For many years there has been a focus on the positive sides of globalization – however facing climate crisis, geopolitical conflicts, shift in global power balances and also the renegotiation of the colonial past has awakened a necessary questioning of the value of working internationally. This however doesn’t have to mean that working with a global perspective is a negative thing. It simply means that the arts and culture industries have to be much clearer in their practice and communication about the values of working internationally – why we should prioritise cultural diplomacy, cultural exchange, artistic exchange between countries – and what kind of collaboration models are sustainable. It just means that it takes a much clearer awareness of why we prioritise to work internationally and what difference it makes.

This podcast is the selecting the essenses in the roundtable discussions taking place 1. June 2024 at CPH STAGE International Days. The purpose is to empower artists, producers. programmers with reflections and argumentation for working internationally. More than 90 professionals participated in the conversations - lead by these people who shared their points of views on the topic:

Table 1: Theatres sustaining national culture

· Stella Kanu – Executive director of The Globe (UK)

· Vivi Sørensen – Artistic director of National Theatre of Greenland (GL) [had to cancel last minute]

Table 2: Festivals in the peripheries

· Goda Giedraityté – director of Plartforma (LI)

· Susanne Andreasen – director of Nuuk Nordic Culture Festival (GL)

Table 3: Organisational development - framing the arts

· Tanja Mangalanayagam – director of BIBU (SE)

· Danny Tan - CEO Odyssey Dance Theatre (Singapore)

Table 4: Funding

· Hege Knarvik Sande – director of Performing Arts Hub Norway (NO)

Table 5: Festivals

· Adam Protrykus – director of Stockholm Fringe Festival (SE)

· Ingrid Ellestad – Curator at BIT-Teatergarasjen / Meteor Festival (NO)

Table 6: Presenting international work

· Essi Rossi – upcoming artistic director of Teater Viirus (FI)

· Gunn Hernes - director of the Nordic House Faroe Islands (FO)

Table 7: Artistic development

· Linda Forsell – artistic director of Konträr Teaterkonst (SE)

· Sophie Blomen - curatorial asistant at Berliner Festspiele (DE)

 

Credits:

Hostess/producer: Karen Toftegaard

Production manager: Mathilde Høm + Hanna-Barbara Dobra

Podcast creator: Alex Hein

This Podcast is supported by Nordic Culture Fund

Digital Launch with short presentation of the programme at CPH STAGE's International Days 30. May - 1. June 2024. Followed ny a conversation about LOSS AND TOGETHERNESS IN CONTEMPORARY THEATRE featuring Jørgen Knudsen - BlackBox Teater ( Oslo, Norway )Hillkka - Liisa Illvanainen - Tampere Theatre Festival ( Tampere, Finland ) and artists behind spme of the curated works at this year's International Days - Tue Biering ( Fix & Foxy ) and Filip Vest from Denmark.

Credits : 

Production : CPH STAGE International

Producer and host : Karen Toftegaard

International Production manager : Barbara Hryciuk

International student employee : Bjorg Steinnun Gunnarsdottir

Tech studio : Omnivox ApS

 

Art has extraordinary capability to unfold and hold space for taboos. What happens with the art and with the taboos in society when this happens? Do we even have taboos today?

We invited two Danish companies that are working with taboos in the work that is presented at CPH STAGE's International Days. And an intercultural collaboration between a Danish company and a Greenlandic company - facing the taboos in the colonial history.

Choreographer Andreas Constantinou ( Himherandit ) - unfolds how death, grief and loss are taboos in our societies - something we often actively avoid - in the performance SHROUD. Director Louise Beck ( OPE-N ) - highlights the sensitive story about young people's state of loneliness while hidding behind happy online personas in the interdisciplinary opera work LOL - Laughing Out Lonely. Director Hanne Trap Friis ( Freeze Productions ) and light designer Naleraq Eugenius ( Naleraq Lights - GL ) bring in aspects of the colonial oppression of the Greenlandic people in the theatre work OUR STORIES / OQALUTTUAATIGUT

We are also excited about our international guests - curator Anna Teuwen from Kampnagel in Hamburg, Germany. Last year she was a part of our international jury and got an insight into the performing arts scene in Denmark, Greenland and Faroe Islands. Aniko Racz from Hungary is the artistic director of SIN Arts & Culture Center in Budapest as well as programmer at the festival Sziget Festival.

This episode is made as a part of our digital launch of the programme at CPH STAGE's Internatioanl Days 30. May - 1. June 2024

The podcast CONNECTED is produced by CPH STAGE International

Producer and host : Karen Toftegaard

Editor : Laurits Jongejan

Grand narratives are often unfolded within text-theatre. However what happens when the grand narratives become non-verbal and expressed ainly through the bodies? What role does the body and it's expressions play in telling grand stories? What difference can the body make in the storytelling? what is important in the way we perceive bodies and their movements in order to understand narrative?

We have inited artists from two Danish companes that both explore body movement and grand narratives in their artistic work. Choreographer Louise Mochia (Sitka Louise company) belive that when the audience witness the dancers, they too become aware of their own body and breathing - they are participating in a mindfull listening to the body. Artistic director Jesper Michelsen ( Glad Teater company )states that in this universe, words make no sense. Instead, we must reach out with our bodies and senses. Both companies will attend in the pitch session 31. May in the Royal Danish Playhouse.

Furthermore we have also invited Ricarda Ciontos - artistic director at NORDWIND festival at Kampnagel in Hamburg.

