about PLATFORM 11+
PLATFORM 11+ wants to present a many-layered (self-) portrait of a young European generation, whose presence at the beginning of the 21st century is reflected in numerous works of art.
As a network of 13 equally-participating theatres from 12 countries, in connection with local cultural organizations, universities and schools, its goal is to initiate multidisciplinary cultural efforts (literature, performing and visual arts, new media, cultural education) for and among youth aged 11-15.
There are few cultural offerings for adolescents at this age, even though during this life phase an engagement with art can be consequential for the formation of values, personality, and worldview. PLATFORM 11+ strives to fill this gap and create maximal synergies between the partners, with
- authorship of 30 new theatre plays
- co-productions of 56 new theatre works and culture events
- creation of over 40 works of visual art
- exchange of work experience and methods by means of an intercultural dialogue (including artist mobility in over 100 main activities in 11 countries)
- Europe-wide proliferation of the artistic products (tours, play fairs, exhibitions, internet database, Digital-Art-Gallery etc)
- professional guidance and support for youth to become personally active artistically
The activities are conceptualised in 3 phases (national, bi-national and multinational), which build upon each other while maintaining a process orientation.
In order to meet the need of the target group members to see their experiences of life portrayed in art, the partners have developed the overall theme: Artistic Discoveries in European Schoolyards. The schoolyard is the ideal location for inspiration and inquiry (the basis of all activity), because it
- reflects conflicts in the greater society, as a multicultural and social microcosm
- is a location for contemporary and historical experiences (has relevance to cultural heritage)
- as the centre of life experiences for the target group, it can determine identity and is suited to directly motivate the target group to take up artistic processes.
By enabling a meaningful experience of the variety inherent in national cultures, PLATFORM 11+ makes a decisive contribution to the development of European competencies and a feeling of European identity among artists and young people.
The leading organisation of that artistic network is Brageteatret in Drammen/Norway, which collaborates with the initiator of the project, Dirk Neldner/Germany.
In cooperation with ATINA Argentina, PLATFORM 11+ will also continue in several countries of South America.
On April 2nd 2009 the EU-Commission announced the jury’s decision concerning the grants programme „Culture 2007”: Chosen from a large number of applications PLATFORM 11+ will be financed over the next four years, starting on May 1st 2009.
PLATFORM 11+ Partner
PLATFORM 11+ unites 13 theatres from 12 countries, all working for a young audience and representing a high level of excellence and a special interest in the target group.
All partners are equally involved in the project structure (including financing), the activities and implementation. Decisions are made democratically; the flat hierarchy demands a strong individual responsibility of the partners. All partners have the right and claim to an active presence of the network in their own country, but also the duty to advance themselves actively and with artistic capacity into the work of the network.
The EU contracted Brageteatret in Drammen/NO to run the network.
Other partners
Each theatre is required to cooperate with schools and additional local, regional and national cultural organizations which become active participants in the project, for four years. The stronger regional bonds result in trendsetting possibilities, particularly for the youth.
3 universities
- Agder University Kristiansand, Norway;
- University of Oulu, /Finland;
- Europe University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Germany
enrich the project with an additional asset: accomplished experts support and evaluate the project processes with competence and scientific expertise in these specific areas: Cultural Management, Cultural Mediation, Cultural Education and Teacher Training.
The mediation of knowledge and current methodologies guarantees sustained continuing education for the artists.
Students, who are brought into the project through their research work, experience art and culture as core competencies in education. These experiences accompany the future career starters into their different work areas.
On the initiative of ASSITEJ Argentina (ATINA) PLATFORM 11 + is globally continued in several countries of Ibero-America.
New Theatre Plays
Playwrights’ work
One of the main goals of PLATFORM 11+ is the creation of new, innovative theatre plays for the target group, the 11-15 years old. Therefore, each theatre commissions at least one playwright for the work in the project. Literary mangers assist with the work of the authors.
