12th edition of the European Theatre Academy
6-10 July 2026
at the Festival d'Avignon, France
We are thrilled to announce the launch of the 12th edition of our European Theatre Academy, taking place from 06-10 July 2026 at the Festival d'Avignon. Designed for ambitious theatre-makers working internationally, the programme features masterclasses, mentoring sessions, and valuable networking opportunities.
Are you a forward-thinking theatre professional ready to take your work to the next level? Do you want to expand your international network, sharpen your curatorial skills, and collaborate with like-minded individuals from across Europe? The European Theatre Academy 2026 is calling for applications – and we want YOU to be a part of it!
The Academy is an opportunity to dive deep into the complexities of curating and managing international theatre collaborations. This is your chance to work on your own project with expert mentors and join a vibrant community of creative, driven individuals who are pushing boundaries in the theatre world.
Applications for this edition are now closed.
What's in it for you?
- Masterclasses & Expert Sessions: You’ll gain access to practical insights on funding, production, sustainability, touring, and much more, all geared towards navigating the international theatre landscape.
- Tailored Mentorship: You’ll receive direct support from three incredible mentors who will help you develop your project idea, address your challenges, and find solutions to the key questions you face as a theatre professional.
- Project Development: This Academy isn’t just about learning – it’s about doing. Through group work and coaching, you’ll have the space to focus on the practical realities of your own project and its international potential.
- Networking Opportunities: Connect with young theatre professionals from across Europe, share experiences, and build meaningful, lasting connections in the industry.
Festival D’Avignon: Immerse yourself in the energy of the Festival d’Avignon. Attend performances, engage in discussions, and bring new perspectives back to your own work. - Creative & Practical Support: We will help you navigate both the artistic and administrative challenges of your project. Together, we’ll find ways to help you bring your vision to life in an international context.
Programme
Monday 06 July 2026
19:00-22:00 Welcome Dinner at Restaurant Numéro 75
Tuesday 07 July 2026
09:45-10:00 Registration
10:00-10:15 Welcome: Introduction European Theatre Convention & European Theatre Academy
Claudia Belchior, Laura Gardes and Žad Novak, European Theatre Convention (DE)
10:15-11:15 Presentations by European Theatre Academy Participants
11:15-11:30 Coffee Break
11:30-12:30 Master Class (1): European Collaborations
Laura Gardes, European Theatre Convention (DE)
12:30-14:30 Individual Lunch & Individual Project working time
14:30-17:30 Mentoring (1): Peer-to-Peer Work in three small groups
Facilitated by Mentors Rui Catarino (D. Maria II National Theatre), Paulien Geerlings (De Toneelmakerij), and Dubravka Vrgoč (Croatian National Theatre Ivan Zajc in Rijeka)
17:30-21:30 Individual Dinners
22:00-00:30 Performance : Uma Luz Cordial| Carolina Bianchi
Carolina Bianchi continues her TRILOGIA CADELA FORÇA, which she began in 2023. After presenting the consequences of rape under sedatives (Chapter I) and the inherent violence of the artistic context (Chapter II), the final chapter, UMA LUZ CORDIAL, moves beyond creation’s brutality. It delves into the writing process itself, navigating the blurred lines between theater and literature, where writing and sexuality intertwine on fiction’s foundation. This disproportionate collage of drafts, notebooks, borrowed words–from Hilda Hilst or Emily Dickinson. Bianchi exposes writing as a violent act and confront it with the enigma of her own sexuality. The author and director appears on stage as a dissolving subject, embodying writerly alter egos to explore her fantasies, especially the fantasy of writing itself.
