Stronger Peripheries: the European project launches an Italian call for performing arts.

The European project “Stronger Peripheries: a Southern Coalition” launches an Italian call with the title “Daily Bread” and focus on performing arts and participatory practices. The promoters of the call are Pergine Festival (Trento), L’arboreto – Teatro Dimora di Mondaino (Rimini) and the Hungarian Pro Progressione (Budapest). The artist/company/collective selected will take part in a production process of research and creative residencies in direct dialogue with partners and local communities. A grant of 33,000 euros is available for the development of a production in participatory theatre/performance. 

Established in 2020 with a four-years timeline, the project “Stronger Peripheries: a Southern Coalition” connects fourteen European cultural associations and institutions linked by a peripheral position and a strong local connection. Several actions have been planned: a training program on cultural management, an extensive international artistic scouting and the experimentation of new production methods, with 12 co-productions realised in tandem and accompanied by as many local communities.

Now, “Stronger Peripheries” launches the first Italian call for artists, companies and collectives working in Italy. Three are the promoters: Pergine Festival (Trento), L’arboreto – Teatro Dimora di Mondaino (Rimini) and the Hungarian Pro Progressione (Budapest).

The call invites artists to work on the theme “Daily Bread” and focuses on performing arts and creative participatory practices. The selected artist will participate in a production process of research and creative residencies, in direct dialogue with partners and local communities.

Applicants must reside in Italy, work in the performing arts (dance, theatre, performance in urban/natural contexts, or any hybrid and trans-disciplinary form), have a strong interest in participatory creation and work in close contact with local communities. The project involves in fact specific communities of citizens (the so-called “hosting communities“) linked to the territories of the partners. The aim is to realise an international co-production, but with a strong territorial link.

For the application is not required the presentation of a project idea: the selections will be based on the evaluation of the portfolio and the ability to develop a participatory work at international level.

In a first phase, a shortlist of five artists, collectives or companies will be identified from all the applications. The selected ones will be invited to a ‘tandem workshop’ that will take place from the 2nd to 5th July, 2022 at Pergine Festival. This will be an opportunity to present their project, network and meet the partners of Stronger Peripheries. At the end of the workshop, the selected artist / company / collective will be announced.

The winner will be able to count on a production support offered by the two Italian and the Hungarian partners, for a total budget of 33,000 euros. It will also participate in four residencies, two dedicated to research and two dedicated to the creative development of the project, taking place in Pergine Valsugana, Budapest and Mondaino. The new production will debut in Pergine in the summer of 2023, and will then travel to Hungary and other countries in the Stronger Peripheries network.

Applications must be submitted by 7 p.m. on Friday, April 8, according to the procedures indicated on www.strongerperipheries.eu.

STRONGER PERIPHERIES

Stronger Peripheries (2020-2024) is a large-scale European project co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme. It brings together eleven arts management organisations and three research institutes from ten Southern European countries. It is the first project implemented by the Southern Coalition, an informal network connecting a number of local cultural experiences in Southern Europe, with the aim of overcoming isolation and strengthening the skills of artists, cultural professionals and audiences. The partners of Stronger Peripheries are: Artemrede (leader, Portugal), Bunker (Slovenia), Centrul Cultural Clujean (Romania), Consorci Transversal Xarxa d’Activitats Culturals (Spain), Fakultet dramskih umetnosti – University of Arts in Belgrade (Serbia), ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Portugal), L’arboreto – Teatro Dimora di Mondaino (Italy), Occitanie en Scène (France), PCAI Awareness Raising (Greece), Pergine Spettacolo Aperto (Italy), POGON – Zagreb Center for Independent Culture and Youth (Croatia), Pro Progressione (Hungary), Teatro di Sardegna (Italy), Universitat de Barcelona (Spain).

PERGINE FESTIVAL

Pergine Festival, established in 1976, is the oldest and longest-lived performing arts festival in Trentino. The Festival is a driving force of new creativity linked to different disciplines and production methods that involves the public in different ways, also by using technological devices for new forms of artistic enjoyment and by inhabiting unconventional places. A particular support is given to emerging artists and to creation for public space. The festival cultivates intense cultural and artistic exchanges throughout Europe.

L’ARBORETO – TEATRO DIMORA MONDAINO

Founded in 1998, l’Arboreto is a nationally and internationally recognised theater center. It works mainly in the field of research and training: creative residencies and transmission of knowledge. The small town of Mondaino (1,400 inhabitants) is a laboratory of the contemporary creation that supports the processes of study and production of the artists, together with the relationships with the local communities, that determine the uniqueness of the places of residence.

Located in a nine-hectare arboretum, the Teatro Dimora and the Casa Foresteria make the Arboretum a unique structure in Italy particularly suitable for creation and experimentation, dialogues between tradition and innovation, masters and daisies.

PRO PROGRESSIONE

Pro Progressione is an artistic hub based in Budapest born to connect people, professions and ambitions by designing international collaborations in the field of culture. From this combination creative ideas emerge: artists, cultural activists, scientists and experts from various fields meet to try to answer the questions of our time. The hub is active in the field of socially engaged arts, interpretation of cultural and natural heritage, music as a tradition and production of performances and shows.