Big stages for young audiences – spotlight on Swiss children’s and youth theatre

For the first time an international festival is putting a special focus on Swiss theatre and dance productions for children and adolescents. Momix festival in Alsace – starting end of January – is including ten Swiss productions for young audiences in its programme under the heading «Momix à la Suisse». The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia supports the Swiss companies’ participation as part of its international promotion of Swiss performing arts. Pro Helvetia is also backing the new children’s and youth theatre festival Jungspund in St. Gallen, which will be staging eleven Swiss productions from the end of February. 

Contemporary Swiss theatre and dance creations for children and adolescents are highly diverse, covering genres such as spoken, music and puppet theatre, dance and circus. The international festival Momix is, for the first time, including a programme block dedicated to productions from Switzerland under the heading «Momix à la Suisse» with the financial backing of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. From 30 January to 9 February, ten Swiss pieces for young audiences will be staged. The supporting programme includes two exhibitions showing works by Swiss illustration artists.

Momix festival in Kingersheim (Alsace) is one of the leading international platforms for theatre and dance aimed at young audiences in the French-speaking world. This year’s programme comprises over 50 productions that are explicitly meant to appeal to adults too. Also scheduled are numerous events at which professional theatre and dance practitioners can exchange ideas and experiences. Event organisers from all over the French-speaking world use the festival to view productions and to network. «Appearing as a guest of honour at an international festival is a great opportunity for the Swiss dance and theatre scene. Momix offers artists a chance to forge contacts, find new venues for performances and thereby extend the run of their productions,» says Felizitas Ammann, Head of Dance & Theatre at Pro Helvetia.

«Momix à la Suisse» is the fourth platform within one year that Pro Helvetia supports as part of its promotion of Swiss theatre and dance creations. While the «Swiss Selection» at Fringe Festival in Edinburgh and the Swiss focus at Festival d’automne in Paris were made up entirely of productions for adults, the «Sélection Suisse en Avignon» has always included pieces for children since its launch in 2016. In fact, it was what they saw in Avignon that sparked the interest of the Momix festival representatives, leading to the invitation of Swiss companies as guests of honour this year. «Our promotion strategy is paying off. International awareness of the Swiss theatre and dance scene has risen in the domain of children’s and youth theatre too, and nowadays enjoys a high level of recognition among event managers and audiences,» summarises Felizitas Ammann.

Events for mutual exchange among theatre professionals are also on the programme of the new children’s and youth theatre festival Jungspund in St. Gallen. The festival will be held for the second time from 27 February to 7 March, and has enjoyed the support of Pro Helvetia since it was first launched. This year’s edition features eleven Swiss productions.

Media information: 
Lisa Stadler
Media and Communication
lstadler@prohelvetia.ch
+41 44 267 71 51

Visual material for downloading:
https://prohelvetia.sharepoint.com/:f:/s/TeamKommunikation/EgEYN4QdUY1AkSGlaXbJJKoBz5h173Nn4eMprmqe7mVtYg?e=4xmNj7

Media Release
Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, 21 January 2020