Wednesday 08 July 2026
10:00-11:30 Master Class (2): Challenges and opportunities of international collaboration and project development
Tom Leick-Burns, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg (LU)
11:30-11:45 Coffee Break
11:45-13:30 Mentoring (2): Peer-to-Peer Work in three small groups
Facilitated by Mentors Rui Catarino (D. Maria II National Theatre), Paulien Geerlings (De Toneelmakerij), and Dubravka Vrgoč (Croatian National Theatre Ivan Zajc in Rijeka)
13:30-14:30 Individual Lunch & Individual Project working time
14:30-16:30 Master Class (3): Legal Aspects of International Theatre Collaborations
Herman Croux, Lawyer
16:30 -16:45 Coffee Break
16:45-17:30 Mentoring (3): Peer-to-Peer Work in three small groups
Facilitated by Mentors Rui Catarino (D. Maria II National Theatre), Paulien Geerlings (De Toneelmakerij), and Dubravka Vrgoč (Croatian National Theatre Ivan Zajc in Rijeka)
17:30-19:45 Free Time & Individual Dinner
19:45 Bus Transfer to the venue
22:00-23:20 Performance : Silence | Lucie Antunes and Mathilde Monnier
Choreographer Mathilde Monnier has partnered with composer, musician, and percussionist Lucie Antunes for a creation revolving around altered states of consciousness and the notion of silence in our contemporary lives. Intensification of sensations, reduction of peripheral awareness, temporal distortion, modification of our perception of time… This choreographed concert on a vinyl floor opens a space for connection between the stage and the audience to collectively find balance with the sound of the world and explore trance. Energised by 7 dancers and 4 musicians present on stage, Silence is a continuation of rhythm and pulses, a vital thrust.
Thursday 09 July 2026
10:30-12:30 European Theatre Talks
Conceived as a space to bring the sector together and strengthen its collective voice, the event will foster dialogue and exchange between theatre professionals, EU institutions, and policymakers.
13:00-14:00 ETC Networking Lunch Reception
International networking with theatre professionals, representatives of ETC Member theatres, international partners and Academy participants.
14:30-15:30 Mentoring (4): Peer-to-Peer Work in three small groups
Facilitated by Mentors Rui Catarino (D. Maria II National Theatre), Paulien Geerlings (De Toneelmakerij), and Dubravka Vrgoč (Croatian National Theatre Ivan Zajc in Rijeka)
15:30-16:00 Individual work on presentations
16:00-17:30 Closing: Final Presentations & Reflections
17:30-21:30 Free Time & Individual Dinner
22:00-03:00 Performance: Maldoror | Julien Gosselin
Ten years after his adaptation of 2666 at the Festival d’Avignon, Julien Gosselin returns to Roberto Bolaño and stages a dialogue between the Chilean writer and a great 19th-century poet: Lautréamont. Both ceaselessly explored human violence, its origins, and its hidden corners.
In a show that stands at the crossroads between theatre, cinema, and performance, the director continues his work on literature. Rooted in Latin America in the 1970s, Maldoror explores the works of writers and artists who were able to approach absolute evil as close as possible.
Friday 10 July 2026
until 11:30 Check-Out and Individual Departures
Speakers & Mentors
Cláudia Belchior
ETC Board President and Executive General Coordinator at the Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon/Portugal
Cláudia Belchior was the President of the Executive Board of the D. Maria II National Theatre in Lisbon, Portugal, a position she held from July 2015 to June 2022. Cláudia has been involved with the performing arts for all of her career, at the foremost cultural institutions in Portugal, having served as Director, Coordinator for the Performing Arts, and Deputy Director for Planning and Budget at the Belém Cultural Centre and as Director of Production at the Gulbenkian Foundation. She has taught courses in Production Management, Stage Management, and Technical Direction in several institutions. In November 2024, she was elected President of the Board of ETC.
Rui Catarino
President of the Executive Board of D. Maria II National Theatre and Lecturer in Arts Management at Lisbon Theatre and Film School, Lisbon/Portugal
Rui Catarino is currently President of the Executive Board of Portugal’s D. Maria II National Theatre (since 2022), having previously served as Executive Board member (since 2016), and is a lecturer in Arts Management at Lisbon’s Theater and Film School (since 2008).
