Open Call: pre.formance reloaded (in English) – Newcomers

We are very pleased to be able offer the seminar series pre.formance for the fourth time! It is intended for English-speaking artists and newcomers who would like to begin working within Berlin’s independent performing arts community.
Over the course of five seminars that build upon each other, the individual steps from the first idea for a production through to networking and communication will be illuminated, examined and investigated.  Ideas will be brought into focus and specified in the laboratory (seminar A), expressed in the form of a funding application text in the space for development (seminar B) and the space for economics (seminar C), concentrates on identifying financing options and funding instruments. In the space for production (seminar D), the highs and lows of an artistic everyday life producing art and methods for dealing with this self-confidently will be illuminated and opportunities for guest performances and networking will be generated in the showcase (seminar E).
Over the course of this process-focused series, the participants will be provided tools in order to be able to optimally implement their projects and position themselves more clearly as artists.

• The series is divided into 5 seminars, each of which is 7 hours long.
• A certificate will be issued to all participants in the seminar series.
• The number of participants is limited to 12.
• Participation in the series of seminars is free of charge.
• You must agree to attend all five seminars in order to participate.

Please note: We are planning to offer this series of seminars as events where the participants are physically present; the location of the seminars will be announced later. Due to the current situation, this call for applications to take part in this series of seminars is being made with a caveat. If the situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic develops negatively and the restrictions imposed to protect against infection are increased, we reserve the right to change the date of the series or to change it into a digital version.  
 
Please send applications with a short cover letter explaining your motivations and CV by April 19, 2021.

Seminar Schedule & Dates:

Seminar A
Laboratory: Space for Ideas
Host: Eva Hartmann
Thursday, May 6, 2021, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Space for ideas – it all starts here. The seed for artistic projects and productions is planted here.In this seminar, there will be the opportunity to generate ideas and make a final decision regarding which idea you would like to work further with over the course of pre.formance.In individual as well as group work, the seminar offers you tools and opportunities to first bring forth a flood of ideas without judging them and lets you decide which one you would like to place at the very top of your to do list and prepare for implementation and/or which one you would like to realize first.

Seminar B
Space for Development: The Concept
Host: Christina Runge
Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

From the idea to the concept... views the concept not only as the means to an end, the funding application or grant application, but also as a method for structuring and focusing one's own artistic work: what topics and motifs engage me and in which format, where and with whom do I want to engage with them? Using practical approaches, we will examine in groups how an idea can be expressed in a concept* while reflecting our goals as artists at the same time.

*Each participant is asked to bring a project approach

Seminar C
Space for Economics: Resources
Host: Katja Sonnemann
Monday, June 14, 2021 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

The artistic concept is ready. Now all that is missing are the financial resources to realize the project.
What kinds of funding opportunities are out there? How can the concept be adapted to the different funding instruments and/or which funding instruments are suitable for my project?
What should be kept in mind when putting together a budget?

Seminar D
The Space for Production: Confidently Dealing with the Highs and Lows of Everyday Life as an Artist
Host: Eva Hartmann
Thursday, June 24 2021, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Now the work, the production has been created and you are encountering resistance.Working both theoretically and practically, this seminar will use individual and group work to pursue the questions: How do I handle doubts and blocks over the course of everyday life as an artist? How do I motivate myself? How do I (re)gain trust in myself and self-confidence? How do I manage to continuously pose myself new challenges as an artist and open new horizons for myself? How do I handle doubts during the artistic process of creation?

Seminar E
Showcase: Networks and Distribution
Host: Katja Sonnemann
Wednesday, June 30, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

What opportunities are there for me to present my work at other locations in Germany and abroad? What strategies can I develop to generate interest about my work with other presenters and producers?
How do I network myself nationally and internationally to find co-producers and have my work presented at other performance venues or festivals?
What venues and festivals are the ones that are most relevant for me? What networks, platforms, open calls and funding opportunities are there?

The Seminar Leaders

Eva Hartmann has been an accredited relational dynamics 1st  coach since 2013 and is a freelance dramaturg, manager and producer based in Berlin. She holds a Master’s in theater studies and completed her thesis on Joseph Beuys and his actions. She has worked at the Ruhr International Theater Academy in Bochum, the performance festival reich & berühmt, she has collaborated with various artists, has provided management, production management and dramaturgy for the German/English artist collective Gob Squad (www.gobsquad.com) since 2002, was a member of the board of LAFT Berlin from 2009-2010 and has lectured at various universities and cultural organizations. She has also worked as a mentor for young artists and producers and a facilitator of group processes in various contexts.
She finds herself increasingly interested in the manners and ways in which we live together, work, communicate with ourselves and others and in finding the most reasonable means of doing so.

Christina Runge lives in Berlin and works there and elsewhere as a freelance dramaturg and producer. She worked as an assistant director and dramaturg at the Prater of the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin and was involved there in theater productions and film projects by René Pollesch, Stefan Pucher, Schorsch Kamerun, Jan Ritsema, Tim Staffel, Lorenz/Kuster/Boudry and hangover ltd.
Since 2006, she has worked on a freelance basis in the areas of performance, audio plays and films with, amongst others, the German-British artist collective Gob Squad, hangover ltd., Interrobang, Lindy Annis, La Hengst / Müller-Klug, Masha Qrella and Schorsch Kamerun.
She develops and realizes programming concepts and curates projects at, amongst other institutions, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, HAU Hebbel am Ufer and Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz. Together with Andreas Kebelmann, she realized the radio feature Was uns bleibt, sind Möglichkeiten (What Remains Are Options) (NDR, 2014).Since 2006, she has also made presentations and given workshops in, amongst other places, Alexandria, Egypt, Berlin, Hildesheim, Leipzig and Manchester, Great Britain.

Katja Sonnemann is the initiator and director of AKADEMIE für Performing Arts Producer und freie Produzentin (the academy for performing arts producers) as well as an independent producer, instructor, mentor and adviser. Following her studies in applied theater studies in Gießen, she worked, amongst other posts, as the tour manager for Sasha Waltz & Guests and as the director of the artistic administration office of the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz. After this, she was director of the production development of the 2005 edition of the festival Theater der Welt in Stuttgart and head scheduler at the Maxim-Gorki-Theater Berlin from 2006 to 2009.
From 2010 to 2012, she worked as the company manager (temporary parental leave replacement) and an independent producer for Rimini Protokoll and as the company manager of andcompany&Co from 2012 to 2017.
She is part of the agency Wilson*Borles Arts Management, which works under a framework agreement for the German Federal Cultural Foundation.
She offers workshops and seminars in the performing arts  (PAP Berlin, the Ernst Busch Academy of Performing Arts, the German Federal Cultural Foundation, Kulturförderpunkt and others) and advises national and international artists and companies. She is a member of IETM, LAFT and ITI Germany.