WESTWIND festival is a partner of the project EXIT THE ROOM, funded by the EU’s ERASMUS+ programme, which runs from 2022 to 2027.

This programme includes residencies for YOUNG ARTISTS (ages 18 to 25) and their performative try-outs at participating festivals as well as expert talks by festival organisers and networking meetings between participating partner institutions. The aim is to open up new forms of dialogue and reflection on theatre performances through encounters among young people. It focuses on establishing even closer networks between budding artists and experienced theatre makers through workshops, dialogues and discourses. By 2027, this will result in the creation of a large network of YOUNG ARTISTS’ projects and festivals for European children’s and youth theatre.

WESTWIND has accompanied the project for many years, first by participating in the festival makers’ exchange of expertise in 2022. In 2023, WESTWIND itself hosted a network meeting for the first time at Theater Marabu in Bonn, and in 2024, international festival makers were once again welcomed to the festival, this time at Maschinenhaus in Essen. 2025 marks the first time that WESTWIND will host both project formats: the exchange of expertise between EU festival makers and YOUNG ARTISTS, which will conclude the new project phase in Düsseldorf in June 2025.

The current project phase focuses on the question of how art can contribute to systemic and social change.

The young artists involved in the current project phase first met at the festival Starke Stücke in Frankfurt in March 2025 for a practical exchange and joint artistic research. In April, the group met again at TaO! in Graz before concluding this year’s project at WESTWIND Festival in May and June.

What’s more, WESTWIND 2025 will also host the organisers of the participating festivals following their meeting at SEGNI New Generation Festival in Mantua, Italy in November 2024.

We are very much looking forward to getting to know each other in person and exchanging artistic ideas in Düsseldorf!

Further information on the festival network can be found HERE on our website.