This episode is made as part of our digital launch of the programme at CPH STAGE's International Days 30. May-1. June 2024

The podcast CONNECTED is produced by CPH STAGE International

Producer and host. Karen Toftegaard

Editor: Laurits Jongejan

There are more options for reality and in this podcast we'll share different aproaches to playing with our perceptions of reality. And also which role democracy plays and how you give people tools to understand their reality and to change the world around them.

We invited two Danish companies that are both explorative in their work - and challenging the realities we know - both involving the audiences actively. Co-artistic director Henrik Vestergaard from LiveartDK believe that essence of classical performance art is about asking questions and testing them in live experiments. Director Mikael Fock works in the AI field and is exploring the human-machine interfaces.

Furthermore, we have invited playwright, screenwriter, curator and one of the artistic directors of Tampere Theatre Festival - Hilli Ilvanainen. She is a part of CPH STAGE's International Jury 2024 and has been working a lot with identity-policy plays in the programming at Tampere Theatre Festival in Finland.

This episode is made as part of our digital launch of the programme at CPH STAGE's International Days 30.May - 1.June 2024

The podcast CONNECTED is produced by CPH STAGE International

Producer and host : Karen Toftegaard

Editor: Laurtis Jongejan

 

Bodies, identities and historical consciousness play a huge role in the way we show up in the present.

We have invited artists from two Danish companies that both explore bodies, identity and historical consciousness in thei artistic work. A fun fact is that both of them are Italian and both have been based in Denmark for several years. Choreographer Mirko Guido (ALL THAT REMAINS) states that at it's heart, this piece is a reflection on ourwounded enviroment, our place within it and our collective potential to heal, adapt and evolve. Choreographer Fabio Liberti from the company MUOVI (DID I JUST DO THAT?) unfolds one of the most relevant themes concerns women,consent and patriarchy.

Furthermore we have also invited Stine Nilsen - current artistic director at CODA - Oslo International Dance Festival and upcoming director of Dansens Hus in Oslo, Norway. She has a huge, multifaceted experience with bodies, identities and historical consciousness. Helen Maandi from the Estonian theatre Vaba Lava is based in a city close to the Russian border where identity and historical consciousness is omnipresent in everyday life.

This episode is made as part of our digital launchof the programme at CPH STAGE's International Days 30. May - 1. June 2024

The podcast CONNECTED is produced by CPH STAGE International

Producer and host : Karen Toftegaard

Editor : Laurits Jongejan

71 percent of the Earth surface is water. Up to 60% of the human adult body is water. Water is omnipresent. In this episode we ask artiss and programmers about their relationship with water.

We have invited artists from two Danish companies and one Faroese. Betina Birkjær from Luna Park that presents the immersive worh SightSEAing at CPH Stage - a work that is a poetic tribute to mankind's longing towards the sea and to the water floating in our bodies. Robert Karlsson from Between Music that have explored therelationship with water in their enigmatic underwater concert. Var Bech Arting from RIVA the Faroese contemporary dance company that is always creating artin context of being surrounded by water - living in a small Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Furthermore we have also invited Willie White - Artistic director and Chief Executive Willie White from Dublin Theatre Festival in Ireland and Adam Barrett - Producer and Programmer at Luminato Festival in Toronto, Canada. Both have a personal and professional relationship with water.

This episode is made as part of our digital launch of the programme at CPH Stage's International Days 30. May - 1. June 2024.

CONNECTED is produced by CPH STAGE International

Producer and host : Karen Toftegaard

Editor : Laurits Jongejan

In this episode of CONNECTED by CPH STAGE International we are sharing the final reflections on our monthly conversations about how to programme and tour more environmentally sustainable. Climate justice is one of the aspects that Stella, Sarah and Karen from the two festivals LIFT - London International Festival Theatre (UK) and CPH STAGE (DK) found very interesting to dive deeper into. What does equaity actually mean when you talk about sustainability in an international context?   The conversations are a part of programme ITER - International Touring with Environmental Responsibility, supported and selected by Arts Council England, The Danish Arts Foundation and Embassy of Denmark in the UK, London.  

Around the table:

Stella Kanu (Executive Director, LIFT), Sarah Sarina Rommedahl (Festivalproducer, CPH STAGE) and Karen Toftegaard (Head of International Programming and Production, CPH STAGE).

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This Podcast is produced by CPH STAGE International

Edit : Laurits Jongejan

Liminal states. How they unfold in the arts?  Together with Faroes director and playwright Bui Dam, Danish choreographer Marie Louise Stentebjerg and Danish director and playwright Kristian Husted we will take a closer look at what happens when you step out of the normative expectations of the society.

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This Podcast is produced by CPH STAGE International.

Edit : Laurits Jongejan

Host : Karen Toftegaard (Head of International Programming and Production, CPH STAGE)

 

In this episode of CONNECTED by CPH STAGE International we are focusing on different aspects of partnerships - as forming strong partnership can be crucial for work to grow. Should we see nature as our new, always present partner?

Our guests this time:

Vigdis Jakobsdottir (Reykjavik Arts Festival), Ricarda Ciontos (Nordwind Festival), Anna Berit Asp Christensen (Scenatet), and Nønne Svalholm (SVALHOLM).

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This Podcast is produced by CPH STAGE International

Edit : Laurits Jongejan 

Host : Karen Toftegaard (Head of International Programming and Production, CPH STAGE)