Arts and Encounters Academy

In recent years, production houses have increasingly come to see themselves not only as performance venues, but also as meeting places where people of all age groups, cultures and social backgrounds can gather to exchange ideas and explore new perspectives. In this process, the notion of participation as an artistic strategy has become firmly anchored in the concepts that drive the work of many production houses. As a result, a new job profile has emerged at the interface between public relations, dramaturgy and cultural mediation. In 2020, in order to do justice to this new line of work, the Alliance of International Production Houses (AIPH) decided to found the Arts & Encounters Academy, the aim of which is to analyse and further develop the artistic, social and political dimensions of this new professional field.

The multifaceted practices involved in fostering meaningful encounters at the AIPH’s various production houses are characterised by efforts to establish a sustainable and long-term relationship to their diverse audiences as well as to the unique environments at their respective locations. These efforts serve to break down barriers and facilitate cultural access in a number of different directions. The diversity of projects generating new forms of participation reflects the complexity of a professional field that is still emerging and defining itself. The tasks involved in these projects range from the artistic practice of exploring performative strategies of participation and collective authorship all the way to developing measures designed to generate public attention and larger audiences. Some examples of existing spaces that engage in this kind of collaboration are the Migrantpolitan at Kampnagel, the Kulturgarten at HELLERAU and the WerkStadt at PACT Zollverein. At these gathering spaces, knowledge is discussed in detail and experimented with in artistic ways as part of different modes of encounter and research. The Houseclub at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, the Residenzen im Realen at tanzhaus nrw, and the Neugier Abo at Mousonturm are other examples of this innovative approach. For its part, the FFT Düsseldorf prompted a paradigm shift recently when they launched their “Was ihr wollt” initiative, which invites a select group of audience members to determine the theatre’s programming for one full month.

The Arts & Encounters Academy acted as a forum for exchange and reflection on existing approaches, while also offering a framework in which to experiment with invented practices and tools. The academy’s key mission was to become a meeting place where members were encouraged to use artistic means to examine issues, attitudes and strategies relating to the democratic coexistence of individuals from different social contexts and backgrounds. The structures that form the basis of the projects themselves were also subjected to a critical analysis, and the importance of communication work within institutions was also examined. In order to facilitate this process, the academy made available the existing knowledge of the production houses and encouraged participants to examine and further developed this knowledge in the form of practical thematic modules at a series of working sessions.

The Arts & Encounters Academy was geared towards individuals interested in discussing and developing joint strategies of participation at the interface between the arts and society. The academy invited everyone to contribute their expertise and insights, whether they were neighbours, activists, communicators, dramaturges, multipliers, educators, art enthusiasts or members of local communities.

Academy Concept and Management 1st edition (2021/22): Cornelia Hinterschuster / Yasmine Salimi

Working Group „Arts and Encounters“ 1st edition (2021/22): FFT – Irina-Simona Bârcă / Katja Grawinkel-Claassen, HAU – Stella Konstantinou / Volkan Türeli, HELLERAU – Christopher Utpadel, Kampnagel – Claire Diraison / Anna Teuwen / Mariia Vorotilina, Mousonturm – Leander Ripchinsky, PACT Zollverein – Benjamin Melzer / Neda Pouryekta, tanzhaus nrw – Mijke Harmsen

Application deadline for the first edition of the Arts and Encounters Academy was 5 April 2021
Open Call

Members of the jury are: Mijke Harmsen, Cornelia Hinterschuster, Zwoisy Mears-Clarke, Yasmine Salimi, Annemie Vanackere

Information on accessibility can be found here.

The first edition of the Arts & Encounters Academy is now available as a podcast: Melanie Sien Min Lyn chronicled the programme in a documentary style and joined with Lydia Sarges to create an artistic interpretation of the events in a two-episode audio edition. This situational documentation of the Academy aims to convey the ideas and approaches explored at the various gatherings and make this content accessible to people beyond the limited circle of participants.

