FESTIVAL IN TRANSITION
| The network Theatre FESTIVALS IN TRANSITION (FIT) initially involving seven festivals in seven countries was founded in 2005. So far, the network has successfully implemented two large-scale projects: a series of contemporary theatre projects and highly regarded symposia on ‘festival policy’ (2005-06) connected with a large international artistic program and – a project of ten festivals in ten countries – “Mobile Lab for theatre and communication” – a travelling laboratory with aim to explore, develop and test drive innovative practices of discourse, critical writing and communication between artists, programmers and audiences in response to a contemporary performance program as part of the project (2007-08). |
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With a renewed network featuring partially new participating festivals, in 2010 FIT is launching a new project – FESTIVAL LAB – Theory and practice for the next generation of European festival programmers. This project is a logical continuation of the two previous FIT initiatives. One of the findings of discussions organized by the FIT Network was that curating a festival requires a unique combination of special skills and professional resources from an arts manager – production and organizational experience, international network of artists and cultural workers, precise understanding of local context and at the same time awareness of global cultural trends, financial skills, conceptual thinking, etc. The current developments in festival policies, the global arts markets, the media development, the changes of perception in the virtual worlds and global social and political changes require a new generation of festival curators, who should be able to develop their own ideas on future programming, but also work both locally and internationally, combine conceptual and practical approach, understand deeply the performing arts field but at the same time be able to launch new artistic projects, to know how to communicate them, to be aware of the global social and political context and connect the festival to the specific expectations and needs of its target audience.
With help of the project, young professionals will be given an unique opportunity to work internationally, learn new curatorial skills, develop new, alternative artistic approaches that are directly connected to the idea of the festival as a specific artistic experience and platform. They should also receive special training regarding audience development. For the participating festivals this project is the chance to integrate fresh and future-oriented ideas and practises.
FIT members: Spielart, Munich Theatre Festival (Munich), Krakowskie Reminiscencje Teatralne (Krakow), International Festival of Contemporary Theatre Homo Novus (Riga), London International Festival of Theatre LIFT (London), Baltic Circle International Theatre Festival (Helsinki)
Associated partners: POT festival (Tallinn), The Exodos Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (Ljubljana), Meteor and Oktoberdans / BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen)
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