OPEN CALL

for artists from Mannheim and the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan region
Deadline: November 30, 2023.

Individual artists and groups from all disciplines in the independent performing arts scene who live or work in Mannheim and the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan region are invited to apply for the following formats:

1. FORMAT: Residency for Artistic Development THEME: "Focus: Now. Expressing the Urgent"

This residency entails a 3-week focused work phase for up to four artists per residency to allow artists to develop their own projects within the given thematic framework. The residency provides a per person budget, a workspace, as well as technical and dramaturgical support and will end with a presentation of the work.

THEME: "Focus: Now. Expressing the Urgent"

he performing arts can produce more than just fleeting aesthetic moments: it can open free spaces for thought, create other worlds and give voice to what has been repressed. As an event that is experienced together, “theater” is always encountered in the immediate present thus making dialog possible. The performing arts is an experimental field for the artists, audiences and staff members and therefore functions as a mirror and laboratory of and for our society – in all of its paradoxes, inequalities and open questions. As a pioneer always at the forefront of the times, theater provides space for utopias, can intervene, and as a collective practice, initiate changes in the local social context.

We are looking for project proposals that adress urgent social issues artistically. What is motivating you here and now? What moves you? What do you want to say and how do you want to express it? What is being silenced or forgotten and has to be shown? What has to change and what should be preserved? Where do you refuse to cooperate and what is your strategy of resistance?

We are especially seeking out concepts that deal with current social conflicts and aspects of social and ecological sustainability. Making art means being actively involved. This is why it is also crucial to hold ourselves responsible for the sustainability of our own actions. Therefore, it is important for us that working methods are reflected upon during the residencies and mentoring sessions.

more information about the residencies

2. FORMAT: Mentoring Program – topic of your own choice

We understand mentoring as consultation and guidance that is given by an experienced expert in a particular field. The mentoring program affords artistic exchange, and allows you to draw on experience and expertise for your projects. In short, your chosen mentor(s) can help you take your artistic practices to the next level. The method of working and how goals are set during your mentorship is up to you. Mentorships in combination with a residency will be given priority,
but it is also possible to apply for a mentorship without applying for a residency. There will be a final presentation during the festival.

more information about the mentoring program

What is the Schwindelfrei Festival?

The Schwindelfrei Festival is conceived of as a meeting point for the independent performing arts in Mannheim and the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan region. Through this biennial festival, the Mannheim Office of Culture can present current working methods and forms of expression by artists from the regional independent art scene.

more information