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International Forum

International Forum

The International Forum is a platform for global collaboration, the initial spark for alliances, actions and the search for diverse, local perspectives on a variety of global issues. Artists from all continents will gather in Berlin to think together, make connections and celebrate.

International Forum 2024

The 2024 International Forum gathered 29 young theatre makers from Tegucigalpa and Yogyakarta, Tehran and Heidelberg to exchange their local perspectives on global issues. Headed by the Forum’s new leaders Aljoscha Begrich and Sima Djabar Zadegan, they moved to “Radical Playgrounds”, the art parkour at Gropius Bau, for the duration of Theatertreffen. How radical can and should playing in the theatre be today? Who can play where and with whom? And what’s the point? They explored these and other questions together in workshops held by artists Christiane Hütter, Amir Reza Koohestani and Michikazu Matsune. Furthermore, the fellows had the opportunity to attend and reflect on the festival itself: in conversations and encounters with artists involved in the productions invited to Theatertreffen, in the hotel lobby late at night and during early-morning work-outs. Non-stop theatre for two weeks, a scenic research process with no pressure to produce. And yet, insights into the fascinating worlds of these young artists were possible: During the event The Forum’s Forum between 10:30 and 15:00 on 11 May, the fellows gave the public a playful insight into their work.

The 2024 International Forum Participants

The 2024 Theatertreffen invited 29 exciting artists from all parts of the world to attend and reflect the festival and to exchange ideas and experiences across artistic and national boundaries.
More than 700 artists from 75 countries responded to the Open Call published in the autumn of 2023.

The 2024 participants

Contact

Directors International Forum: Aljoscha Begrich, Sima Djabar Zadegan
Coordination: Anna Popova
Tel +49 30 254 89 375
internationales-forum@berlinerfestspiele.de

About International Forum

Theatre makers from all over the world will come to Berlin, experience art and join workshops to address a variety of issues concerning the future of the performing arts. Participants are supported by a fellowship programme. Applications are welcome after an open call each autumn.

History

The International Forum has been running since 1965 (up until 1973 under the title “Begegnung junger Bühnenangehöriger – Meeting of Young Theatre Professionals” then until 2005 under the title “Internationales Forum junger Bühnenangehöriger – International Forum of Young Theatre Professionals”), making it the oldest permanently operating institution of its kind.

While it initially served as an event series providing information and a discussion forum for young professionals from West Germany, the circle of participants expanded in 1970 to include Austria and Switzerland following agreements with these two countries. In 1980, the Goethe-Institut entered into a cooperation that spread the Forum across the whole globe. At the same time, the Forum focus shifted to practical work: after a phase of experimentation until 1975, workshops became an integral part of its programme in 1980. Since 2015, the International Forum has been increasingly open to worldwide social dynamics of development, in order to investigate the role of the theatre as a public political sphere. The Forum’s numerous workshops and discourse events have since then focused on the place of the theatre between the poles of art, politics and society.

From 1965 to 1968 the “Begegnung junger Bühnenangehöriger – Meeting of Young Theatre Professionals” was directed by Joachim Werner Preuß. From 1969 to 2005, it was directed by Manfred Linke. From 2006 to 2014 Uwe Gössel took over the reins, from 2015 to 2017 Daniel Richter, from 2018 to 2022 Necati Öziri. Since 2023, Anna Mariscal (currently on parental leave, parental leave replacement Anna Popova) has been responsible for the coordination of the International Forum. From 2024, Aljoscha Begrich and Sima Djabar Zadegan are taking over as directors of the International Forum.

Among the 2,000 fellows were Aljoscha Begrich, Hermann Beil, Andrea Breth, Amit Epstein, Carl Hegemann, Tarun Kade, Susanne Kennedy, Barrie Kosky, Sybille Meier, Laila Soliman, Prodromos Tsinikoris, Georg Weinand and Jossi Wieler.

The International Forum takes place in cooperation with Goethe-Institut and the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and is supported by the German Stage Association. Further funding institutions are the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport and the regional association of the German Stage Association in Baden-Wuerttemberg as well as the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion Berlin, the Ministry of Culture and Media Hamburg, the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts, the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the State Chancellery of Thuringia.