The Festival
WESTWIND is one of the most renowned theatre festivals for young audiences nationwide. It is hosted by a different NRW theatre each year. In addition to a selection of NRW productions, the festival features international guest performances and an extensive programme of accompanying events including workshops, panels and discussions.
WESTWIND 2025
Junges Schauspiel’s relocation to its new venue Central at Düsseldorf’s main railway station effectively means the creation of a cultural district that stretches from FFT and Junges Schauspiel to tanzhaus nrw. In addition to NRW productions, international guest performances and a rousing programme of additional events, our vision for WESTWIND 2025 invokes wide-sweeping artistic exchange to investigate child poverty and the ability of theatre arts to enact social change.
The selection committee for WESTWIND 2025 consists of Felix Herfs, Paul Davis Newgate and Leonie Rohlfing.
Review period: 26 August 2024 – 2 February 2025
The application deadline was 25 October 2024
Productions applying for WESTWIND 2025 must have premiered between 7 February 2023 and 2 February 2025.
Contact: westwind@dhaus.de
Junges Schauspiel, a division of Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, is the largest theatre company for children and teens in NRW. Featuring two stages of 300 and 99 seats, a foyer and an open-air venue, it is home to a diverse ensemble of eight actors and a host of guest artists who reach more than 60,000 visitors per season through six new productions and numerous other events. A wide variety of material in diverse aesthetic styles incites new artistic experiences that call on us to not be content with simple answers in a complex world. Sustainable alliances both locally and internationally, opening up to different communities such as the urban dance scene and inclusion all constitute part of Junges Schauspiel’s self-image. www.dhaus.de
FFT Düsseldorf (Forum Freies Theater) is an international production house for independent performing arts that operates both regionally and internationally within a network of production venues, theatre companies and further partners. At its venue KAP1 near Düsseldorf’s main railway station, FFT has had versatile stage and work spaces and a spacious foyer at its disposal since 2021. Its programme is based on continuous collaboration with artist collectives, cooperation with universities and schools, exchange with city representatives, artistic work for and by young people and the coupling of theatre and digital media. www.fft-duesseldorf.de
tanzhaus nrw is an international centre for contemporary dance which serves as a venue and production house for numerous regional and international dance companies. Situated in a former tram depot, it houses eight dance and rehearsal studios as well as two stages. Non-professional and professional dancers, choreographers and artists from other genres all train at its academy—with no distinction between highbrow culture, subculture and socio-culture. At tanzhaus nrw, creative exploration of the human body and its role in contemporary society takes centre stage. www.tanzhaus-nrw.de
Photos: Melanie Zanin, FFT, Katka Illner
