Press Release

PRESS RELEASE

Europe’s theatre sector now has a strategic platform for exchange & policymaking.

For the first time, 150 theatre and performing arts representatives and policy makers will be invited to participate in the European Theatre Forum, creating a vital representation for the entire sector, within and outside Europe. The meeting is organised in the frame of the German EU Council Presidency and in cooperation with the German Minister of State for Culture and the Media and the European Commission. It will take place from 11 to 13 November 2020 in Dresden, Germany, during the festival "Fast Forward - European Festival for Young Stage Directors".

The “European Theatre Forum 2020: European Performing Arts in Focus” is an international platform for vision, discourse, exchange, networking and policymaking. Its goal is to strategically strengthen Europe’s vibrant theatre sector – a creative anchor of Europe’s cultural heritage and linguistic diversity – to make it visible in times when it has been endangered, to an unprecedented degree, as a consequence of the Covid-19 lockdown.

The programme will be published in September on www.europeantheatreforum.eu and communicated via press release.

11 – 13 November 2020 in Dresden, Germany

During the three-day industry meeting, representatives of the European theatre and performing arts scene and key cultural policy makers will exchange views on current issues. Invitations to attend the European Theatre Forum will be sent in Autumn 2020.

The programme will also be broadcast online to offer open access to and participation in the Forum to the largest possible European professional audience. In the case of further travel and event restrictions due to the current worldwide pandemic, the event will take place online.

Objectives of the European Theatre Forum

The aim of the European Theatre Forum is to make visible and promote the outstanding importance of theatre in Europe with its diversity of performance forms, across language barriers, both as an art form and an important public space for cultural-political dialogue. It establishes a creative dialogue process within the sector and with policymakers through partnership and international collaboration.

The first edition of the European Theatre Forum will focus on:

• strengthening the European theatre sector through international networking and policy dialogue;
• addressing the issues and implications of the Covid-19 pandemic for European performing arts;
• and connecting the European theatre scenes and the national theatre scene.

European Theatre Convention, Bundesverband Freie Darstellende Künste and International Theatre Institute – German Centre are the initiative group for a European Theatre Forum, in the frame of the German EU Council Presidency, in cooperation with the German Minister of State for Culture and Media and the European Commission.

• Assitej International
• Bundesverband Freie Darstellende Künste (BFDK)
• Europe: Union of Theatre Schools and Academies (E:UTSA)
• European Association of Independent Performing Arts (EAIPA)
• European Festival Association (EFA)
• European Theatre Convention (ETC)
• IETM
• International Theatre Institute (ITI) – German Centre
• mitos21
• Pearle*, Live Performance Europe
• PROSPERO
• Union des Théâtres de l’Europe (UTE)

The European Theatre Forum is funded by the European Commission, the German Minister of State for Culture and Media in the frame of the German EU Council Presidency and European Theatre Convention.