Deadline: 30-November-2025
This Open Call for the International Forum is addressed at theatre practitioners at the beginning of their artistic practice who have already gathered some professional experience. They may be from all sectors of the performing arts, especially from the fields of directing, acting, set and costume design, dramaturgy, text, music, video, performance, choreography and theatre education.
Participants will attend Theatertreffen performances, engage in intensive workshops with renowned artists, and take part in discussions, artist talks, and excursions across Berlin. The programme will primarily be held at the Floating University—an outdoor venue—so participants should be prepared for potentially cool and rainy May weather.
Selected fellows will receive a fully funded scholarship covering participation costs, including theatre tickets, travel, accommodation, and daily expenses (except for Berlin residents). Non-resident participants will share apartments with separate bedrooms. The Goethe-Institut will also fund travel and health insurance, as well as visa fees.
The call is open to early-career theatre professionals—such as directors, actors, designers, dramaturgs, choreographers, and educators—with around five years of experience and aged roughly 25–35. Good English proficiency is required, as it is the programme’s working language. Participants must commit to the full programme period (1–17 May 2026) and the preparatory online meetings, contributing actively to all sessions and events.
Artists anywhere in the world are eligible to apply, and the decisive factor is where they are currently focusing their work. In the selection of fellows, the organisers consider applicants’ personalities and abilities and encourage BlPoC artists, people with a migration history, queer people and people with disabilities to apply.
While the conditions at Theatertreffen are not completely barrier-free, individual solutions can be created. Artists currently professionally based in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland should apply directly to the Berliner Festspiele.
The funding criteria include at least five years of professional experience, availability to participate over the entire period of the International Forum from 1 to 17 May 2026 as well as in the online preparatory meetings, commitment to contribute to the International Forum’s entire programme, and good or very good English language skills.
Applicants are required to submit a photo that reflects their personal view on the question “What does theatre look like for you today?”, which may be accompanied by up to three sentences.
They must also include a motivation letter of up to two A4 pages explaining what they hope to gain from Theatertreffen and the International Forum, describe a remarkable production they have seen in recent years and why it was significant, and share a creative idea about which species they would like to make theatre with and how they would collaborate.
The next application deadline is 30 November 2025 (23:59 CET), and the announcement of selected fellows will take place in late February 2026. Online preparatory meetings will be held in March and April 2026. The International Forum will begin on the afternoon of Friday, 1 May 2026, and end on Sunday, 17 May 2026, with the day of departure scheduled for Monday, 18 May 2026.
For more information, visit Goethe-Institut.