The first edition of the Arts & Encounters Academy was chronicled step-by-step and in a documentary style by Melanie Sien Min Lyn and subsequently given artistic expression in a podcast created together with Lydia Sarges. The Academy took place from June to November 2021 in the form of several different multi-day modules, each examining a different topic or challenge. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, these gatherings were held online, but also sometimes in person at the cooperating venues, which included Kampnagel in Hamburg, HAU Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin, tanzhaus nrw and FFT Forum Freies Theater in Düsseldorf. A number of interdisciplinary experts were on hand to share their experiences and report on their own practices. The Arts & Encounters Academy is a limited-capacity programme, which means that the final 18 individuals chosen to participate responded to an open call, applied in advance and were selected by a jury. This new podcast provides a behind-the-scenes look at the events associated with the first edition of the Academy in 2021. It aims to convey the ideas and approaches explored at these gatherings and make the content accessible to people beyond the limited circle of participants.

The podcast is in German and English. A transcript is available for each episode.

The Arts & Encounters Academy is aimed at individuals who see the focal point of their work as lying at the interface of the arts and human encounters. Among the questions explored as part of the academy are the following: What are the practices associated with knowledge transfer and the exchange of experience? How are these practices reflected in individual projects, in everyday work and in the Academy itself? How can we shape the environment where encounters take place in such a way that we generate a sense of cohesion? To achieve this commonality, do we have to adjust our approach, the way we work and ultimately how the venue itself is structured? What is the nature of the relationship between fostering human encounters as a professional practice and fostering human encounters as fulfilling a particular socio-political objective? Is it possible for cultural institutions to function as laboratories where we can examine the factors that lead to social cohesion and a sense of togetherness?

In an effort to provide answers to these and other questions, a number of guests contributed fresh ideas, experiences and impulses at the various workshops and discussions. For example, Irina-Simona Bârcă and Stella Konstantinou spoke about how they came up with the idea for the Arts & Encounters Academy in the first place (from min. 03:20). Tereza Stejskalová and Hana Janečková reported on their work at tranzit and Display, where they found themselves operating between the two poles of feminist practice and fixed institutional frameworks, while also thematising the specific challenges associated with feminist and anti-racist artistic production in the eastern European context (from min. 07:35). Gatari Surya Kusuma spoke on the radical nature of friendship as an anti-capitalist concept and artistic method of human encounter (from min. 17:20). Academy participant Ioulia Kokkokiou brought the event to a close with a guided meditation (from min. 23:00).

The first episode of the podcast features Irina-Simona Bârcă, Cornelia Hinterschuster, Hana Janečková, Ioulia Kokkokiou, Stella Konstantinou, Gatari Surya Kusuma, Melanie Sien Min Lyn, Yasmine Salimi and Tereza Stejskalová.

Transcript Episode 1

The scope of arts and encounters is very much dependent on where the two are situated, that is, on local contexts, cultural infrastructures and the general social landscape. What kinds of interactions take place with the general public and members of local neighbourhoods? How are urban realities similar to rural ones? What makes them different? And what are the implications of this for local, on-site artistic practices?

Using the example of HAU Hebbel am Ufer, this episode provides insights into public outreach practices at HAU and in cooperation with youths and schools in the context of the Houseclub (from min. 01:10). Sascia Bailer reported on her work as the 2019/20 artistic director of the Arthur Boskamp Foundation’s M.1 in Hohenlockstedt (from min. 24:15). Three academy participants, Sophya Kallista Frohberg, Ioulia Kokkokiou and Thủy-Tiên Nguyễn, reflected on their work in this field of encounter, including the dangers of tokenisation and the often unequal power relations between cultural institutions and marginalised groups in the cultural sector (from min. 17:55). In an open discussion, Tmnit Zere gave insights into the work carried out by Nyabinghi Lab and spoke about the project “Freistaat Barackia — Landscapes of Liberation” (from min. 32:55). In addition to these practice-oriented examples highlighting concrete strategies, questions and challenges, the second module of the academy featured an “Open Space” which allowed participants to identify specific themes and concerns and then work through them in self-determined groups (from min. 17:05). The Open Space was led by Yaari Pannwitz.

Guests include: Sascia Bailer, Sophya Kallista Frohberg, Cornelia Hinterschuster, Ioulia Kokkokiou, Stella Konstantinou, Melanie Sien Min Lyn, Thủy-Tiên Nguyễn, Yasmine Salimi, Thu Trang Dong, Volkan Türeli, Tmnit Zere

Our thanks go to the “erklär mir mal…” education collective for providing content from the TikTok channel @theatern (speaker: Josephine “Pepita” Niang).

Transcript Episode 2