Pina Bausch Fellowship 2021 - virtual cooperation proposals invited

The new application phase for the Pina Bausch Fellowship for Dance and Choreography 2021 has opened. Call to dancers and choreographers for virtual fellowship programme - proposals for digital format cooperations should be designed jointly and agreed between the applicants and cooperation partners.

The Pina Bausch Fellowship is a scholarship of the Pina Bausch Foundation and the Arts Foundation NRW, which gives dancers and choreographers the time and space to define and develop their individual artistic signature together with a cooperating partner. Due to the global pandemic, a virtual fellowship is announced for 2021, in which fellows will be able to exchange ideas with their cooperating partners in a digital format.

The ongoing restrictions on face-to-face meetings and international travel pose challenges for the Pina Bausch Fellowship, as it particularly focuses on international exchange and direct contact between grant holders and their cooperation partners. Therefore, the Kunststiftung NRW and the Pina Bausch Foundation have decided to announce a digital fellowship for 2021.

Interested applicants can apply with virtual cooperation formats from 15th of February until 15th of March 2021. Applications based on physical encounters cannot be considered this year, as it is not possible to anticipate the development of the different international restrictions.

The adapted format gives grant holders the opportunity to test how exchange and artistic development can be realized in the digital space. Through virtual exchange with self-selected cooperation partners, they can immerse themselves in intensive artistic processes. The digital format can be designed individually by the applicants and their cooperation partners.

In 2021, only virtual cooperations are going to be funded. These could include:

- Cooperations with renowned institutions of dance and choreography education
- Unpaid cooperations with ensembles or choreographers, or
- Virtual studies of dance techniques with renowned personalities

The virtual format gives grant holders the opportunity to digitally gain new experiences and to be able to gather new influences for their artistic work.

For this, they choose a cooperation partner in whose artistic work they are interested in or with whom they would like to work with. Possible cooperation partners are, for example, renowned ensembles, choreographers, or institutions and personalities in dance and choreography education.

The cooperation format is planned jointly with the cooperation partner and is to be realized digitally. The design of the virtual format is left to the creativity of the applicants and their cooperation partners. Each applicant has to contact his or her cooperation partner himself/herself and confirm the cooperation for the respective time period through a letter of intent.

Applications can be submitted via fellowship.pinabausch.org up to and including 15th of March 2021.