For the past 25 years, Rui has held management positions in support of artistic creation, audience engagement and cultural democracy building at some of the foremost cultural institutions in
Portugal, including Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture, Serralves Foundation, National Opera and Ballet, São Luiz Municipal Theatre and EGEAC / Lisboa Cultura. He has also been involved in cultural policymaking, as an advisor to the Secretary of State for Culture and to Lisbon’s Councilor for Culture.
On behalf of TNDM II, he sits on the board of Performart – Association for the Performing Arts in Portugal. He regularly contributes to conferences and training programmes in arts management and policy. He holds a degree in Economics from ISEG, a postgraduate degree in Arts Management from ISCTE-IUL, and is a Ph.D. candidate in Public Policy at ISCTE-IUL. He is a Fellow Alumn of the DeVos Institute of Arts and Nonprofit Management, in Washington, D.C
Herman Croux
Lawyer specialised in Intellectual Property, Information Technology & Media at MVVP, Brussels/Belgium
Herman Croux has been active for more than 20 years in the field of creative industries, media, arts, entertainment, and web-driven industries. He was chair of the Copyright and Entertainment Law Committee of the International Bar Association and is a regular speaker at international conferences and recommended by the Legal 500. He was also chair of the board of directors of the Flemish Theatre Institute. Herman obtained his law degree and philosophy degree at Leuven University. Personal interests include photography and architecture.
Paulien Geerlings
Artistic Lead of Young Europe IV, ETC Board Member and Head Dramaturge at De Toneelmakerij, Amsterdam/The Netherlands
Paulien Geerlings is a Dutch dramaturg and playwright. She studied Philosophy and Theatre Studies at the University of Amsterdam and graduated from DasArts, a post-master programme in the performing arts. Since the founding of de Toneelmakerij, the Amsterdam-based theatre company for young audiences, she has been its head dramaturg and is responsible for international collaborations.
At de Toneelmakerij, she has worked on numerous translations and adaptations, including My Mother Medea, Sadness and Joy in the Life of Giraffes, and Hamlet, which won the Kaas & Kappes Award in 2021. Under her artistic leadership, the ETC collaboration project Young Europe IV, focused on new texts for the classroom, received the Art Explora Award in 2022.
Geerlings has a strong focus on developing new repertoire and regularly publishes essays on representation, new technologies in theatre, and her research into care dramaturgy. She recently wrote a main-stage play addressing the Dutch colonial history in Indonesia. In 2024, Patchwork Girl, to which she contributed as one of the writers, was awarded the prestigious Prix Ars Electronica for Digital Humanity. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the European Theatre Convention (ETC).
Tom Leick-Burns
ETC Secretary and Artistic Director & General Manager of Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Luxembourg/ Luxembourg
Born in Luxembourg, Tom Leick-Burns originally completed his training as an actor in London where he lived for 10 years. Upon his return to Luxembourg, he continued working as an actor in theatre and film, and in 2004 he took his first steps as production assistant at the Grand Théâtre. In 2008 he started working full-time for the organisation as production administrator for the opera department. To further develop his skills, he embarked on a Master of Business Administration at Sacred Heart University, graduating in 2012. In July 2015, he succeeded Frank Feitler as Artistic Director and General Manager of the Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg. In less than four years, he has made his mark and found a balance between continuity on one hand and a new artistic project for the Théâtres de la Ville on the other. With the launch of TalentLAB in 2015, the creative residencies "Capucins libre" in 2017 and the development of a new, more collaborative model of coproduction, the Théâtres de la Ville aim to respond to the real needs of the artists in terms of support, training, residence time and international experiences.
