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EXCENTRIC – Excelling Human-Centric Collaborative Ecosystems for Smart Digital Transition in CCSI is a major European project aimed at developing collaborative data practices to equip cultural organisations with a smart data infrastructure and the necessary tools. These data-driven solutions will support creative professionals in programming, pricing, resource management and audience engagement. EXCENTRIC takes a human-centric approach by working with creative professionals and their networks.
ACuTe is an acronym for ‘Culture Testbeds for Interactivity, Performance and Technology’ and is led by a consortium headed by the University of Applied Sciences in Oulu, Finland. ACuTe is the second major EU-funded project (2022–2026) in which the Academy is participating as a partner within a scientific and artistic context. Over the course of four years, the project will research, develop and present the latest digital technologies for use in theatre productions. Following four years of international collaboration, the insights and experiences gained through the project have now been compiled in the publication “ACuTe: Digital Theatre – A Casebook”, published by the European Theatre Convention (ETC).
The Koproduktionslabor is a non-commercial collaborative project funded by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, involving the Dortmunder U, the Academy for Theatre and Digitality and storyLab kiU. The Lab serves as an interface where digital technologies for the visual and performing arts converge. The main task of the Koproduktionslabor is to provide knowledge and advice in the field of digital culture. It is also a space for research and development of tools for digital art.
The Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia has awarded the contract to establish the state-wide AI competence network to Theater Dortmund. Under the title K3 KI.Kunst.Kultur, a network of 23 institutions from the fields of art, science and cultural policy is being created to pool, develop and connect AI expertise. The initiative will offer further training for cultural practitioners and graduates from across North Rhine-Westphalia, an AI academy and residencies for outstanding artistic practice.
The ETC Digital Theatre Programme is being launched with the aim of bringing European theatres up to the latest digital standards and ensuring a people-centred digital transformation in theatre. Exclusive workshops, webinars and conferences form part of the programme. The programme is supported by a partnership with the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in Dortmund, which helps ETC members navigate this process and disseminate knowledge about and access to digital theatre. It is one of five key programmes in the ETC’s four-year plan, which is co-funded by the European Union and is entitled European Theatre: BREAK THE MOULD (2024–2028).
NEW TALENTS RUHR is an artistic talent development programme run by the RVR and the successor project to Kunstcamp Ruhr. The project is being implemented in cooperation with the Folkwang University of the Arts, Pottporus e.V., the Theater im Depot, the Academy for Theatre and Digitality and Urbanatix. Here, teenagers and young adults aged 16 and over can prepare for their future careers in the fields of electronic music, contemporary circus, digital arts & performance, and urban arts. Workshops, community events, a summer camp and the chance to take part in a two-year mentoring programme await participants.
NEW TALENTS RUHR is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of the Neue Künste Ruhr funding programme.
[Who] Rules To Encounter is a joint research project with the artist and choreographer Silke Grabinger. The central question is: how will we interact with AI and humanoid robots in the future? To this end, movements are captured using motion capture technology, processed using generative AI, and brought to life in one-on-one performances. Taking part: dancers from Ballett Dortmund / NRW Juniorballett, students, inclusive ensembles and amateur groups. The process is supported by researchers from TU Wien, JKU Linz, the University of Art and Design Linz and Fraunhofer IML Dortmund.
“[Who] Rules to Encounter” is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation as part of “Art & AI – Fund for New Artistic Perspectives on AI and Society”.
Future, now!
DIE VORSTELLUNGEN VON MORGEN (AT)
Exhibition dates: 14 October 2026 to 1 August 2027
In collaboration with the Deutsches Theatermuseum München, an exhibition has been created that explores artistic, technological and social questions about the future. Analogue and digital elements, discussion spaces and playful experiments make the audience an active part of a collective vision of the future. Our curatorial work focuses on the connection between visions and warnings that allow the theatre to be experienced as a laboratory of the future.
Organised by the Deutsche Akademie der Darstellenden Künste, the PAD Festival (Performing Arts & Digitality) is the most important German-language festival dedicated to the new and fascinating possibilities of artistic expression in the digital age.
It addresses the fundamental challenges that the digitalisation of all areas of life poses to the performing arts and presents projects at the intersection of theatre, opera, dance, sound art, film and digitality. Multi-award-winning productions by national and international artists, in which performative and digital elements merge to create entirely new theatrical formats, are accompanied by a specialist conference that offers theatre professionals a platform to exchange knowledge and experiences and to discuss the significance of digital developments.
The PAD Festival is a project of the Deutschen Akademie der Darstellenden Künste in cooperation with the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in Dortmund.
ARTEscénicas + digitalidad is an interdisciplinary training and production programme in the field of performing arts and new media. It has been launched jointly by the Goethe-Instituts in Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay and is being run in close collaboration with Espacio Checoeslovaquia and NAVE (Chile), the Instituto Nacional de Artes Escénicas (Uruguay) and the Academy for Theatre and Digitality (Germany).
The programme provides a space for collaborative and equal working practices, creative exchange and artistic experimentation. It brings together young talents with experts from Europe and South America and promotes new forms of performing arts that operate at the intersection of technology, the body and the stage.
Through the project Theater der erweiterten Realitäten, the Theater an der Ruhr has been continuously exploring and experimenting with virtual, immersive and personalised theatrical worlds since 2022. In these worlds, the ‘real’ and the ‘virtual’ converge – an encounter that leaves us both curious and sceptical.
The project is made possible through collaboration with institutions in the region that are at the forefront of the intersection of technology and the performing arts. Funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of NEUE WEGE in collaboration with the NRW KULTURsekretariat.
In addition to a wide range of international, national and local partnerships, the Academy for Theatre and Digitality also offers opportunities for collaboration to other arts and cultural institutions, companies, festivals and independent artists. If you are interested, please contact us at: akademie@theater.digital