The playwrights write on the basis of SCHOOLYARD research and personal memories
- in 2009/10, a national play
- in 2010/11, a bi-national play with a European colleague in a co-writing process
- in 2011/12, a part of the final multi-national play together with the European colleagues
In 2012/13 PLATFORM 11+ will conduct a National Writers Contest in all 12 participating countries, which extends the project beyond its original framework. The winners of the writers’ competition will be introduced during national PLATFORM 11+ festivals.
Information about all texts and authors is accessible in the database (launch June 2010). Supported by the theatre publisher Theaterstückverlag Brigitte Korn-Wimmer (www.theaterstueckverlag.de) in Munich/Germany – specialised in children's and youth theatre - the database will become an up-to-date research resource for European contemporary drama for the target group.
A bi-lingual book (English/German) “Playwrights go Schoolyard”, collecting all plays (including the Ibero American texts) and research material, will be published by PLATFORM 11+ and Theater der Zeit (www.theaterderzeit.de) in Spring 2011.
Play Fair
The presentation of the new scripts in staged readings for a European audience and multipliers (other theatres and theatre-agencies) will take place in 13 – one in each country – so called PLAY FAIRS. This will promote the new plays throughout Europe.
New Theatre Productions
The majority of the plays will be staged; the theatres guarantee the production of one thematic work each year.
All productions become an element of the partners’ repertoire; over 750 performances in 12 countries are expected. The theatre productions will be performed internationally as guest performances in partner theatres and at international festivals.
Each of the 13 theatres produces
- in 2009/10, as an entrance into the network cooperation, a thematic reference production with which they can give the European partners an example of their artistic profile
- in 2009/10, a contribution to the collective interdisciplinary performing event "Schoolyard Crossing 1" (a one up multidisciplinary art events in public)
- in 2010/11, the debut performance of the commissioned national play
- in 2010/11, a contribution to the collective interdisciplinary performing event "Schoolyard Crossing 2"
- in 2011/12, a co-production (along with a partner theatre) of the debut performance of one of the 6 bi-national texts (co-writing)
- in 2012/13, the national premiere of one of the translated texts from the PLATFORM 11+ database
- in 2012/13, the collective debut performance of the multinational final play
- in 2012/13, a contribution to the collective interdisciplinary performing event "Schoolyard Crossing 3"
- in all four years, staged readings for the Play Fair
For the creation of theatre productions, the problem of different languages will be addressed as a challenge. The partners collectively seek out innovative solutions, which lie not in reduction or avoidance of speech, but rather in multilingualism on the stage. Diversity of content and form-aesthetic (documentary-, modern dance-, figure-, and musical theatre, cross-over productions, and site specific productions) are encouraged.
Visual Arts
The creation of works of visual art / new media for the target group is one of the main goals of Platform 11+. Therefore each theatre commissions a visual artist (painter, graphic, illustrator, new media artist, photographer, sculptor etc) for thematic work. A research process parallel to the work of playwrights will take place. Visual artists work on themes referring to the schoolyard research and the new theatre texts, their works will are exhibited along with the performances or become part of the stage design.
The artists create objects of visual art on the basis of schoolyard research – in immediate connection with the theatre productions. For this purpose, they work:
- on the national level (2009/10 + 2010/11)
- on the bi-national level (2011/12)
- on the multinational level (2011/12 + 2012/13)
A three-week Plein Air for all involved visual artists is planed in Palmela/Portugal for June 2010. It ends up in an Open Air exhibition and the 2nd Annual Meeting of PLATFORM 11+.
All art works (images, graphics, sculptures, video art, installations, photos, and others), created within the project, will be presented at national (at each premiere) and bi-national exhibitions (guest performances of the (co-) productions and Annual Encounters). All the objects of art will be put together into a touring exhibition at the end of the project and will travel to all of the partner countries in Europe.
They all will be presented in the “Digital-Art-Gallery” in the Internet.
Schoolyard Research
In order to meet the need of the target group members (11 – 15 year olds) to see their experiences of life portrayed in art, the partners have developed the overall theme: Artistic Discoveries in European Schoolyards. The schoolyard is the starting point of all artistic activities because it is the ideal location for inspiration and inquiry (the basis of all activity), because it
- reflects conflicts in the greater society, as a multicultural and social microcosm
- is a location for contemporary and historical experiences. Through research, documentation and artistic conversion, cultural heritage in Europe within the context "schoolyard" is visualised and archived.
