The first edition of the ITI Academy aimed 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 offered 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 were 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 examined 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, provided an insight into the working structures and tools of a festival that is regarded an important event in the international scene of the performing arts.

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 provided a starting point for debates and discussions that were negotiated 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, was the highlight of the ITI Academy. Curated by the fellows themselves, the Academy Week was 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 was 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 was 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 over the course of one year.