International Production Management for Performing Arts 
Monday, August 28, 2006 - Thursday, August 31, 2006
International activity and exchange are growing. The practice of international production is a daily constant for young artists who feel the need to perform outside of their countries.
International production requires knowledge, experience and skills that differ from the usual, local artistic production.
Above all, this course aims to give an insight into the instruments that have been gathered in the short history of international production, and can be put into use in contemporary practice.
The participants will be exposed to various experiences, but the main intention is to enable the participants to take away skills that can used in practice immediately.
For this reason, attention will be given to a range of topics:
- Practically setting up an international production;
- International contracting;
- Producing for international audiences;
- Networking;
- Differences between local and international artistic practices;
- Working in different cultural and regulatory settings.
Pioneer in international production Hugo de Greef (Secretary General, European Festivals Association) leads this course about the practical and artistic implications of international production management.
Experts with experience in the field of international production will be available throughout the course. These speakers work and have worked with some of the largest contemporary artists in some of the most far reaching international relations. They come from various countries and possess a high level of practical professional experience, accumulated over many years.
If you would like to be kept up to date about this course subject, please send us an email.
Applicant Profile
The course is designed for cultural organisers, special event managers and producers.
Application 
Applicants should submit their completed application form as soon as possible, and no later than Sunday, August 6, 2006.
Emailed applications can not be accepted as a signature on the application form is required.
AMSU Course Name: ARTM-2.
Details
Date: Monday, August 28, 2006 - Thursday, August 31, 2006.
Application Deadline: Sunday, August 6, 2006.
Capacity: 25 participants.
Language of Instruction: English.
Location: The Felix Meritis building, Amsterdam.
Fee: € 650,- (including course reader, lunches and coffee and cultural programme).
Initiators: The Amsterdam-Maastricht Summer University (AMSU), Felix Meritis.
Coordination: The Amsterdam-Maastricht Summer University (AMSU).
Registration: Confirmed participants are expected to register at the Felix Meritis building, located at Keizersgracht 324 in Amsterdam, on Sunday, August 27, 2006, between 3.00 PM and 4.00 PM. Registration will be followed by a welcome drink.
Moderator & Speakers
Hugo De Greef (Belgium) - Secretary General; European Festivals Association (EFA).
Hugo de Greef is a very experienced international producer in the field of theatre and dance in Europe. Initiator of the KAAI Theatre Festival, he developed an international co-production network that not only enabled him to produce and present new work on his own premises in Brussels, but also to establish legal and economic international businesses for publishing and researching on film and theatre production. He conducted KAAI theatre for many years (1977 - 1997), afterwards he worked as artistic director and adviser for different projects: Kunstprogramma Vlaanderen for EXPO 98 in Lisabon, theatre festival Theaterformen in Hannover or theatre festival New Europe in New York. Between 1999 and 2003 he functioned as General Manager of Brugge 2002, Cultural Capital of Europe. Currently he is Secretary General of the European Festivals Association (EFA), which represents an organisation of more than 100 high quality arts festivals in the field of music, dance and theatre from altogether 38 different countries.
Related: Articles: Some Observations about International Co-Production; Organisations: European Festivals Association (EFA); People: Chris Torch; People: Josse De Pauw; People: Kim Whitener; People: Judith Knight; People: Guy Gijpens; People: Christel Simons.
Links: European Festivals Association (EFA); Kaaitheater.
Speakers
Chris Torch (Sweden) - Artistic Director; Intercult (Stockholm).
Originally an actor of the legendary Living Theatre, Chris Torch extended his career into the domains of theatre management, producing and public speaking. Until 1990 he directed, acted and/or designed a number of performances, both on the streets and indoors. He is a founding member of Theorem (Association promoting the work of young Eastern European artists), and representative of INTERCULT in IETM (Informal European theatre Meeting), EFAH (The European Forum for the Arts and Heritage) and the Comedia Network (European Network for Cultural Diversity in the Performing Arts). His work has continuously engaged the arts with the state of society and charged artistic expression with intellectual and political responsibility. In 1992 he founded Intercult, a production unit organizing national and international forums on issues of social integration, multicultural identities and urban regeneration. He is an active debater and lecturer both in workshops and courses Intercult initiates. SEAS, one of the major recent projects of Intercult, is a pan-European project uniting artists from around the Baltic and Adriatic Seas aiming to realize guest performances, to distribute artists, generally to bring together experience and expression from different regions and coasts.