- as the centre of life experiences for the target group, it can determine identity and is suited to directly motivate the target group to take up artistic processes.
All artists start their work with research on schoolyards. The collected material (interviews, photos, videos, comics etc) becomes a part of the creative work and will be presented together with the texts in the books “My schoolyard” and on the website.
Educational work | Engagement
Work with the target group (youth aged 11-15)
Parallelism and alternating emergence of professional and non-professional art processes in the European context is a unique innovation of PLATFORM 11+. The project binds together the areas of culture, education and youth, which point the way to the future. Parallel to their own professional work the artists organise an artistic process with young people and their teachers and encourage them to a creative work in the field of performing and visuals arts.
It extends its functional possibilities by allowing young people themselves to become active (youth become "cultural ambassadors"). For many artists, this portion of the project involves a departure from familiar terrain. By accepting this challenge, they begin a process that will enrich them professionally and personally.
Young people will be guided in each process by experts in the different sectors and encouraged to inquire and rely on independent artistic ability in various areas. From the research materials, they develop theatre projects and works of visual art (paintings, sculptures, photography, collages, installations, video art) in correlation to the professional work. An exchange with other youth takes place throughout Europe through the medium of the website.
In connection with the 6 bi-national PLATFORM 11+ theatre productions in the season 2011/12, all 12 countries host youth theatre projects and exhibitions/new media installations. The products are exchanged and shared on the website as before.
Young people also develop interdisciplinary projects (concentration: new media) for the public sphere for the theatre events "Schoolyard in Town ". 13 national youth theatre events “Schoolyard in Town” at unconventional locations (site-specific actions) in the community space of each partner will take place within the project.
In addition 3 European youth theatre events
- Tallinn, Estonia 2011
- York, United Kingdom 2012
- Groningen, The Netherlands 2013
will be organised, that build on the experiences of the national Schoolyard in Town productions with new media artists.
Young people in Europe will be prepared for the final professional PLATFORM 11+ - production and touring exhibition by means of a cultural education concept. Individual events are planned to accompany each local premiere.
More than 80 cultural educational materials (which will be multilingual for international co-productions) for all professional and amateur theatre productions and exhibitions will be developed.
Meetings | Artists Exchange
PLATFORM 11+ places an emphasis on mobility and exchange for the artists (and young people), in this way it offers real work and life experience inside the EU. In over 100 main activities in 12 countries the participants get a deeper understanding of the potential of living spaces and economy of the European Union through their own experiences. The exchange of work experiences and methods is in the focus of the project.
By enabling a meaningful experience of the variety inherent in national cultures, PLATFORM 11+ makes a decisive contribution to the development of European competencies and a feeling of European identity among artists and young people.
Annual Encounters
The largest number of artists comes together at the Annual Encounter, which will be the summit of the network cooperation.
The output of the project will be presented to a wide public in a combination of performance and visual arts (theatre productions and exhibitions). In addition, the Encounter will host one-time multidisciplinary art events in public (Schoolyard Crossing).
Also, theatre scripts will be presented in stage readings at a Play Fair.
The Advisory Board (democratic management instrument of the network) evaluates and plans the project work.
The hosts will be 5 partner theatres, whose special artistic expertises form the thematic focus of the Encounter. The Platform 11+ Participants meet additional national artists.
- 1st Annual Encounter 9/2009: Theatre Kolibri Budapest | Hungary with "Schoolyard Crossing 1"
- 2nd Annual Encounter 6/2010: Teatro O Bando, Palmela | Portugal with national PLATFORM 11+ productions: "European Theatre Night – Schoolyard Crossing 2" and an international art exhibition
- 3rd Annual Encounter 6/2011: Theater Junge Generation, Dresden | Germany with the festival of the bi-national PLATFORM 11+ productions and the accompanying art exhibitions
- 4th Annual Encounter 6/2012: Divadlo Alfa, Pilsen | Czech Republic with the premier of the multinational PLATFORM 11+ production and the opening of the touring exhibition, open-air event "Schoolyard Crossing 3".
