Workshop 1: Theatre and the Media
PhD Pia Strickler, University of Berne
The way theatre reporting is done is a subject often discussed in Switzerland. As my study shows theatre audience uses theatre reporting in daily newspapers as a source of information about theatre among other sources, such as advices from friends, advertising material from the theatres and the Internet. The readers ask for judgement and evaluation of the performance, which means: They mainly expect a review when reading an article about theatre. On the other hand my analysis of Swiss newspapers shows that previews and other text forms such as interviews or home stories increased between 1995 and 2007, while reviews decreased. Having these facts in mind the workshop focuses on three points: What does this situation mean for the audience and its demand on theatre reporting in the media, especially in daily newspapers? – What do the (Danish) theatres need from the media? – What does a theatre system as a whole need from the media?
Workshop 2: The Perils and Potentials of Theatre Evaluation Regimes
PhD Josh Edelman, Trinity College, Dublin
How do arts councils (and other funding agencies) evaluate theatre? And what happens when they do? This workshop will look both at the different methods available to arts councils to make authoritative judgments about the theatremaking that they fund and at the effects that these methods tend to have. An evaluation scheme can encourage certain aesthetic tendencies, it can develop the formal and professional organization of the field, and it can even change the way that theatremakers think about their work and their relationship with their colleagues. My primary case is contemporary Ireland, which can serve Danish theatremakers as an example and warning.
Workshop 3: The Role of Theatre During Cultural Changes
Dr. Steve Wilmer, Trinity College, Dublin
This workshop will examine some of the recent cultural changes that have impacted on European theatre in the last decades. In particular it will consider the impact of new media and new forms of entertainment, political changes in Eastern Europe since 1989, tendencies towards globalization and/or nationalism, changes in governmental subsidy and financial cutbacks. We will consider whether theatre is a dying art form or if it is finding new energy in a changing world.
Workshop 4: Values and Functions of Theatrical Experiences (and how they can be realised by audiences)
Prof. Hans van Maanen, University of Groningen
In neo-liberal Europe intrinsic values of theatre are threatened in favor of extrinsic benefits such as economic and social ones. That is dangerous for the societal functioning of art except when both types of values can be combined. The workshop focus on the following questions: Which are the intrinsic values of theatre and which functions do they serve? How can these values get any impact in a mediatized ‘entertainment’ society? These questions will be discussed on the basis of participant’s practices and with the help of some more theoretical models which will be introduced.
Workshop 5: What could Aarhus learn from Tartu?
Dr. Anneli Saro and PhD-student Hedi-Liis Toome, University of Tartu
In the workshop we first introduce briefly the basics of Estonian theater system (how it is financed and organized). Then we give the example of city of Tartu which in general could be compared with the city of Aarhus.
In the second part of the workshop we raise some questions of the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of a system presented at the first part of the seminar. We discuss how they affect both the theaters and audiences in Tartu.
