The Performing Arts Strategy Lab is an intensive development program for performing arts groups which, over the course of a week at Thoravej 29, have the opportunity to work intensively on developing a strategic direction.
Where should our artistic and organisational practices in the performing arts be headed? What does it take to bring about change or implement a new business model? How can we take a more long-term approach to our projects or create new structures?
The Performing Arts Strategy Lab is all about moving from idea to strategy.
As in previous years, the participants in this third edition of the Performing Arts Strategy Lab were selected through an open call by UP and an external curator—this time, Mathilde Böcher.
The participants have already met for an introductory day before each of them embarks on an intensive week of development, guided by a strategy coach and featuring a range of exciting challenges, models, and tools.
Himherandit creates immersive and movement-based performances. They aim to become a beacon for queer communities and marginalised groups at the local, national, and global levels. In the Performing Arts Strategy Lab, they want to focus on how they can work strategically with community engagement, as well as how the company can share its archive of performances, artistic methods, and practices so that it can contribute to a broader range of production processes. Photo: Andreas Constantinou
Kaae Kreate is a theatre company led by dancer and choreographer Marie Kaae that produces choreographic and musical-theatrical works of international significance, with a focus on street and club-style genres. Through the Performing Arts Strategy Lab, Kaae Kreate aims to create long-term stability by clarifying the division of responsibilities and establishing clear structures for future work processes. Photo: Mishael Oladipo Fapohunda
Mount Sophie consists of playwright Sonja Ferdinand, performer Katrine Leth, and set designer Freya Sif Hestnes. Together, they create performances that integrate digital reality into theatre and explore the body’s interaction with video, text, audience participation, and digital media. Through this program, Mount Sophie aims to clarify their work as a group for both audiences and collaborators, as well as to delve deeper into their own creative processes. Photo: Freya Sif Hestnes
Sweat Productions is a production platform created by choreographers Lydia Ö. Diakité and Emilie Gregersen, who are also the founders of Dance Cooperative. Through this platform, they aim to produce choreographic and interdisciplinary works that prioritise artistic quality while simultaneously promoting and supporting both their own and others’ artistic practices. In the Performing Arts Strategy Lab, they will explore how to develop an organisation with feminist leadership practices and create a long-term strategy that aligns financial considerations with their artistic vision. Photos: Liv Latricia, Ville Vidø
Kant Fabrik is a cross-aesthetic performance group that creates music-theatrical works with ensembles composed of artists from diverse artistic backgrounds. They are dedicated to adapting radical literary works for the stage—works that are otherwise perceived as challenging, unconventional, or too abstract to be captured in a traditional staging. Kant Fabrik plans to use this program to delve deeper into their visions and develop long-term plans for funding, collaborations, revivals, and the creation of new works.
House of Stories is an international performing arts development platform that fosters long-term artistic connections between performing artists from the MENA region and artists and collaborators in Scandinavia. Drawing on experience from, among other things, the creation of The Wedding, they aim to create spaces where artists can develop new works together across geographical, cultural, and institutional boundaries, with time for research, experimentation, dialogue, and artistic risk-taking. Through the Performing Arts Strategy Lab, they seek to fully develop the organisational model that can sustain this work over the long term.