Wiener Festwochen is calling for applications for 15 scholarships for artists and cultural workers
from Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia and Hungary under the heading In the Field. In the framework of
a ten day programme, In the Field will facilitate transregional networking and transfer of knowledge in the context of an
international theatre festival, bringing together participants from a 300 kilometre radius around Vienna.
For the
first edition of the festival under the new artistic directorship of Milo Rau, In the Field addresses in particular artists
and cultural workers at the start of their careers with practices that are located at the intersection of art and activism.
The Wiener Festwochen consider themselves a space of utopia, where habitual attitudes and ingrained norms are questioned and
ruptured on and off the stage. Critical questions on the correlation of art and society will therefore be raised throughout
the upcoming edition of the scholarship programme:
Who is given space and stage? Who is allowed to perform according
to which principles and values? How does a diverse, varied, universally accessible festival work and what is the balance of
experiment and tradition, discourse and entertainment, aesthetics and politics it requires? What are the economic frameworks
within which we move, where does the money come from, and how independent can art be? How are we able to act in an ecologically
sustainable manner and at the same time foster international exchange and mobility? How can art be practised, and what might
a festival of the future actually look like in order to find answers to those questions?
This year, In the Field
will be mentored by director, theatre scholar and activist Gin Müller. The recipients of the scholarships will visit performances,
rehearsals and artistic-discursive events together every day as well as meeting artists and activists. Workshops designed
by the participants serve to share experiences, knowledge and hands-on skills. Designed in collaboration with brut Wien, a
leading co-production space for Vienna’s independent arts scene, In the Field also places a focus on local developments by
bringing scholarship recipients together with important protagonists of the Viennese cultural landscape.
More information:
www.festwochen.at/formulare/open-call-in-the-field
