Press Release: Digitality is moving in
The Academy for Theater and Digitality is moving into its new building in the Digital Quarter of Dortmund Harbor at Speicherstraße 17.
Four years after the founding of Theater Dortmund's sixth division in 2019, the Academy for Theater and Digitality will move into a new building in Dortmund Harbor at the start of the 2023/2024 season. Here, in the city's new digital quarter, where innovations from business, art and science come together, the Academy for Theater and Digitality will create space for artistic research on digital technologies, training and continuing education, as well as cultural policy consulting for institutions and artists from Germany and abroad.
The new building of the Academy for Theater and Digitality is financed by the city of Dortmund.
On a total of 1800m2 there are seven research labs with an area of 60-220 m2 each. Fellows from all over the world come to the academy to advance the cultural change in the sign of the digital for theaters: They conduct application-based research on the latest technologies - from augmented and virtual reality to motion capturing, 3D-printed costumes and artificial intelligence. This is where theater is rethought. Studios, workshops and rehearsal rooms provide space for creativity and innovation. Another highlight: the roof terrace with its own forest. Not only artistic ideas, but also around 30 trees have room to grow here.
The anchor is set, and soon it's time to cast off: the new season begins for the Academy with the Dortmund Harbor Walk on August 26, when Dortmund residents can experience the Academy live. September starts with a political and artistic symposium - the official opening ceremony of the new building. Only a few days later, the Academy for Theater and Digitality welcomes the international fellows of the 8th Fellowship - as an ensemble of their own kind, they are the heart of the research work.
The international collaborations between theaters, festivals, universities of applied sciences and other research institutions aim at establishing the digital performing arts worldwide. In the multi-year European projects PlayOn! and ACuTe or ARTEscénicas + Digitalidad, the focus is on research, exchange and international, cultural and artistic networking of partners from culture and science.
Sponsoring partners* of the Academy for Theater and Digitality:
Creative Europe Programme of the European Union
European Regional Development Fund
Federal Cultural Foundation
Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
New Arts Ruhr
City of Dortmund
Wilo Foundation