Festivals for young artists – between eventification and innovation

Part of the nationwide research network “Crisis and Institutional Transformation in Performing Arts”, funded by the German Research Assembly DFG (2018-2021)
https://www.krisengefuege.theaterwissenschaft.uni-muenchen.de/index.html

Leitung: Prof. Dr. Gerald Siegmund
Mitarbeit: Benjamin Hoesch, M.A.

Festivals for young theatre artists during or shortly after their education have spread over the German theatre landscape in recent years, with about 20 newly established programs since the 1990s. This development is at odds with the stagnation and recession to be expected from current discourses of crisis.

The research project examines the increase of festivals for young artists since the beginning of the 2000s as a system of institutional change in German theatre, which can be seen from two perspectives: For the convening theatres, those festivals are a publicity event that helps to generate attention and a profile of aesthetic innovation. For young artists, newcomer festivals facilitate their career entry and the development of new aesthetics in order to persist on the theatre market. From both perspectives, the current theatre situation regarding education, working conditions, and public outreach emerges as critical – a crisis, however, which proves highly productive in artistic work.