Related: People: Hugo de Greef; People: Josse De Pauw; People: Kim Whitener; People: Judith Knight; People: Guy Gijpens; People: Christel Simons.
Links: Intercult (Stockholm); The International Artist Database.
Josse De Pauw (Belgium) - writer, director, actor.
Josse De Pauw is known as a highly prolific writer, director and actor. After graduating at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, Josse De Pauw established the now legendary theatre group "Radeis". Together with course moderator Hugo De Greef, he also founded "Schaamte" (Shame), which later became the "Kaaitheater". His internationally acclaimed plays "Weg" (Road/Away) and "Larf" (Larva) were awarded the Océ Podium Price in 2000. As an actor he has co-operated with director Dominique Deruddere on such films as "Wait until spring, Bandini" (1989), "Hombres Complicados" (1997) and "Iedereen Beroemd" (Everybody famous, 2000), which was nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign film. De Pauw has also worked with director Jaco van Dormael on his film "Le Huitième Jour" (The Eigth Day, 1996). In 2001 De Pauw's rich experiences were published in an autobiographical book called "Werk" (Work), which contains a selection of his stories, anecdotes and texts written for theatre.
Related: People: Hugo de Greef; People: Chris Torch; People: Kim Whitener; People: Judith Knight; People: Guy Gijpens; People: Christel Simons.
Links: Doodspraak; De Singel; Kaaitheater.
Kim Whitener (USA) - Executive Producer.
Kim Whitener is an independent producer working with a variety of non-profit theatre companies as a consulting producer for their strategic and touring activities. In the early 90's she was General Manager and Co-Producer of the C. Walsh Theater in Boston, presenting space for experimental dance, theatre and music, and its producing entity, the Boston Music Theatre Project, where she co-produced readings and workshops of new music theatre and opera works in development. Ms. Whitener served as Managing Director of the ensemble theatre company The Wooster Group for over four years until Summer 2001, and held various theatre management positions in New York, Boston and Philadelphia during the previous ten years. In April 2002 she co-produced Zero Church, a unique concert event based on prayers set to music by Suzzy and Maggie Roche, at St. Ann's Warehouse, New York. Her latest experience includes co-operation with the Builders Association, Big Dance Theater, 33 Fainting Spells, and Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theater. She also consults to the CalArts Center for New Theater.
Related: People: Hugo de Greef; People: Chris Torch; People: Josse De Pauw; People: Judith Knight; People: Guy Gijpens; People: Christel Simons.
Links: St. Ann's Warehouse; The Wooster Group; Kiwi Productions/ Big Theater.
Judith Knight (UK) - Director; Artsadmin.
Judith Knight used to work in the late seventies at the Oval House, the centre of experimental theatre in London throughout the sixties and seventies. Together with her colleague, Seonaid Stewart, set up in 1979 Artsadmin, a building up a centre for creation and development of new work. Artsadmin promotes artists who cross the spectrum of new theatre, dance, music, live art and mixed media work. Funded by Arts Council of England, it provides a comprehensive management service and unique national resource for their work, from the initial stages of a project through to its final presentation to an audience. Artsadmin has also recently established a Resource Studio offering video, sound and edit facilities for new dance companies. Judith Knight stands behind some of the most thrilling plays of the past decade, such as Bobby Baker's How to Live and Station House Opera's live video-streaming project, Live From Paradise.
Related: People: Hugo de Greef; People: Chris Torch; People: Josse De Pauw; People: Kim Whitener; People: Guy Gijpens; People: Christel Simons.
Links: Artsadmin.
Guy Gijpens (Belgium) - Director; Rosas (Brussels).
Rosas, a dance company, recognized nationally as well as internationally, was founded in 1983 by the dancer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. She puts the main emphasis on American post-modern dance, whereas special attention is paid to the relationship between dance and music.
Related: People: Hugo de Greef; People: Chris Torch; People: Josse De Pauw; People: Kim Whitener; People: Judith Knight; People: Christel Simons.
Links: Rosas.
Christel Simons (Belgium) - Administrator/General Manager; Needcompany.
