Fast Forward

A project organised by the Dresden State Theatre in partnership with the National Theatre of Brittany in Rennes, France and the Greek National Theatre in Athens in cooperation with the European Theatre Convention (ETC), supported with a Development Grant as part of ETC‘s TRANSFORMATIONS programme, co-funded by the European Union.

Thursday, 02.11. – Sunday, 05.11.2023

Public Closing Session on Sunday, 05.11.2023, 12.00 – 14.00, in English

HOW WILL WE MAKE THEATRE IN THE FUTURE?
Being part of a diverse and productive network is an important resource in the cultural sector: as a professional and as a social anchor. But how can we initiate and maintain sustainable partnerships? Three years after the outbreak of the COVID- 19 pandemic, the first edition of the Fast Forward Festival Forum will offer students and young graduates from six European theatre academies the chance to meet with theatre professionals one-on-one. Six ETC member theatres will each invite a student either from their own school or from an academy they’re collaborating with to the attend Fast Forward in Dresden from 2nd-5th of November 2023. Together with a theatre director, a producer / manager and an educator, they will watch all the festival productions, meet the artistic teams and discuss their views on contemporary theatre. On the last day, a public closing session both live and online will document the forum’s discussions and shed light on current ideas about theatre-making in Europe.

WHAT DO WE NEED IN THE THEATRE SECTOR?
Facilitating quality in artistic creation, supporting new alliances, a heightened awareness for the situation we’re living in and acknowledging the issues that are important to the next generation are all aspects of the conceptual cornerstones of fostering emerging artists today. What does it take to really promote young talent, not just paying lip service to it, but making a sustainable commitment to help the theatre sector to move forward into the future? Learning about each other’s needs and benefiting from each other’s perspectives and capabilities in view of the changes happening all around us is a vital dialogue. We need structures and spaces for this to happen – the Fast Forward Festival Forum hopes to be one of those spaces. The potential of theatre to reach out to communities and to enable social accessibility and inclusion across cultural barriers and differences lies in it‘s artistic ingenuity; by sharing experiences, creating visibility, facing catastrophes and inspiring utopias that we probably no longer dare to dream of in our everyday lives. The future needs teamwork. Together with the ETC and its member theatres, the Fast Forward Festival Forum offers a platform for dialogue and visibility.