Publications

This dossier provides new insights into the European independent performing arts sector. It is a collection of EAIPA’s research output, policy recommendations and event reports, which spotlights the current working conditions and support structures for independent performing artists in Europe. This includes comparative analyses of different national and regional funding and fair pay structures as well as social insurance and intermittency systems. It also surveys other overlooked areas, such as mental health support, career transition opportunities and the overall role of arts as public health service.

The situation of the independent theatre scene in Poland is far more complex than it appears to be. It is therefore worth mentioning specific numbers at the outset. According to statistics from the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw, there are almost 800 independent entities actively operating in Poland. This number includes companies with a legal title (foundations, associations), private theatres (operating as a business), informal collectives and freelance artists.

Author: Katarzyna Knychalska
Picture: © Natalia Kabanow

EAIPA project manager Esther Baio interviewed Danscentrum Sverige’s general manager Amy Fee and shares in this article how she learned about the Swedish dance scene, their stake holders and how the Dansplan Sverige came together.

Author: Esther Baio

This article aims to describe the general situation of performing arts in Kosovo: from problems and difficulties to actuality. In conclusion, although small in number, the work of the independent performing arts scene still gives much hope for the future.

Author: Valton Marku
© Qendra Multimedia – Burrnesha – Agon Mehmeti

In the recent decade, Czech independent theatre has become an immense and complex organism, conspicuous by its diversity of artistic approaches, organisational systems and multi-generational nature. […] Over the last thirty years, there have been urgent and frequent calls for a more generous cultural budget. Yet, while politicians are not pampering the Czech independent theatre scene, the general impression seems to be one of dizzying abundance.

Author: Barbora Etlíková
Picture: © Vojtěch Brtnický

The ProEnglish Theatre of Ukraine is a small independent theatre located in Kyiv. You can read here the story told by its artistic director Alex Borovenskiy

Author: Alex Borovenskiy
© Picture: Daniil Prymachov

Belarus:
This article wants to shed light on the authoritarian rule of Lukashenko in his own country and the struggle of the defiant independent theatre professionals in Belarus. For this reason, the author also has to remain anonymous for their own safety and that of their family.

Author: anonymous
© Picture: unknown

It is necessary to imagine the Italian independent performing arts scene not as an archipelago but as a closely related component that sometimes perfectly matches and sometimes clashes with the whole cultural system. The only way to represent this system is to refer to the concept of modern physics of complexity, that is, a multi-component dynamic structure made up of different subsets that interact with each other, following the rules of chaos and probability.

Author: Davide D’Antonio
© Picture: Simone Cecchetti

[…] before we start describing the Romanian independent theatre movement, how can this simple definition help us understand independent theatre in general: What does a theatre need in order to be called independent? Not be affiliated with a state or an official institution? Is it a matter of financial or ideological independence? Is an independent theatre free of censorship? What is its relationship with politics? So many questions that go far beyond the simple answer the dictionary gives us.

Author: Ovidiu Mihăiţă
© Picture: Andreea Eva Herczegh