The Focused Off-Program (Workshops, Discussions, Professionals Meeting)

The focused part of the festival off-program is intended as a place where one not only socializes but also learns and receives feedback. The series of workshops covers the learning component of the focused off-program. These workshops will be led almost exclusively by theatre professionals from V4 countries. They will be open to all visitors who would like to learn some new theatre techniques. There will be up to 4 workshops during the festival with a great variety of specializations – e.g., movement, voice, or theoretical workshops. Such workshops with different focuses will create another semi-formal space for visitors to get to know each other, learn something new, exchange technical knowledge, and bring them together. The discussions cover the critical feedback component of the accompanying program. There will be up to three of them, and they aim to create a space in which the audience, professionals, and performers can discuss the previous day’s performances in the main program. This is always a unique opportunity for professionals as well as students to provide valuable feedback. These discussions will be chaired by our M.A. and Ph.D. students, who moderate these debates. They will gain in this way a valuable academic experience. The meeting of professionals then covers the socializing component. It will be a networking meeting of attending theatre professionals. Such a meeting contributes to greater networking among theatre professionals from the V4 countries. https://encounter.cz/

The V4 Specials – V4 Discussion and V4 Workshop

The ability to freely share information and discuss the issues of the day has always been one of the highest missions of the arts. That is why we see the V4 Discussion as one of the highlights of the festival. Through it, we try to contribute to such a reflection in the context of the problems plaguing the area closest to us, the V4 region (e.g., the issue of artistic and civic freedom and safety). At the moment we are still fine-tuning the specific form of the debate - i.e. whether it will be a classical panel debate with several panelists or whether this year we will adopt a different form (e.g., one speaker with a plenary lecture followed by a moderated debate). The V4 Workshop will work to counterbalance the more cerebral V4 Discussion. The workshop will take place over several days and will be open exclusively to the V4 students as a place to learn and network. We were lucky enough to already secure a facilitator for such a workshop who is also a representative of our partner institution FreeSZFE, Dávid Somló, a performance maker and sound artist. https://encounter.cz/

The Main Festival Program and the Closing Ceremony

The main program is the backbone of the festival. It consists of performances presented by up to 10 attending schools from all corners of the theatre world. The Selection Committee selects from the pool of submitted art schools (typically around 40 art schools respond to our open call). Every year, the aim is to create a platform for sharing innovative theatre techniques and practices. But on top of that, the individual performances should stimulate discussions for which the festival tries to secure as safe an environment as possible in which visitors feel free to debate and reflect. During the last edition of the festival, nine schools from eight different countries attended the festival with ten original performances as part of the main program. The expert jury attends every performance of the main program. The main program culminates in the Closing Ceremony on the last day of the festival. The Closing Ceremony includes the awarding of participants by the festival jury. By providing the main artistic frame of the festival, technically sophisticated and socially engaged performances of the main program help to create not only an environment for sharing innovative theatre techniques and practices but also a much-needed platform for free debate and reflection on the problems and challenges afflicting the V4 region. https://encounter.cz/