FAQs Open Submissions
Who can participate?
Berlin performance venues and event locations of the independent performing arts community which present the work of professional Berlin-based groups and/or artists. In general, the participating performance venues and event locations should have been in operation for at least 6 months before the festival.
All professional artists and groups living and working in Berlin who have secured the cooperation of a performance venue for their contribution to the festival’s schedule of programming are also eligible to participate. In addition, professional artists and groups who have co-produced a contribution with Berlin-based artists, groups or performance venues and wish to present this during the festival in cooperation with a Berlin performance venue can also register.
What can be submitted?
Performances featuring professional work within the field of performing arts (spoken word theater, performance, music theater, dance, puppet and object theater, children’s and youth theater, et cetera as well as with interdisciplinary work that has a basis within the performing arts).
Site-specific work and productions taking place in public space can also be submitted.
Short works as well as open rehearsals and previews can also be submitted for the festival to be presented in a programming format especially for these (see below).
How are contributions to the schedule of programming selected?
The schedule of programming for the open submissions format of the Berlin Performing Arts Festival is not curated and presents the diversity of the artistic concepts in the city. As such, the members of the independent performing arts community decide for themselves the work with which they want to present themselves during the festival. Participants are asked to examine very carefully the extent to which it is possible to participate in the festival based upon their respective financial situation (we recommend the Berlin Senate “Wiederaufnahmeförderung”. In 2017 the Senatskanzlei für Kulturelle Angelegenheiten offeres the exceptional opportunity to apply for “Wiederaufnahmeförderung” with productions to be shown during the Berlin Performing Arts Festival). The precondition for this is the proper registration via the online form and the meeting of the criteria and guidelines of the Berlin Performing Arts Festival.
Information regarding performance dates and times
Performance and contributions to the schedule of programming for the open submissions format can be submitted for the festival days from June 6 - 10, 2018. Events should be planned for the times between 10:00 am (earliest start) to midnight (latest end).
In order to ensure that the scheduling of programming includes events all throughout the days of the festival, we ask you to not only suggest performance times in the evening, but to also include alternative performance times. The festival coordination team will support all participants in finding a performance time that is reasonable and fits with their contribution to the schedule of programming.
Contributions to the festival's schedule of programming in the field of children's and youth theater should be planned from 10:00 am (start) and 3:00 pm (latest start time) for the days from June 6 - 10, 2018.
Who is the festival intended for?
The festival’s schedule of programming is, of course, intended both for a Berlin-based audience as well as interested parties and professionals throughout Germany and abroad.
Who organizes the festival?
The Berlin Performing Arts Festival is an event shared between all independent performance venues, groups and artists working in Berlin, the independent performing arts community. The community is responsible for the festival artistically and organizationally.
The festival is presented by LAFT Berlin in cooperation with the performance venues HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Sophiensaele, Ballhaus Ost and Theaterdiscounter.
The festival coordination team works for LAFT Berlin. It will centrally promote the festival and the participating productions, both in Berlin as well as internationally, and provide comprehensive support to the independent performing arts community for the realization of the festival. The festival’s schedule of events and the productions presented will be decentrally organized and financed by the participating performance venues and locations. The performance venues and event locations and the participating artists and groups must ensure that their participation in the festival can be independently realized in terms of organizational, financial and technical requirements. As a result, we ask all interested parties examine very carefully the extent to which it is possible to participate in the festival based upon their respective financial situation.
What Does the Festival Offer?
Since 2016, the Berlin Performing Arts Festival has annually presented the work and artistic positions of Berlin-based artists and groups working in all genres for the Berlin audience as well as visitors and industry professionals from throughout Germany and abroad for one week packed with performances and events.
The festival team provides comprehensive support to the independent performing arts community for the realization of the festival, provides advice during the planning of the schedule of programming and helps to put together a balanced overall schedule of programming under consideration of the submissions received. The centralized press and PR work will promote the participating productions in Berlin as well as nationally and internationally. In addition, the festival will develop diverse ancillary formats for the schedule of programming that provide audience members and interested members of the public access to and insight into the schedule of programming, the artistic work and the profiles of the performance venues and event locations. Ancillary programming will be offered throughout the festival and provide the audience members, artists and industry professionals with space to get to know Berlin’s independent performing arts community through encounters and conversation.
Conditions for Participation
The mandatory condition for participation is the on-time, complete submission of programming proposals via the online form.
The sender of the submission is informed that the presented production is decentrally organized and financed by the participant and must ensure that they are financially and organizationally in the position to present the work.
The participating performance venues and event locations must be part of Berlin’s professional independent performing arts community and, in general, should have been in operation for at least 6 months before the festival.
Only professional productions from Berlin (the participating artists and groups are based in Berlin and/or the productions are Berlin (co)productions)) are included in the festival’s schedule of programming.
Artists and groups who want to contribute to the festival’s schedule of programming can only do so in cooperation with a fixed performance venue/event location.
A confirmation from the performance venue / event location must be included with the submission.
Site-specific work and productions that take place in public space can also be submitted as long as they originally conceived as site-specific or work in public space.
The performance dates stated in the submission must be within the dates announced by the festival and the performance times must also fall within those announced for the schedule of programming. You can find more information about this below.
The ultimate presentation dates and times will be determined in conjunction with the festival coordination team.
Contact
If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact the Performing Arts Festival team.
Contact Open Submissions: Susanne Chrudina
susanne.chrudina(at)performingarts-festival.de
Telephone: +49 (0)30 / 30 34 66 28