Apply for funding for a 5-day retreat for two ETC Member Theatres at the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in Dortmund (Germany), to learn and experiment with digital technologies.
If you and a partner theatre want to explore cutting-edge technologies together, this retreat offers a unique opportunity to collaborate, and serves as a space for research, discovery, and creative exchange—whether you are in the early stages of a project, want to further your research or are seeking inspiration for future work or productions.
Use this time to test ideas, develop digital competencies, and get inspired for future artistic collaboration in a supportive environment designed for innovation.
As part of ETC’s Digital Theatre Programme, the first round of the ETC Laboratory Retreats is now open for application. In this round, three grants of 3.000 € will be awarded to teams of two ETC Member Theatres.
The call for the second round of the ETC Laboratory Retreats will be published in November 2025.
What do the Laboratory Retreats include?
- A development grant of 3.000€, shared between two ETC partners, to travel to the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in Dortmund, Germany.
- The Academy gives an introduction into a variety of theatrical digital technologies (e.g. 1 each day) and access to a specific technology in case the two theatres want to focus on one.
- Theatres can explore technological possibilities and limitations for future artistic collaboration under professional guidance of the Academy for Theatre & Digitality.
- The partnering 2 ETC Member Theatres present a 10-minute field trip report (incl. images/video snippets) from their joint retreat in Dortmund at the ETC Conference in Sofia/Bulgaria (Autumn 2026).
What’s the project timeline at a glance?
- 30 May 2025
Deadline to submit application
- 13 June 2025
Decision about grant recipients
- October - December 2025
Laboratory Retreat
Spend 5 days at the Academy for Theatre and Digitality Dortmund to learn and experiment with various technologies
- January 2026
Submit a short report (3-5 pages) outlining the process (incl. Images from the Laboratory Retreat)
- Autumn 2026
Present a 10-minute showcase of your Laboratory Retreat at the ETC Conference in Sofia/Bulgaria
What you bring
- Shared vision: You team up with another ETC Member Theatre for a joint experimentation trip
- Openness: You’re interested in learning and experimenting with new technologies and could imagine developing a future artistic collaboration out of this joint experience
What you need to do
- Identify a suitable partner theatre from another ETC Member Theatre
- Apply by 30 May 2025 through our application form. Please submit one joint application together with your partner theatre, specifying the coordinating partner to whom the 3.000 € will be paid out.
- Devise a “production team” of 3-6 people (e.g. artistic/technical directors, dramaturges, choreographers, designers) to travel to Dortmund together
- Spend 5 days between October-December 2025 at the Academy for Theatre and Digitality to learn and experiment with a variety of theatrical digital technologies
- Submit a short report (3-5 pages incl. pictures and links) outlining your process
- The partnering 2 ETC Member Theatres present a 10-minute field trip report (incl. images/video snippets) from their Laboratory Retreat collective journey in Dortmund at the ETC Conference in Sofia/Bulgaria (Autumn 2026).
Selection critera
- Cross-border partnerships
- Description of motivation
- Focus on artistic use of digital tools (e.g. motion capturing, coding, MR, AR, VR, robotics, computer science, sound, film, interaction design etc.).
The two ETC Member Theatres applying for the Laboratory Retreat Grant can individually decide how to share and use the gross 3000 € in financial support. Eligible costs are travel and accommodation costs to the Academy for Theatre and Digitality, as well as purchase costs for technological equipment for their theatres
The Laboratory Retreat grants are only available to ETC Member Theatres.
Deadline to apply: 30 May 2025
Results will be announced in June.
For any inquiries, you can contact ETC Project Manager Teresa Pfaud: tpfaud@europeantheatre.eu
What is ETC’s Digital Theatre Programme?
ETC has created ETC’s Digital Theatre Programme to accompany European theatres as they experiment with new digital projects, disseminate learning from professional development activities, and ensure a human-centred digital transformation,
This includes support for ETC members to either develop new productions with digital tools together (“Research & Development Sprints”) or dedicate time to experiment with the latest digital theatre tools (“Laboratory Retreats”). Exclusive workshops and webinars, as well as ETC Conferences on digital theatre, will be available to ETC members and will be accompanied by bespoke advocacy and policy activities.
The Programme is supported by a pioneering partnership with the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in Dortmund/Germany, helping to guide ETC members through this process and to mainstream knowledge about and access to digital theatre. It is one of five key programmes in ETC’s four-year plan of activities, co-funded by the European Union, called European Theatre: BREAK THE MOULD (2024-2028).
Cover photo: (c) Jan Linders
