CITIZEN-COMMISSIONED DANCE AND PERFORMANCE

In the program New Patrons: Citizen-Commissioned Dance and Performance, people commission an artwork for their local environment. The starting point is always a pressing shared concern. Experienced artists, choreographers, and dancers respond to these concerns with new works. Experts in art in civic commission – the mediators – provide guidance throughout the entire process. By the end of 2027, commissioned works in the fields of dance and performance will be created across Germany.

  • Dance group in a public place in Marl

    Presentation of Sasha Waltz: In C - Marler Partitur, for the New Patrons of Marl

    Project from the pilot phase of the New Patrons, Marl 2022 Photo: Florian Wagner
  • A group of students sits and stands around a table with a piece of fabric with colored text on it.

    The New Patrons of Gersheim

    Patrons working together at their school Photo: Lukas Ratius
  • A group of seven people of different ages stand and sit in an interior room in front of open windows. They look and smile at each other. Green branches grow through the windows into the room.

    The New Patrons of Eisenhüttenstadt

    Photo: Victoria Tomaschko

Civic commissions are more than just a project. At the core of the program are the open-ended processes of the New Patrons model. Along the way, local knowledge and perspectives from the commissioners on site are brought together on equal footing with the research and artistic approaches of the commissioned artists. Input from culture and academia further enriches the process through workshops, consultations, and expert discussions. The entire exchange is designed to foster mutual learning between regional and international actors, allowing lasting experiences and networks to grow. This creates future-oriented forms of participation, dialogue, and empowerment.

New Approaches to Artistic Production

The genres of dance and performance bring together a diverse range of traditional and innovative artistic expressions, with ever-expanding boundaries. The artists explore the possibilities of movement and create dynamic forms of togetherness. They draw on the situated knowledge of the local community and open their practice to new approaches to artistic participation and production.

Associations, cultural centers, institutions, and public bodies are involved as local partners in the implementation of the projects in order to strengthen the engagement of local cultural actors. They support the initiatives with expertise, networks, infrastructure, and hospitality. The productions may take place in public spaces as well as on physical and virtual stages of all kinds. This also creates opportunities to explore the potentials and limitations of staging itself.

With the support of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation), Citizen-Commissioned Dance and Performance develops models for the long-term, collective, and public use of performing arts. This fosters new perspectives and dynamics for civic engagement, as well as for sustainable artistic practice and production.

Citizen-commissioned Dance and Performance is a programme of Gesellschaft der Neuen Auftraggeber (Society of the New Patrons). Funded by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media).