- 5th Annual Encounter 3/2013: Brageteatret, Drammen| Norway with a final Evaluation Conference and start of a transition period.
Artist Exchange
Company Exchange: Artists from each theatre have the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the concrete work conditions of colleagues during a short residence – and to initiate cooperation. In particular, the reference productions serve as a starting point for the artistic exchange.
Artists in Residence: After experiences in different cooperative encounters, individual artists can be guests at a partner theatre, to bring professional expertise to a production, further develop personal abilities, and/or conceive further projects.
Master classes: sharing methods and experiences for teachers, educators, directors, actors
Plein Air: Three-week-long workshop for visual artists (creation and exhibition of objects of art which will contribute to the stage design for the "European Theatre Night – Schoolyard Crossing 2" at the affiliated Annual Encounter).
„Schoolyard Stories” in Ibero-America
On the initiative of ASSITEJ Argentina (ATINA) PLATFORM 11 + is globally continued in several countries of Ibero-America.
ATINA, founded in 2002 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a non-profit association, which gathers artists who develop their activity in the field of Theatre for Children and Young People.
Some years ago, ATINA got in touch with the project “European Schoolyard Stories” (forerunner project 1999-2001), and started to work on the possibility of carrying it out in Ibero America, adapting it to the reality, the infrastructure and economic possibilities of South America.
Schoolyard Stories in Ibero America is an interdisciplinary project about High schools´ schoolyards of today, aimed to create plays and performances devoted to young people (12-18 years old) which talk about the adolescents´ concerns, based on former research in schools.
In a Playwright Contest 10 short plays written as a result of a school research, were chosen.
Between “Schoolyard Stories” and PLATFORM 11+ several direct exchanges take place for:
- 2009 Budapest: Playwrights
- 2010 Buenos Aires: directors
- 2010 Buenos Aires/York: Co-production “School toilet”
- 2011 Dresden: Ibero- American guest performances
- 2012 Buenos Aires: European guest performances
The PLATFORM 11+ partners value this exchange as an enrichment of their programs, and an opportunity to better recognize and develop their own unique identity by gaining a broader perspective.
Project-Management
The management instrument of the network is the Advisory Board, which meets regularly in alternating locations. It decides and evaluates all artistically relevant issues. This strategy provides for a continuous fine-tuning and updating of all activities.
The Advisory Board delegates the organization of the most essential artistic and administrative core tasks to qualified experts in the field and/or enlisted task forces, which have regular contact to the theatres and which are assigned to the Advisory Board.
Members of the Advisory Board are the Artistic Leaders from all partner organisations and the Management Team.
Advisory Board
- Terje Hartviksen, Brageteatret, Drammen/Norway
- Tomáš Froyda, Theatre Alfa, Plzen, Czech Republic
- Tiina Rebane, VAT Theatre, Tallinn/Estonia
- Ahti Ahonen, Oulu City Theatre, Oulu/Finland
- Felicitas Loewe, Theater Junge Generation, Dresden/Germany
- Janós Novak, Kolibri, Theatre for children and young people, Budapest/Hungary
- Stephano Braschi, Teatro Elsinor, Milano/Italy
- Rob Bakker, Theatre De Citadel, Groningen/The Netherlands
- Vladislava Fekete, Theatre Institute, Bratislava/Slovakia
- Petra Fischer, Junges Schauspielhaus + Theater Jetzt & Co, Zurich/Switzerland
- Marcus Romer, Pilot Theatre, York/United Kingdom
- Deb Mullins, Emergency Exit Art, London/United Kingdom
- Raul Atalaia, Teatro O Bando, Palmela/Portugal
- Gunnar Horn, University of Agder, Kristiansand/Norway
Management Team
- Dirk Neldner, Artistic Director, Berlin/ Germany
- Sven Laude, Project Coordinator, Berlin/ Germany
- Odette Bereska, Project Dramaturge, Berlin/ Germany
- Mandy Smith, Coordinator Engagement, Pilot theatre, York/ United Kingdom
- Andrew Siddall, Coordinator Visual Arts, Emergency Exit Arts, London/ United Kingdom
