The first edition of the ITI Academy aims to support and mentor 20 emerging transnational artists and curators in their individual potentials and ambitions and to contribute to networking among them. The Fellowship offers the opportunity to share knowledge, to reflect on and deepen one's own practice and to become part of a mutually supportive network.

Through an Open Call, the ITI was looking for 20 young artists and curators who are currently based in Germany and see themselves at the beginning of their transnational work - this could be a transnational cultural network to be established, a transnational festival or collaboration, a translocal co-production or any other project that is equally local and international and located somewhere between the performative arts and community building.

Four Modules

In four modules (October 2022, January, March and May 2023) and the concluding Academy Week at Theater der Welt 2023 in Frankfurt-Offenbach (8 - 16 July 2023), the Fellows - partly with external experts and guests - critically examine the conception, planning and implementation of transnational projects in the performing arts (theatre, drama, dance and music theatre in all its forms). The close cooperation with the festival Theater der Welt in Offenbach and Frankfurt am Main, its team and institutions, provides an insight into the working structures and tools of a festival that is regarded as an important event in the international scene of the performing arts (and which is currently reinventing itself with its 2023 edition).

How can global cooperations and collaborations be fairly structured?  How can productions and festivals be conceived and implemented sustainably and in solidarity? What structures are needed to implement international festivals and "glocal" collaborations in small towns and rural regions? How can multinational/multilingual target groups and accessibility be considered in the curation and artistic production? How can administrative structures be developed in such a way that international cooperation is also possible in non-European contexts? What legal questions and hurdles need to be considered in connection with transnational projects and global mobility? - Questions such as these provide a starting point for debates and discussions that will be moved by and with the Fellows within the framework of the four modules of the ITI Academy.

Academy Week

The Academy Week, which takes place during the Theater der Welt 2023 Festival at the Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt am Main, is the highlight of the ITI Academy. Curated by the Fellows themselves, the Academy Week is also a moment in which the Fellows can share their groundbreaking ideas with an interested public, enrich and initiate contemporary debates and become visible as artists and curators. The Academy Week is thus also a lively platform for encounter and discourse in the Theater der Welt Festival, ultimately to reflect on and possibly rethink and reimagine the role of international festivals and collaborations, their social and political function, their audiences and communities, and curatorial practices.

Mentoring Programme

The fellowship is complemented by the mentoring programme. According to the individual needs, wishes and experiences of the Fellows, 20 experienced theatre-makers, curators and activists will advise the Fellows on their professional development in 10 One-to-One sessions spread over one year.
 

The ITI Academy Fellowship at a glance

Modul 1         KONZIPIEREN              13.10. - 16.10.2022, Frankfurt am Main

• Conceptualising a festival: What is a festival? Mission and identity. (Workshop)
  - Nora Amin (author, performer, choreographer and theatre director)
• Conceptualization Theater der Welt 2023 and Transnational scope: What it entails (Talk and City Walk)
  - Hanna Steinmair (dramaturge at THEATER DER WELT 2023)
• Socio-political & cultural discourse: How a festival embodies ideology & cultural/ artistic identities // Structural framework conditions of cultural policy in Germany (Lecture)
  - Dr. Nicola Scherer (lecturer, artist, curator und cultural manager)
• Dimensions of Sustainability in Transnational Collaboration & Visions for hybridity & mobility as identity (Talk)
  - Felix Sodemann and Sebastian Hoffmann (touring artists)

Modul 2         KURATIEREN               13.01. - 15.01.2023, Berlin

• Intersectional diversity (Workshop)
  - Dr. Özlem Canyürek (cultural policy researcher and lecturer)
• Creating New Curational Practices of Sustainability and Care in the Era of Climate Change (Online Talk)
  - Faisal Kiwewa (Bayimba Foundation) and Dr. Bettina Sluzalek (Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele)
• Curational Concept of “Theater der Welt 2023” Offenbach-Frankfurt am Main (Talk)
  - Chiaki Soma (Programme Director THEATER DER WELT 2023)
• Creating programmes as a creative practise & identity development. The challenges of the transcultural work of PENGO e.V. (Workshop)
  - Innocent Buregeya, Annika Rachor and Umuhire Isakari (Members of PENGO)

Modul 3         PRODUZIEREN            03.03. - 05.03.2023, Frankfurt am Main

• Production and Administrative Management of the Festival Theater der Welt 2023 (Talk)
  - Anne Kleiner (Administrative Director) und Irene Gomer (Production Manager) (THEATER DER WELT 2023)
• Crowd teaching circles on topics like funding, proposal writing, crowdfunding, community support ("Production café")
  - Katrin Wiesemann (Produktionsbande), Jacob Bussmann (ID_Frankfurt), imaginary company
• Creative Europe – EU funding for Culture. An introduction of the possibilities of EU funding (Talk)
  - Lea Stöver (Creative Europe CULTURE)

Modul 4         UMSETZEN                  12.05. - 14.05.2023, Berlin

• Managing Sustainability. Roadmap for Strategic Sustainability Management (Workshop)
  - Rebecca Heinzelmann (Institut für Zukunftskultur, consulting THEATER DER WELT 2023)
• How to create Publicity, Outreach and Visibility for your projects? (Workshop)
  - Anna Mohtadi (Social Media Manager)
• AFFIDARE meets nOu - a conversation about the implementation of ideas, (political) activities and concepts within two queer feminist collectives in Peru and Germany (Talk)
  - Allejandra Diaz Loo & members of the association AFFIDARE and Helene Röhnsch & members of the nOu collective

Academy Week during Theater der Welt

8.07. - 16.07.2023 at the Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt am Main

The fellowship includes:

• 4 modules, each over 3 days, two of them in Berlin and two in Offenbach-Frankfurt
• The ITI Academy Week during Theater der Welt, including the opportunity to present the own transnational project/idea to a professional audience and the interested public
• One year of mentoring by experienced cultural and theatre professionals or other experts, based on the individual wishes and needs of the fellows and what their project requires at the time  
• access to an encouraging, supportive and helpful transnational network
• 7 days of participation in the Festival Theater der Welt 2023 including free admission to the performances and events of the festival
• Participation is free of charge. Accommodation and catering costs are covered