Four new Master’s programmes have been established within Hessian Theatre Academy (HTA) since its foundation in 2002 – on the one hand to fill existing gaps in the training and education on offer, on the other hand to illustrate and promote the primary idea of co-operation at a structural level. The Study programmes are fundamentally financed and equipped by the HTA. The Master’s degrees in Dramaturgy at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University and in Performing Arts and Music Management at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK) have thus been established since the launch of HTA. These were supplemented in 2008 with two advanced Master’s degrees in the field of dance (at the time in co-operation with Tanzplan Deutschland): the MA for Contemporary Dance Education at the HfMDK and the MA for Choreography and Performance at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen and the HfMDK. Both programmes are run in English and are specifically aimed at international students.
The HTA provides extensive support for graduation productions which are prepared and performed in cooperation of its students and the partner theatres. The student productions form the academic degree of a Bachelor's programme (directing at the HfMDK Frankfurt) or of Applied Theatre Studies or the "Choreography and Performance" programme at the JLU Gießen. These cooperations between the HTA theatres and study programmes enable intensive supervision of the projects both by the teaching staff at the universities and by the dramaturges at the theatres.
The corresponding template of a cooperation agreement can be easily obtained here.
Together with Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company, Ensemble Modern, the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Hessian Theatre Academy runs the rehearsal and performance centre Frankfurt LAB. LAB is a venue for projects conducted by internationally renowned ensembles dedicated to the creation of modern music, dance and theatre works, often in partnership with HTA and other recognised arts education institutions. Frankfurt LAB’s two large production and performance halls provide artists with an unusual amount of space and time in which to develop and try out new works and presentational forms on an experimental basis.
Since its foundation, HTA has been supporting festivals, showings, campus programmes and other events that facilitate interdisciplinary work among students on the degree programmes in the HTA network. - for example, the Theatermaschine and the Diskursfestival in Giessen or the VVIP Festival in Frankfurt am Main. HTA is co-founder of the biennial "F°LAB Festival for Performing Arts", which will take place at Frankfurt LAB for the third time in 2021. The "Festival der jungen Talente" has existed since 2000 and was held for the ninth time in 2018. After numerous venues in Offenbach/M., it will be held for the second time at the Frankfurter Kunstverein. The festival focuses on cross-university performance projects with an experimental orientation. has existed since 2000 and took place for the ninth time in 2018, when it was hosted for the second time by the Frankfurter Kunstverein art association at numerous venues in Offenbach am Main. The festival focuses on inter-university performance projects with an experimental focus.
In order to facilitate a close relationship between studies and professional practice as early as possible, Hessian Theatre Academy supports periods of practical training arranged by the Directing in Theatre and Acting programmes in partnership with HTA partner theatres. In this context, fourth-year Theatre Directing students are given the opportunity to complete an assistant directorship at an HTA theatre and thus gain insights into the reality of working at a professional institution. The period of practical training for drama students is a project run by the Acting programme at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and the theatres affiliated to the HTA. The aim is to give fourth-year students the opportunity to gather acting experience in a permanent ensemble and a professional theatre.
The HTA specifically promotes teaching projects that enable its courses of study to be better networked with partner theatres. These include workshop and in-depth programmes at the theatres or innovative production formats. Since 2007, the HTA has also organized an interdisciplinary lecture series every semester on current topics and questions at various locations.
Together with the Frankfurt LAB, the HTA has been awarding funding for artistic research projects by former students every year since 2014. From 2022 on, the fundings are framed as two months scholarships, with a total funding of 5.000,00 EUR per scholar. In line with the consideration that the potential for artistic research lies mainly in the mutual and respective disassociation of art and science, project ideas characterised by institutional critique and those that have been unable to find funding via the usual promotional structures, are explicitly welcomed. Projects examining artistic formats for audiences of young growing people or projects with site-specific approaches are also welcome. The funding is intended to create free space, particularly for artistic projects that cannot be realised within the conventional production frameworks at theatrical institutions (e. g. precisely because of their research requirements). The programme also aims to strengthen the HTA’s alumni network.
Mainly for material cost funding, the HTA also supports independent creative and course projects conducted by students from at least two HTA programmes, or which take place at one of the HTA partner theatres.
Applications up to EUR 2,500.00 can be submitted at any time. Applications up to EUR 1,000.00 are decided by the president of the HTA; applications up to EUR 2,500.00 are decided by an internal jury. Higher application budgets are decided by the HTA board twice a year (deadlines: middle of January and middle of September).
An application consists of a project description (max. 3 pages), a list of the project participants and information about their study programmes, and a detailed budget plan. Both application and budget plan need to show that the applicant describes a non-professional, student-run project. In general, fees cannot be paid to enrolled HTA students; fees for external students can be paid in exceptional cases.
Applications can be sent in a PDF format to Ekaterina Walisko, walisko_at_hessische-theaterakademie.de.
Detailed remarks regarding project funding and billing can be obtained here.