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European Theater Convention (ETC)

With 64 members in 31 countries, the ETC is the largest European network of public funded theaters. De Toneelmakerij has been an active member of the ETC since 2011. Chief dramaturg Paulien Geerlings has been a board member since 2013, whereby she fullfilled the role of vice president for the period of 2017-2023.  

The ETC’s many activities fall under three pillars: artistic collaboration, professional development and advocacy for the theater sector. All these activities are brought together under the “Transformations,” program, for which the ETC receives a grant from the European Commission’s Creative Europe program. We take part of the ETC Theatre Green Book pilot, an initiative led by the European Theatre Convention network of 63 theatres in 31 countries, introduces the first ever Europe-wide label for theatres to track their progress towards net zero emissions across productions, operations and buildings.

Young Europe
ETC Drama Committee
ETC Development Grant

Sanne Peper
Sanne Peper
Sanne Peper

Young Europe IV

Our head of dramaturgy and international cooperation Paulien Geerlings has been an ETC board member since 2013, and during the period 2017-2023 she held the role of vice president, with a strong focus on diversity and gender equality. The ETC has since devoted several conferences to these topics. It has also conducted research on diversity and gender equality among member theaters and established an informal Women Directors Network. 

In addition, Geerlings is the artistic lead of Young Europe, one of the ETC’s flagship projects, which is currently on its fourth edition, that has been awarded with the Art Explora Award 2022 (Europeen Award Editions (artexplora.org). 

Nadia

The Nadia project, which under Geerlings’ leadership became an ETC collaboration between 5 countries, was also a great success. The theatre text Nadia by Daniel van Klaveren, a play written for the classroom, was translated into 6 languages and received its own staging in Germany, Italy, Wallonia and France. The English language version was also staged in Norway.  

Also, the Toneelmakerij texts Sweet Sixteen by Casper Vandeputte and Age of Rage by Jibbe Willems were distributed through the network and performed in several countries. 

Last but not least, the ETC network has brought us in contact with many like-minded theatre makers and organizations. Through this, makers attatched to De Toneelmakerij have participated in artistic exchanges and our education department was given access to its own European collaboration projects, such as You Perform, that got funded by Erasmus+, and 4WHEELS4FUTURE.  

Young Europe

Young Europe is a recurring flagship project of the ETC in which 8 member theatres collaborate, with a strong focus on creating new repertoire for youngsters. After three highly successful editions of Young Europe, the fourth edition of this ETC flagship project is currently ongoing, with a fifth and sixth edition already in sight. De Toneelmakerij got to know the ETC through Young Europe I, and participated for the first time in Young Europe II, which resulted in the prize-winning co-production I/Ik/Eg with Det Norske Teatret. Since Young Europe III, chief dramaturg Paulien Geerlings is the designer and artistic lead of the Young Europe projects.

Performance I/IK/EG Young Europe II and III

Young Europe IV

Young Europe IV is a 3-year programme devoted to expanding the canon of European theatre through a two-folded approach: by highlighting "forgotten" plays on the one hand and by writing new plays for younsters on the other. These new plays, written by 8 writers from 8 theatres across Europe, are to be performed in classrooms – the most inclusive, horizontal audience for theatre – and showcased in a European theatre festival in Nova Gorica in 2024, to reach a wider and cross-European audience. Recently, Young Europe IV was awarded the 2022 Art Explora – Académie des beaux-arts European Award. The jury praised our project to be outstanding and ground-breaking'.

Meer over Young Europe IV Bekijk Young Europe II en III

ETC Drama Committee

The ETC Drama Committee supports new European contemporary drama texts and their international dissemination by circulating them within its membership and financially participating to their translation into English, thus expanding its pool of interesting contemporary texts from all over Europe. Each year, interested ETC Member Theatres can apply for a translation grant with one text of a contemporary author they work with and they see as relevant for international audiences. The Drama Committee selects two of these texts which are than translated into English and made available to the network.

Website ETC

ETC Development Grant

In June 2022, De Toneelmakerij, Det Norske Teatret and the Young Vic received an ETC Development Grant to exchange best practices on talent development, with a special focus on supporting makers who've historically been under-represented in their countries’ dominant theatre ecologies. Both by meeting online and visiting each others theatres, we are in constant dialogue about the do's and don'ts we encounter in working inclusively. The project will result in an informal network that meets on a regular base to share gained knowlegde and discuss the obstacles we run into. If you are interested in joining this network, send an email to nina@toneelmakerij.nl