Networks
A characteristic of independent production is the work with various artistic and institutional partners who bring their own infrastructure, experience and contacts to an artistic collaboration. Network initiatives in the independent performing arts symbolise the bundling of one's own strengths and resources in order to jointly provide maximum support for the artists. For LOFFT - DAS THEATER, working in and establishing networks is an essential part of our curatorial work. For many years we have been co-founders and partners of various network structures, transnationally in the field of dance and for some time now also in Germany-wide performance and theatre networks.
LOFFT is a member of the following network structures:
FREISCHWIMMEN
FREISCHWIMMEN is an international exchange and production platform for young groups and artists in the fields of theatre and performance. It is supported by the following independent production houses:
brut Vienna | FFT Düsseldorf | Gessnerallee Zurich | HochX Munich | Schwankhalle Bremen | Sophiensæle Berlin | Theater Rampe Stuttgart | LOFFT - DAS THEATER Leipzig
FREISCHWIMMEN offers residencies, workshop shows, guest performances and labs, individual modules which can be combined in different ways depending on the needs of the artists* and the capacities of the house.
The modules are intended to enable young artists and groups to become better established and networked locally as well as nationally and internationally. The aim is to create space for experimentation, freeing them from the pressure of expectations of quickly-produced pieces and facilitating long-term development work on the part of the production houses.
For the 2020 - 2022 round, artists were selected mainly through an open call. The following eight groups are now part of the FREISCHWIMMEN network:
CHICKS* performancekollektiv (Berlin) | Gruppe CIS (Stuttgart) | Die Soziale Fiktion (Bremen) | Lau Lukkarila (Vienna) | Nina Mühlemann & Edwin Ramirez (Zurich) | Sandra Chatterjee (Munich) | Saskia Rudat (Düsseldorf) | Syndikat Gefährliche Liebschaften (Leipzig)
In early 2022, Saskia Rudat and Die Soziale Fiktion will be our guests at the LOFFT for residencies.
Freischwimmen is made possible through the programme "Promoting Connections" by the Federal Association of the Independent Performing Arts (Bundesverbands Freie Darstellende Künste) and funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Freischwimmen is further supported by Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council.
NETZWERK FREIER THEATER
LOFFT - DAS THEATER has been part of the Netzwerk Freier Theater since spring 2022. By joining, the nationwide co-production and performance network now comprises eleven theaters in ten German states. LOFFT is the first production house from Saxony. Especially the diversity of the member theaters enables a productive and fruitful exchange. What all network theaters have in common is that they have a strong connection with the respective local scene, strengthen it, professionalize it, and have a clear artistic profile.
Currently, the following independent theaters are part of the network:
LICHTHOF Theater Hamburg | LOT-Theater Braunschweig | Pathos Munich | studioNaxos Frankfurt (Main) | Theater Rampe Stuttgart | Schwankhalle Bremen | TD Berlin | WUK Theater Quartier Halle (Saale) | zeitraumexit Mannheim | Theaterwerkstatt Pilkentafel Flensburg | LOFFT – DAS THEATER Leipzig
FLAUSEN+
Flausen+ was developed by artists, for artists. Initiated by the wrede+ theatre in 2011, flausen+ has grown into a nationwide network with the aim of improving the overall situation in the independent performing arts.
As a national network, flausen+ will be developed further and new projects will be tackled together. Every small or medium-sized independent theatre should be able to participate.
The theatres of the flausen+bundesnetzwerk are prepared to continue developing the existing flausen+ models given appropriate funding conditions, and with news funding to vigorously expand. Close to the artists – further, together!
tanz.tausch
tanz.tausch was founded in Cologne in 2010 by Mechtild Tellmann and has been co-directed by her and Alexandra Schmidt since 2011. From its inception, the format was conceived as a network, with the production house LOFFT - DAS THEATER in Leipzig as a partner from the beginning. LOFFT has been realising its own tanz.tausch formats and festival editions since 2013/2014.
The focus of the network is both on promoting and touring mid-career artists - who are given the opportunity to reach a larger audience with their work - and on supporting and developing up-and-coming artists from various regions. tanz.tausch is also a dance and performance festival in Cologne.
Dance Transit
The festival Dance Transit. Praha.Dresden.Leipzig sees itself as a platform for contemporary dance to initiate and promote an artistic exchange of projects between the three cities. The institutions associated with the festival, LOFFT - DAS THEATER, Tanec Praha / PONEC - divadlo pro tanec & Divadlo Archa and HELLERAU - Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Dresden, have been working together in this context for several years. With Dance Transit, we not only want to enable exchange between the local dance scenes of the three cities, but also to act as a source of inspiration.
Close partnerships between LOFFT - DAS THEATER and other festivals have existed for many years. From the very beginning we have supported the festival OFF EUROPA, which presents performing arts from a European country every year. We are also a long-standing partner and venue of the renowned festival ‘euro-scene Leipzig’.
Off Europa
Festival for Contemporary and Performing Arts
Founded in 1992 under the name MANöVER in Leipzig, the festival Off Europa is dedicated to countries and regions on the margins of central-European perception. The festival focuses on experimental theatre works by independent authors, artists and ensembles. Off Europa is organised by the Office for Off-Theatre and is the only theatre festival in Saxony to take place simultaneously in three major cities, with venues such as Kinobar Prager Frühling, UT Connewitz, Cinémathèque, the naTo and Theater der Jungen Welt in Leipzig, the Societaetstheater in Dresden and Komplex in Chemnitz. The LOFFT has been a continuous partner of the festival since 1997. Each festival year is dedicated to nationally-representative dance and theatre from one country, but also to the related arts of music, literature and film. The focus is primarily on the countries on the edges of Europe which are less reflected upon, such as Albania, Macedonia, Romania, Georgia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Turkey, Slovakia, Croatia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Israel or Poland.
euro-scene
European Dance and Theatre Festival
euro-scene Leipzig is one of the annual highlights in the cultural life of the city of Leipzig and one of the most important theatre and dance festivals of its kind in Europe. The festival of contemporary European theatre and dance has been staging guest performances at the LOFFT since 1999. Since 2021, Christian Watty has been the new festival director and artistic director of the European dance and theatre festival, replacing the previous director Ann-Elisabeth Wolf after 30 years.