Dubravka Vrgoč
General Manager & Artistic Director of Croatian National Theatre Ivan Zajc in Rijeka, Rijeka/Croatia
Dubravka Vrgoč has a M.A. in Comparative Literature, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, 1996 and a B.A. in Dramaturgy and World Literature, Academy of Theatre, Film and TV, Zagreb and Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, 1984. She is the General Manager and Artistic Director of Croatian National Theatre Ivan Zajc in Rijeka since January 2025. Previously, she worked as Artistic Director and General Manager of the Zagreb Youth Theatre (2004-2014) and Artistic Director of World Theatre Festival (since 2003). From 2014 to 2022, she was General Manager and Artistic Director of Croatian National Theatre Zagreb. From 2011 till 2017, Dubravka Vrgoč was the President of European Theatre Convention. She has a large professional experience worked as theatre critic and later she was working as general editor in daily newspaper Vjesnik. She won 2 scholarships: Fulbright scholarship - Research in American Theatre and Culture, New York, 1995 and British Council scholarship – participation in the project Theatre for the 21st century, London, 1997. She has lots of international theatre experiences in many national and international co-productions and collaboration with different cultural partners.
Laura Gardes
ETC Project & Network Manager, Berlin/Germany
Laura Gardes is a cultural project manager, specialising in initiatives funded by Creative Europe. With a strong track record, she has successfully managed Voices of Culture - the structured Dialogue between the European Commission and the Cultural Sector as part of the Goethe-Institut Brussels team. She has provided crucial support to the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance in implementing their international cultural programme. Notably, Laura has led JUMP, a groundbreaking music market accelerator initiated by MaMA Festival and Convention Paris, where she empowered music business professionals to cultivate and execute innovative ideas.
ETA 2026 Participants
Princess Isatu Hassan Bangura
Junior Artistic Director
Genova/ Italy (ETC Member Theatre: Teatro Nazionale di Genova)
Princess Isatu Hassan Bangura (b. 1996) is a multidisciplinary performance artist whose work merges ritual, theatre, music, and poetic/soul-voice storytelling. Drawing from Sierra Leonean heritage, Vodun cosmology, and diasporic memory, she creates immersive performances that blur the line between the sacred and the contemporary. Through voice, movement, and fictional personas, Princess explores ancestry, femininity, grief, and transformation. Her practice treats performance as ceremony — a space where forgotten histories, silenced spirits, and inner worlds are summoned back into presence.
Martha Bouziouri
Director and dramaturge, Artistic Director of the International Network of Documentary Theatre
Athens/Greece (ETC Member Theatre: National Theatre of Greece)
Martha is a theatre director, dramaturge and Artistic Director of the International Network of Documentary Theatre (INDT). Drawing on her background in social anthropology (PhD), her work engages with controversial, socially sensitive and often traumatic subjects, focusing on gender, human rights, and the ethics of representation through an intimate and personal lens. She has been an artistic fellow at Warsaw Biennale, CENTQUATRE-PARIS and Cité Internationale des Arts, and a member of CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator, Directors Lab Mediterranean and the international networks EWA and WIFT Greece.
Rajja Gomez Iglesias
Theatre Director
Amsterdam/ the Netherlands (ETC Member Theatre: De Toneelmakerij)
Rajja Gomez Iglesias creates youth theatre and has a distinct artistic signature in which accessibility, humour, and social urgency are central. In her work, she explores taboo topics such as sex, sexism, queerness, and identity. Through playful, bold, and honest performances, she questions social norms and creates space for discomfort, conversation, and new perspectives. Her work is edgy, but at the same time offers safety, recognition, and humour.
Previously, she has created works including De Grote Kutshow, CRIES IN KARAOKE, and TALK DIRTY TO ME (or not).
Yasha Gudzenko
Theatre Director
Amsterdam/the Netherlands (ETC Member Theatre: De Toneelmakerij)
Yasha Gudzenko is theater director, playwright, and coach. Originally from Ukraine, since 2022 she has been living and working in the Netherlands. Over the past four years, she has completed nine international projects in the Netherlands. She has experience working in Danish and German theaters.
