Czech Republic | ‘Continental Drift’ connecting Asia–Europe dramaturgies

‘Continental Drift: connecting Asia-Europe dramaturgies’ invites practitioners from both regions to embark on a collaborative journey together, culminating in a week-long gathering in the cities of Prague and Olomouc in the Czech Republic in December 2024. Participants will collectively reflect on personal praxes, share and exchange knowledge, and build a community of practice through a series of online and in-person encounters.

What are the consonances between dramaturgical thinking and doing in Europe and Asia? How might these produce collaborations that span the social, political, environmental and cultural urgencies of two dramatically differing continents and contexts? What might a resulting community of practice look like?

The programme

Selected participants (5 from a Southeast Asian country or region and 5 from Czechia/bordering countries) have to commit to the following online and in-person gatherings:

Introductory Meeting (Online), 15 June 2024

Seminar 1 (Online), 14 September 2024: to deepen connections with each other’s processes and dispositions, and specific geographic and sociopolitical contexts. Collective exercises will revolve around the concept of the ‘invitation’ – what it means to extend an invitation to others, and what these intimations entail and engender.

Seminar 2 (Online), 5 October 2024: a public session featuring participants and invited panellists discussing approaches to international collaborations; and a private session where participants will share proposals with the earlier panel in mind. 

Visit in Prague and Olomouc, Czech Republic (In-person), 4 to 12 December 2024: a rich itinerary comprising follow-up discussions, meetings, pitch sessions, venue visits, performances, and industry contextualisation. The group will also attend the 23rd Festival of Film Animation and Contemporary Art PAF 2024.

What is provided? 

Participants from Asia attending this programme will be covered for the following expenses during the in-person gathering in the Czech Republic:

• return airfare to Prague/Vienna
• 7 nights accommodation with breakfast
• local transport and tickets to performances in the programme (also included for participants from Central Europe)

Continental Drift application guidelines 

Deadline: 15 April 2024 

This programme is jointly organised and presented by the Czech Association of Independent Theatres (Asociace nezávislých divadel ČR; AND ČR) and the Asian Dramaturgs’ Network (ADN), with funding support from the Czech Ministry of Culture, the National Recovery Plan and the European Union.