The festival

ARENA... of the young arts is an international theatre festival, which annually presents varieties of performance, dance and physical theatre in Erlangen, Germany. The focus is on contemporary interdisciplinary, cross media and experimental productions, which developed independently of the institutionalized theatre system and which are to be realized at unconventional venues.

ARENA... of the young arts wants to offer a platform to the international independent theatre scene and thereby encourage an exchange between international artists, theatre and media practitioners, academics and the audience. That is why post-show talks, the Talk Arts, panel discussions, lectures and workshops are further intrinsic parts of the ARENA program.

ARENA... of the young arts additionally supports the involvement of Erlangen students. Since 1992, one of the festival awards has been that of the coproduction. The winner, in cooperation with ARENA, gets to produce a new piece which premieres at the next festival. Erlangen students are actively involved in its realization. With an artist-in-residence programme, for example in line with the KoLabs this collaborative element is going to be expanded in the 2011 festival.