Nina-Maria Häggblom
Dramaturg and Playwright
Helsinki/Finland
Nina-Maria Häggblom is a Helsinki-based dramaturg and playwright. She is currently working as a dramaturg and project lead at Svenska Teatern (The Swedish Theatre), and is writing a play inspired by the Protestant reformer Martin Luther, with the generous support of the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland. She has an extensive background in text-based performances, including new drama, translations, and adaptations, as well as game-based performances.
Nefeli Kentoni
Writer and Director
London/United Kingdom (ETC Member Theatre: THOC (Cyprus Theatre Organisation)
Nefeli Kentoni (b.1998, Cyprus) is a London-based director and writer. Working across theatre/film/text she weaves tenderness, absurdity, and humour, to dismantle reality and reconstructs it within unpredictable landscapes. A graduate of Central School of Speech & Drama and Central Saint Martins, her work has been presented at Tate Modern, Barbican Centre and Nicosia International Festival among others. Her performance KATABASIS was a finalist at the Offies Awards ‘25 and received Best Director at the Chengdu-Chongqing Int’l Theatre Festival, where her Wall of Babel was also awarded Best Play.
Alice Kudlak
Writer, Director and Actress
Rennes/France (ETC Member Theatre: Théâtre National de Bretagne)
Alice entered EESI in 2013 and the TNB in 2018. In 2016, she wrote and directed Forêt/Cache/Arbre, an interactive radio scenography, presented at the Réattu Museum, adapted into a series broadcast on RTBF, won the Prix Gulliver for its second season, and was recreated in 2026 at the Scène Nationale de Bonlieu. She created O Future, an opera with the San Francisco Girls Chorus and Theatre de Caen, composed by Thierry Pécou in 2024. Her play Les Enfants-pierre, a ramen food truck, full of shadows, puppets and undying spirits, has the support of La Chartreuse, La Nef, TNB, and Le Bercail.
Enorah Le Paih
Coordinator of Prospero NEW
Liège/Belgium (ETC Member Theatre: Théâtre de Liège)
Enorah Le Paih is a cultural project leader trained at Sciences Po, with parallel drama studies at the Grenoble Conservatory. For nearly two years, she has coordinated Prospero NEW at Théâtre de Liège, a European platform funding by the EU supporting emerging artists through touring, co-productions, residencies, and the development of a European label, while advancing partners’ cultural policy alignment across Europe.
Ayşe Gülsüm Özel
Stage and Costume Designer, and Video Artist
Berlin/Germany (ETC Member Theatre: Tiroler Landestheater)
Ayşe Gülsüm Özel, born in Istanbul, is a stage and costume designer with a strong background in video art and animation. She works from Berlin, creating stage and costume designs, producing videos for performing arts productions. Alongside her practical work, she researches the narrativity of digital media in performative spaces and has taught at the academies of fine arts in Stuttgart and Vienna. Her artistic practice is characterized by diversity, and her oeuvre is notably multifaceted.
Maria Beatriz Pinto
Executive Producer
Lisbon/Portugal (ETC Member Theatre: São Luiz Teatro Municipal)
Maria Beatriz Pinto is an executive producer currently working at Teatro Municipal São Luiz, in Lisbon. She holds a Master’s degree in Cultural Management and Heritage, with research focused on bringing heritage closer to communities. Her participatory and socially engaged work began through a collaboration with Teatro Nacional D. Maria II and Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, focusing on accessibility, collective memory, and cultural mediation.
Lidia Polito
Dramaturg
Cologne/Germany (ETC Member Theatre: Schauspiel Köln)
Lidia Polito is a half German, half Italian dramaturg, journalist, author and director. Since 2023 she is part of Schauspiel Köln. Furthermore she hosts her own podcast, “Provisorisch legal,” about issues surrounding drugs, substance research, substitution therapy, intoxication, addiction, and legalization.