Christel Simons has always had a penchant for film, music, literature, art and new media, although the larger part of Simons' activities lies in the field of theatre and dance. She graduated from the Hoger Rijksinstituut voor Toneel en Cultuur Spreidingstechnieken (HRITCS) in 1991, specialising in theatre. After several years of production work at the Kaaitheater under Hugo de Greef, in 1993 she joined the Needcompany. Under her management as administrator, and that of Jan Lauwers as artistic director, the Needcompany grew into one of the most important international theatres in Belgium and Europe. Needcompany is continuously touring Europe in a series of successful and much-praised performances, and also tours further afield to the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and the new European member states.
Related: People: Hugo de Greef; People: Chris Torch; People: Josse De Pauw; People: Kim Whitener; People: Judith Knight; People: Guy Gijpens.
Links: Needcompany.
Scholarships
A limited number of scholarships is available for participants from most Central and Eastern European countries and Turkey through the Dutch Ministry of Education and Science.
These scholarships cover the course fee and accommodation but do not cover any travel expenses to the Netherlands.
Applicants are subject to a selection procedure. If you wish to apply for a scholarship, please send us the following application materials as soon as possible, and no later than Tuesday, June 15, 2006.
1.) a completed application form;
2.) a recent curriculum vitae;
3.) a letter of motivation;
4.) a letter of recommendation.
Application form for the scholarship of the Dutch Ministry of Education and Science.
Accommodation
For this course the AMSU can not arrange for accomodation, but only give advise about housing, mainly in hotels. Further information about available accommodation will be sent to enrolled participants by the AMSU housing representative. Participants are free to arrange their own accommodation.
Information about hotels
Programme
Sunday, 27 August, 2006
During this weekend the Uitmarkt takes place where all the arts organizations of Amsterdam present themselves to the audience. Free performances in the centre of Amsterdam.
16.00 PM Registration and welcome drinks;
18.00 PM Welcome dinner with participants, moderator and lecturers: Introductions.
Monday, 28 August, 2006
09.30 AM Introduction by Hugo de Greef, European Festivals Association (EFA);
10.30 AM Presentations of the participants and their projects/organisations;
11.15 AM Coffee break;
11.30 AM Presentations of the participants and their projects/organisations;
12.30 PM Lunch;
14.00 PM Alliances and Strategies for Good Practices by Chris Torch (Intercult, Sweden/Italy);
15.30 PM Tea Break;
16.00 PM Presentation of the DVD of Felix Meritis productions 1970 - 2005:
- How to take into account the life-cycle of an organization - Steve Austen (Permanent Fellow of Felix Meritis);
- Informal Networking as a Tool for International Co-productions - Hugo de Greef, Kim Whitener, Steve Austen;
8.15 PM Performance: Toneelgroep Amsterdam: The Taming of the Shrew.
Tuesday, 29 August, 2006
10.00 AM Case Presentation by Guy Gijpens (Rosas, Belgium): International Co-productions from the dance sector with other disciplines and other Houses (such as opera, orchestra and film houses);
Case Presentation by Judith Knight: Organisation of ateliers for the experimental arts;
12.00 PM Workshops with Guy Gijpens and Judith Knight;
13.00 PM Lunch;
14.00 - 15.30 PM Workshops with Guy Gijpens and Judith Knight;
4.00 PM Site Visit to an international production venue: Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Meeting and Guided Tour by Henk Heuvelmans, director of the Dutch Music Association Gaudeamus.
Wednesday, 30 August, 2006
10.00 AM Case Presentation by Kim Whitener (Kiwi Productions, New York): Two prominent co-productions between the US and Europe - the Wooster Group and the Builders Association;
Case Presentation by Christel Simons: Artistic surplus value of continituity - long term co-productions with a fixed group of co-producers;
11.45 AM Workshop;
13.00 PM Lunch;
14.00 - 15.30 PM Workshops: with Kim Whitener and Christel Sijmons;
20.15 PM Performance: Zuidelijk Toneel - Klein Babylon.
Thursday, 31 Augustus, 2006
9.30 AM Round table on Networking with Hugo de Greef and Kim Whitener;
11.00 AM Interview with Josse De Pauw: How does international production influence your artistic production?;
13.00 PM Lunch;
14.30 PM Wrap up and final commentary by Hugo de Greef;
16.00 PM Closing reception.
