Baltic Current

Baltic Current: a think tank for sustainable performing arts in Baltics is a joint initiative of theatre Gertrudes ielas teatris (Riga, LV), Goethe Institute (DE), Kaunas City Chamber Theatre (Kaunas, LT) and performing arts platform Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava (Tallinn, EE) created to provide a platform for mutual learning, sharing of expertise and support for the next generation of performing artists from Baltics. Financial support for think tank is provided by Nordic-Baltic Mobility Program for Culture.

Baltic Current is a platform for mutual learning, sharing of expertise and support for the next generation of performing arts practitioners from the Baltics. It consists of a series of workshops that are designed to nurture artistic practice and understanding of the current performing arts environment in the Baltics as well as encourage communication, networking and collaboration among participants. The workshops take place in the theatre Ģertrūdes ielas teātris (Riga), the Kaunas City Chamber Theatre and the festival Starting Point as well as in the performing arts platform Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava (Tallinn).

In the core of the Baltic Current lays series of workshops for 15 young artists to nurture their artistic practice and understanding of the current performing arts environment in the Baltics. The picture of the performing arts field is not complete without performing arts organisations. The reality of today – ongoing pressing issues of climate, Covid and war – encourages us to question, re-think and re-imagine the mode and models of how we engage in the work with artists, audience, and other organisations. We invite you to join us and take a closer look on human, social, artistic, economic, and ecological aspects of the performing arts in Baltics today.

The think tank consists of four in-person and two online meetings, which are designed to actively involve participants in the co-creation of shared knowledge. The activities will encourage participants to build up resilience, articulate limits, learn to dare and challenge themselves, develop habits and practices that serve their human and artistic identity. The participants will have the support of experienced international mentors from the performing arts field. Throughout the programme the participants will develop joint creative proposals to present at a pitching session at the end of the programme.

DATES AND ACTIVITIES

August 24th – 27th, 2022, Riga, Latvia – in-person workshop at Ģertrūdes ielas teātris. Focus: developing artistic practice,
resilience and responsibility. Coach: Eva Hartmann (DE, Berlin), who has been a coach since 2013, and also works as a freelance dramaturg and producer of the theatre collective Gob Squad.
More info: evahartmanncoaching.wordpress.com and gobsquad.com

September 22nd – 25th, 2022, Kaunas, Lithuania – in-person workshop during the festival Starting Point that brings together young artists who create for young audiences. Focus: skill of giving feedback and moderating professional conversation; the role of the festival in the ecology of the performing arts. The workshop will include meetings with Lithuanian performing arts practitioners.

October 26th, 2022 – online meeting.
Coach: Eva Hartmann

November 23rd – 27th, 2022, Tallinn, Estonia – in-person workshop at Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava.
Focus: strategies for devising a performance and the process of development of a co-created artistic work. Meetings
with Estonian performing arts practitioners included.
Coaches: artists from the theatre collective andcompany&Co, which is one of the leading collective in the contemporary performing arts scene.
More info: andco.de/en.

January 11th, 2023 – online meeting.
Coach: Eva Hartmann

February 9th – 12th, 2023, Riga, Latvia – in-person workshop at Ģertrūdes ielas teātris. Focus: presentation of ideas, pitching session with an international audience.
Coach: Eva Hartmann

More information: current@git.lv