Anna Maria Popa
Cultural Manager
Sfantu Gheorghe/Romania (ETC Member Theatre: Andrei Muresanu Theatre)
Graduated from UNATC in 2004. Has been the manager of the Andrei Mureșanu Theatre since 2015. Also a cultural manager, an authorized translator, a teacher at the Drama Department of Plugor Sandor High School in Sf. Gheorghe, and a theatre producer. Director of the DbutanT Theater Festival and Eva Filmmakers Fest film festival. Besides, the developer of the idea of “Floating Cinema&Theater” in Romania, as well as the inventor of VRTheater.
www.tam.ro, www.teatruVR.ro, www.VR-hall.com
Jimena Soria
International Manager and Creative Producer
Madrid/Spain
Jimena Soria is a cultural manager & creative producer based in Madrid, with extensive international experience across Europe and the Americas, focusing on contemporary performing arts and collaborative creation. She works on the internationalisation of cultural projects, building cooperation bridges while supporting artists in their creative processes and development, with a creative, strategic, and sustainable approach. She currently works with Constanza Macras & Matías Umpierrez among others.
Arma Tanovic Brankovic
Professor of Acting at the Academy of Performing Arts Sarajevo and Vice-Rector for Arts, Artistic Research, Culture and Sports
Sarajevo/Bosnia and Herzegowina
Arma Tanović Branković is a Bosnian actress, professor, director, playwright, and visual artist. She is Professor of Acting at the Academy of Performing Arts Sarajevo and Vice-Rector for Arts, Artistic Research, Culture and Sports at the University of Sarajevo. Her work focuses on acting, applied theatre, drama pedagogy, and socially engaged art practices.
Chong Wang
Director
Heidelberg/Germany (ETC Member Theatre: Theater Heidelberg)
Wang Chong is a theatre maker and global nomad. He is the most internationally commissioned Chinese theatre director, with his works performed in over 20 countries on 6 continents. Wang’s notable productions include The Warfare of Landmine 2.0 (2013 Festival/Tokyo Award), Lu Xun (2016 Beijing News Best Chinese Performance), Waiting for Godot (a live online performance in 2020 with an audience of 290,000), Made in China 2.0 (framing program of 2025 Berliner Theatertreffen), and Asia Weeks (2026 Theater Heidelberg).
Who are we looking for?
We’re not just looking for a project – we’re looking for YOU. We want to know about your journey, your ambitions, and why the European Theatre Academy is the next step in your development.
In your application, tell us:
- Who you are: Share your story, your background, and what drives you to be part of the European Theatre Academy.
- Why you want to take part: What’s your motivation? How do you think this programme will help you grow, and what do you hope to achieve?
- Your project: What is your idea, and what makes it relevant for an international audience? What challenges are you currently facing, and how can we support you in overcoming them?
- Your work: Include references or examples of past projects – what have you already done, and what do you still want to explore?
We’re equally interested in you as a person and the project you’re developing. Show us the ambition, passion, and international scope of your work – and tell us how the Academy can help you bring it to life.
Candidate Profile
Please note applications for 2026 are now closed.
The call is open to theatre professionals who are at the early stages of their careers, and who have already had various experiences in the field, with potential and ambition to grow internationally. Profiles of the selected participants may vary depending on their interests and experiences.
The call is open to applicants:
- From all ETC member theatres
- From independent theatre professionals residing in the following countries: Ireland, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Applications from theatre directors, managers and administrators, producers and touring managers, dramaturgs, international relations managers, or personal assistants, from independent companies and institutional theatres are welcome.
Important dates & info
Deadline for Applications: 29 April 2026
Selection Results: Mid-May 2026
Accommodation: All European Theatre Academy participants are required to stay at the Hotel Regina in Avignon, where you benefit from a preferential rate (195,76EUR per night).
What’s covered: Mentorship, coaching sessions, welcome dinner and performance tickets.
Applications are now closed.
Contact
For any questions, please contact ETC Project Management and Administration Officer Žad Novak: znovak@europeantheatre.eu
© Christophe Raynaud de Lage
