Support for emerging performing artists

Performing Arts
© Matthieu Croizier

In the field of performing arts, we offer various formats in cooperation with renowned institutions for emerging artists. These range from workshops and national as well as international networking programmes to individual coaching.

Annual programmes

May

International Forum Berlin

Group of people performing a dance activity outdoors
© Internationales Forum Berlin

Around 30 artists from across the world attend the Berlin Theatertreffen to exchange ideas and experiences and to connect across artistic boundaries and national borders. 

‘The two and half weeks in Berlin were focused on the future. Not just the future of our artistic careers, but also the future of collaboration, the future of theatre, the future of the subjects that we, as theatre artists, feel committed to. I have never experienced a group dynamic that was characterised so strongly by genuine interest and exchange. To me, the International Forum is very forward.’

Johanna Benrath, stage director, Zurich (International Forum Berlin 2024)

Next edition: 2.-18.5.2025 
Application deadline: 5.12.2024 

Apply via partner institution

CAMPO Ghent

People dancing together back to back
Campo (2023) © Pro Helvetia

Residency at the CAMPO production centre in Ghent. The programme provides great insights into the projects and working methods of CAMPO and includes a two-week studio residency, various networking opportunities with the Belgian and international scene, as well as a visit of kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels.

‘Attending the festival was very exciting — to see such a concentrated load of theatre was truly inspiring. What’s more, I was able to work in one of the CAMPO studios. It was an intense time with a lot of input and output at an exciting venue, which I have appreciated for a long time for its productions.’

Zino Wey, director, Basel (CAMPO 2019)

Next edition: 19.-31.5.2025 
Application deadline: 15.2.2025 

Apply via Pro Helvetia

June

Impulse Theatre Festival

Many people in front of the Impulse Festival entrance
Impulse Theater Festival © Robin Junicke

The Impulse Theatre Festival is the most important platform for the independent theatre scene in the German-speaking world. The networking residency enables the attendance of all the festival’s productions and supporting programmes, as well as networking with international event organisers.

‘In June 2022, I had the opportunity to spend a Pro Helvetia residency at the Impulse Theatre Festival. It was a very inspiring and enriching experience. The festival’s programme provided great insights into the “Freie Szene”, the independent German scene, which we (too) rarely get to see in Switzerland, let alone in French-speaking Switzerland. The residency enabled me to establish many new contacts and rekindle my links with German-speaking theatre. The support, both from Pro Helvetia and from the festival and its team, was extremely generous and ensured the best possible conditions for my residency.’ 

Marius Schaffter, stage director and performer, Geneva (Impulse Theatre Festival 2022)

Next edition: 18.6-6.7.2025
Application deadline: 15.2.2025 

Apply via Pro Helvetia 

July/August

ATLAS ImPulsTanz Vienna

dancers
ATLAS © yako.one

The five-week ATLAS programme enables participants to work on their projects in a studio setting while receiving fresh impetus through an individual workshop programme, festival participation and group-based exchanges with other professionals.

‘Taking part in the ATLAS programme at the ImPulsTanz Festival was a rich, fulfilling and unforgettable experience. Besides attending the exciting workshops and many performances, I also met many other dancers and choreographers with whom I have since forged very strong connections.’

Baptiste Cazaux, choreographer, Geneva (ATLAS 2023)

Next edition: 9.7.-13.8.2025 
Application deadline: 6.12.2024 

If confirmed by the festival, an application can be submitted to Pro Helvetia from 1 February to 1 March 2025 to cover accommodation costs.

Apply via partner institution and Pro Helvetia 

danceWEB ImPulsTanz Vienna

dancers
danceWEB © yako.one

This five-week programme enables the participation in workshops and research projects as well as the attendance of all ImPulsTanz performances. Participants also benefit from the international setting while being able to exchange ideas and expand one’s network beyond regional and national borders.

‘My summer at Impulstanz gave me ample opportunity for self-discovery, as well as to explore the dance world in greater depth and to establish meaningful contacts with and within a community that shares a passion for dance and is committed to shaping its future.’

Délia Krayenbühl, choreographer, Fribourg (danceWEB 2023)

Next edition: 9.7.-13.8.2025 
Application deadline: 6.12.2024 

Apply via partner institution and Pro Helvetia 

One- or multi-year programmes

PREMIO

Charlotte Mathiessen ‘night body night voice’ (Yoshiko Kusano) © PREMIO

Comprising over 50 theatre and dance venues from across Switzerland, PREMIO awards co-production grants, residencies and performance opportunities to eight emerging groups each year.

‘PREMIO offered me a wonderful opportunity to transcend regional borders and meet other artists and practitioners from across Switzerland. I welcome the changes that have happened since I attended the programme, especially that the award is no longer organised as a competition. I hope that PREMIO will continue to serve as an important network for emerging artists by offering them equal opportunities and genuine support.’

Francesca Sproccati, director and performer, Lugano (PREMIO 2020)

Apply via partner institution

Dramenprozessor

© Dramenprozessor

Dramenprozessor is a transregional network dedicated to promoting artistic exchange between authors and experienced theatre professionals from the fields of scenic writing, directing and dramaturgy and to supporting participants in developing dramatic texts.

‘Dramenprozessor provided me with much-needed time and space to practice, relearn and experience how bodies collide with texts, as well as merge and transform each other. And to develop a more embodied writing practice on this basis.’

Kim de L‘Horizon, author, Gethen (Dramenprozessor 2020/21)

Apply via partner institution

Stück Labor

Two men are looking into each other's eyes and are sitting next to each other at the table with microphones at the side and a handset phone
Stück Labor © Michael Gmaj

In cooperation with established theatres, this funding programme for new Swiss drama offers a one-year in-house authorship residency, which enables recipients to work on new material and premiere it in the following season.

‘Stück Labor gave me the financial means and thus the freedom to really have time to write, to digest ideas, to be with them, to feel them coming, without having to decide everything immediately. For a truly creative process. Unfortunately, this is rare in the fast-paced and underfunded theatre world. It’s a gift.

Julia Hänni, author, Bern/Zurich (Stück Labor 2018/2019)

Apply via partner institution

Support for emerging performing artists

Pro Helvetia supports emerging artists in establishing themselves and their work nationally and internationally in the long term.  

Funding is aimed at particularly promising artists and practitioners from the fields of choreography, directing, dramaturgy, scenography or scenic writing, who are based in Switzerland and whose artistic training or first public presentation of work took place less than 5 years ago. This period may be extended for verifiable reasons if artistic work has been interrupted, e.g. due to care work, inability to work or similar.