WESTWIND festival is a partner in the project EXIT THE ROOM, funded by the EU programme ERASMUS+, which will run from 2022 to 2027.

Young Artists & Young Audience exploring new ways of creating theatre and art exchange

The programme includes residencies for YOUNG ARTISTS (aged between 18 and 25) and their performative try-outs at the participating festivals as well as expert talks by festival organisers and networking meetings between the participating partner institutions. New forms of dialogue, reflection and encounters between young people around theatre performances will be developed. The focus is on even closer networking between budding artists and experienced theatre makers in workshops, dialogues and discourses. The aim is to create a large network of Next Generation projects and festivals in European children's and youth theatre by 2027.

WESTWIND already took part in the festival makers' professional exchange in 2022, in 2023 WESTWIND itself hosted a network meeting in Bonn at the Marabu Theatre for the first time and the international festival makers will also be guests at the Maschinenhaus in Essen in 2024. Stops of YOUTH Mobilty in the current 2023/24 season are in Bremen, Frankfurt and Graz.

What are the themes and artistic forms of the NEXT GENERATION and what methods and platforms do they need to develop their art?
How can children and young people, the direct target audience of the plays, be interactively involved in the festival events?
What ways can be found to connect theatre with its environment?
How do the artists interact with the respective cities?
How can cultural criticism and cultural policy engage with children's and youth theatre in a theoretical, professional way?

At the end of their project, the NEXT GENERATION participants pass on their findings and knowledge to a new project group and the project cycle can begin each year with a new generation of young artists between the ages of 18 and 25.

A new call for proposals for the next project phase in 2025 for Next Generation/ YOUTH Mobility will be issued in September 2024.

With EXIT THE ROOM - NEXT GENERATION, the following theatres and festivals are looking for exciting formats that make theatre festivals and performances an extraordinary event:

•     Agora Theatre, St. Vith, Belgium
•     Bravo! Festival, Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland
•     Young Theatre Bremen, Bremen, Germany
•     Kliker Festival, Varaždin, Croatia
•     Mezzanin Theatre, Graz, Austria
•     spleen*graz Festival, Graz, Austria
•     Spandau City Theatre, Berlin, Germany
•     Starke Stücke, Festival Frankfurt and Rhine-Main region, Germany
•     Stek, Theatrefabrique Haarlem, Netherland
•     TaO!, Graz, Austria (accredited institution and head organisation)
•     WESTWIND Festival, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

The aim is to continuously expand this network.

Further information and insights into the artistic project work can be found on the project's homepage: https://exit-the-room.eu/