Plan C – The Cultural Sector and the Results of the Crisis

Climate change, economic crisis, migration, and the gaping blades of the social scissors the crisis affects and concerns practically all the social sectors. Art and culture are part of them. After trying Plan A and B on countless problem areas, without them functioning well or at all, now its time to search for a third option. As specialists par excellence in permanently overcoming crisis through cooperation and innovation, creative artists have designed the alternative: Plan C! In the process, the dance and theater arts paradigmatically stand for social discourse, intensification, anticipation, and vision.

At the center of the IETM Expert Meeting, the first in Berlin since 1985, are concept development and the exchange of the best and worst practices as vehicles for discussing other accumulative values for society. This creative challenge engages the cultural sector in a process that begins with an open camp in Berlin. Within this open, conference format, stressing the participants self-responsibility, various groups of topics on the potential of art and culture are brought into perspective: economy and the market, politics, ecology, cultural diversity, and urban development.

Parallel to the IETM Meeting, Berlin artists and performance spaces present around 50 dance and theater productions a unique chance to make contacts and develop international projects. Together with the artists, theaters, and performing spaces, the initiators RADIALSYSTEM V, Hebbel am Ufer, Akademie der Künste, House of World Cultures, and the International Theatre Institute develop a program of artistic presentations and content-related debates. While RADIALSYSTEM V serves as the official venue of the conference, dance and theater productions will be presented throughout the city.

Anyone interested is welcome to participate in the Meeting and take part in the rounds of discussion with the invited international experts the program will be posted beforehand on the website www.plan-c-berlin.de. Registration is required at www.ietm.org.

The International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts (IETM) is one of the most successful European cultural networks. With its over 400 members and projects from 45 countries, it combines a high level of expertise, of intercultural, artistic and organizational know-how, with a commitment to the performing arts in Europe and far beyond the EUs borders.

IETM was founded in 1981 as the Informal European Theatre Meeting in the Italian township of Polverigi. After being renamed the International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts in 2005, it kept the well-known abbreviation IETM.

The IETM 2010 in Berlin is made possible through the support of the Berlin partners the British Council and the Embassy of Sweden in Berlin. The Open Space/StrategieWorkshop is sponsored through an initiative of the Culture and Creative Industries of the German Federal Government.