national or even international visibility through the festival?
Keynote Speech: Little Festival - Big Impact
With: Anica Happich (Phoenix Festival, Erfurt)
How can a festival combine the strengths of local artists to make up a regional community and create something new that continues to exist after the end of the festival? What partners and specific formats are needed for this on location? And what national networks make this kind of work possible in the first place? Anica Happich will present the Phoenix Festival in Erfurt, which was held for the first time last year.
Keynote Speech: International Distribution and Networking as a Prerequisite for a Local Community
With: Stefan Prohorov (director of ACT-Festival Sofia)
What are the European realities, for example, in Sofia, where the ACT Festival was only able to allow the continued existence of the local community in the first place by inviting international touring productions? How does this relationship affect the producing realities on location?
Coffee Break
11:15 am: Festival Fishbowl
With: Representatives of the nine Festivalfriends festivals – Rodeo München, Der Rahmen ist Programm Chemnitz, Implantieren Frankfurt, Favoriten Dortmund, Freistil Festival Völklingen (invited), Phoenix Theater Festival Erfurt, Hauptsache Frei Hamburg, PAF Berlin, 6 Tage Frei Stuttgart (invited) as well as representatives of other festival
No matter whether they are big fish or little minnows, we are inviting festival organizers, artists and producers within the independent performing arts community to talk about the state of things at eye level in an interactive format: what are the burning questions in terms of festivals and national and international distribution? From financing to creating the schedule of programming, curation or no curation, guest performances and co-productions, the development of innovative formats all the way to the benefits of festival cooperations and networks, what are the current developments? Where are there problems? What do we need more of in the future? And what can festivals achieve for the artists?
12:30 pm: Lunch Break
1:30 pm: Info Table for Festivals in Berlin
With: festival organizers in Berlin
Following the lunch break, an informal exchange with the different festivals within Berlin’s independent performing arts community will take place in small groups. At info tables and within fixed time slots, the festival organizers will each briefly present their respective festival before the artists and producers can begin asking their questions and offering their suggestions. The artists and producers will move from table to table and thus from festival to festival in this manner.
2:45 pm: Coffee Break
3:00 pm: Panel: Festivals as experimental fields for sustainable international distribution
With: Inge Ceustermans (General Director of The Festival Academy, an initiative of the European Festivals Association (EFA)), Franziska Pierwoss (artist and author of the Eco Rider), Nora Schneider (representative of the IMPLANTIEREN-Festival in Frankfurt, member of the Festivalfriendsverbund)
Moderation: Arved Schultze (Dramaturg and Curator)
The field of international festivals has changed sustainably as a result of the pandemic as well as the threatening climate crisis - this mean that, as before, both ecologically as well as in terms of fairness, touring remains very difficult to imagine. All the same, international exchange is just as important as it has always been and will continue to be. Using new models, the attempt is being made to think about and realize international distribution in a more sustainable manner - for example, residencies make it possible for artists to stay in a new location for a longer period of time, thus making possible both a deeper and, hopefully, more sustainable exchange. How can this thought be expanded upon? What role can festivals assume in order to counter these challenges? Which specific projects are conceivable?
Outlook & upcoming events of Berlin Performing Arts Program
4:15 pm: Closing Event and Aperitif
Arrival
The symposium will take place at Studio 1, Uferstudios, Badstr. 41a, 13357 Berlin
Public transport:
U8 Pankstraße (Closure of U Pankstrasse station in the direction of S+U Wittenau due to construction work: To reach the train station, please travel to the nearest underground station, Osloer Strasse, and back again)
U9 Osloer Strasse
U9 Nauener Platz
S-Bahn Gesundbrunnen
Accessibility
This event will take place in German spoken language. If needed, personal simultaneous interpretation can be provided for individual formats. Studio 1 has a 1.5 m lowered area, which is accessible only by 7 steps. The studio is therefore not barrier-free on the lower surface. Access to the upper part of the studio is possible without steps.
We are at your disposal if you have any questions about accessibility and ask you to please let us know about your desires and needs so that we are able to orient ourselves more strongly to the needs of the participants. You can reach us via e-mail: fachtag-distribution [at] pap-berlin.de or via telephone: +49 30 20 45 979 13