The seminar provided a valuable insight into the European outdoor market and the context of festivals in Europe, offering advice on how to get noticed, how to build relationships with promoters, signposting some of the most useful networking events across Europe.
We invited speakers with expertise in the outdoor arts sector and experience of touring in many contexts across Europe and beyond.
- Julia Von Wild, co-Artistic Director of tête-à-tête festival in Rastatt, Germany
- Bill Palmer, Founder and Artistic Director of Avanti Display, one of the UK’s longest established outdoor performance companies
- Stefano Di Renzo, Native Italian Circus and Physical theatre performer
The seminar was chaired by German Festival Specialist and ArtsAgenda Director Bettina Linstrum.
Speakers Biographies
Julia Von Wild, tête-à-tête festival, Rastatt, Germany
Julia Von Wild is Co-Artistic Director of street theatre festival tête à tête in Rastatt, one of the biggest festivals of its kind in Germany attracting an audience of about 200.000 people. The festival has grown to become the most important German festival for outdoor arts, inviting German and international artists to present medium and large scaled open-air productions to a big audience and European promoters.
www.tete-a-tete.de
Bettina Linstrum, ArtsAgenda, Consultant & Coach
Bettina Linstrum started working in the outdoor arts at Kulturbüro, (Germany), before coming to England to work with various festivals and producers. In 2004, She founded ArtsAgenda, a producing & consultancy company dedicated to site-specific and outdoor arts, based in Brighton. Projects ranged from intimate indoor experiences to outdoor spectacles: inc. dreamthinkspeak, Rotozaza, Hydrocracker, Denis Tricot (F), Lea Anderson, Lola Muance (F), SE Outdoor Leadership Programme, ISAN (Interim Director), caravan – showcase, XTRAX and programming for Derby Festé and Nymans Garden (National Trust). Since 2012, she also runs a Life Coaching practice. Bettina is currently developing Artist Residencies in Sri Lanka with UZ Arts, Freedom Festival, Lift, Norwich & Norfolk Festival, Inside Out Festival & 101 Outdoor Creation Space.
www.artsagenda.co.uk
Stefano Di Renzo
Stefano trained at the Municipal School of Circus Alcorcón (E.M.C.A.) in Madrid and at the contemporary circus school The Circus Space in London. After graduating at The Circus Space, he co-founded the circus theatre company Compañia LA. In 2011, he started his career as a solo performer. His first solo show On My Way premiered at Festival Mirabilia (Italy) in 2012 and has been touring ever since. His second solo show, Hold On, has been touring outdoor festivals across Europe since its creation in summer 2015. Alongside developing his own work, he has worked with internationally acclaimed physical theatre and circus companies, such as Ockham’s Razor, Theatre Rites, Company F.Z. and The Generating Company.
stefanodirenzo.com
Bill Palmer, Avanti Display
Bill Palmer trained as an artist and designer at Leicester Polytechnic where he became interested in mixing performance and visual art. He is a founder member of Avanti Display and has been performing and touring street theatre since 1987 appearing at all the major street theatre festivals in the U.K. and Europe. He is a visiting lecturer at L.I.P.A and frequently undertakes design and production commissions for other companies. Avanti is one of the UK’s longest established outdoor performance companies. While maintaining an artistic vision, Avanti aims to produce work that is engaging and accessible and that connects their work to the history of performance and celebrates the spirit of English absurdism.
Avanti creates touring shows and site-responsive pieces based on past and current repertoire.
avantidisplay.co.uk
This seminar was part of Platform 4:UK, a programme supported by Arts Council England and delivered by XTRAX that is designed to support the international promotion and export of UK street arts.
