International street theater festival Holzminden

International Street Theater Festival Holzminden 2005

International Street Theater Festival Holzminden 2009

International Street Theater Festival Holzminden 2013

The International Street Theater Festival in Holzminden has taken place since May 1991, mostly every two years on the weekend of Pentecost .

history

In 1990 the city of Holzminden ⊙ engaged the management agency “Kulturbüro Köln” to plan a street theater festival, which worked closely with the city of Holzminden's culture and tourism office. The aim was to offer an optimal program with a high international quality standard with a low budget and thus also to create a cultural festival in a small town that would gain national recognition. The first festival in May 1991 over four days was still referred to as "Theater on the Street" (there was even a poster) and was a competition that also announced a sponsorship award that was reserved for an international jury of experts. There was also an audience award, which was decided by election letters. The city did not pay the artists any fees, but took over the travel and accommodation costs in cooperation with sponsors. The second festival followed in June 1992, before the financial and organizational effort for the city of Holzminden could no longer be borne annually and the decision was made to only hold the festival every two years. Up to 2002, as a rule, up to 12 groups of artists or individual artists were invited to the festival, who presented their performances (often premieres) several times on the four days of the event, as is customary internationally. From 1994 two prizes were awarded: a “Prize for small mobile and flexible street theater” and a “Prize for large open-air productions” and around 40,000 visitors came to this 3rd festival. In the following years the interest in the street theater festival in Holzminden grew and in 1998 there were already 50,000 visitors and in 2000 the city reached spatial limits at the 6th festival with 60,000 visitors in order to organize the crowd and the corresponding venues. The costs also rose rapidly and the city had to book a deficit from the festival of 361,000 DM, so that the city council decided to limit the event time to three days with the 7th festival in May 2002. The number of spectators then decreased to 40,000 visitors. 51.82788 9.44731

Because Holzminden hosted the Lower Saxony state festival in 2004, the festival was canceled in 2004 and was rescheduled in 2005. The international, participating artist groups received no fee until 2002 , only the groups selected as winners by a jury received cash prizes. In 2005, fees had to be paid for the first time. Some groups also use the festival as a presentation of new pieces in order to receive orders from other organizers who come as observers. The festival usually proves to be a great magnet for visitors, with around 50,000 visitors to Holzminden over three days in 2007. The "11. International Street Theater Festival Holzminden 2011 ”took place from June 10th to 12th, 2011. The number of visitors varied, however. The 12th International Street Theater Festival from May 17-19, 2013 was funded by the Friends of the Street Theater Festival and the Lower Saxony Regional Association. The main sponsor was the Braunschweigische Landessparkasse .

At the 13th International Street Theater Festival Holzminden from May 22nd to 24th, 2015, visitors had the opportunity to choose an audience award for a “small, mobile street theater production” and for a “technically complex open-air theater”. A total of 19 theater ensembles or individual artists took part and offered 58 individual performances.

Award winners

From 1991 to 2002 a sponsorship prize was awarded by a rotating, international jury of experts made up of European festival directors. Since 2005 the audience has chosen the “best” group. Every street theater visitor can vote with one vote for his "favorite group" with ballot papers.

year	Award winners
1991	Germany RA.MM Theater + Cie. cumulus France
1992	SpainSemola Theater + Hors Strate France
1994	FranceCie. Jo Bithume + Cie. Cacahuète France
1996	France Transe Express + Die Audiogruppe, special jury award to Denis Tricot Germany France
1998	FranceCompagnie Carabosse + Angie Hiesl production Germany
2000	FranceCompany Artonik + The Lunatics Netherlands
2002	PortugalTEATRO KA + Pan Optikum Germany

2005	Germany Theater Anu in cooperation with Rostcrew
2007	France Les apostrophes
2009	Netherlands Gajes theater
2011	Germany Titanick Theater
2013	Netherlands CLOSE-ACT Theater
2015	Germany Theater Anu + Carré Curieux, Cirque Vivant! Belgium
2017	Germany Titanick + Mimbre Theater United Kingdom
2019	GermanyCompany CircO + Compagnie Lucamoros France

Jury members

1991: Charlie Bick (Festival Tete-a-Tete Rastatt and Sommerszene Saarbrücken, Germany), Kristien Gerets (Dommelhof Festival, Belgium), Hansi Ruile (Festival La Piazza, Augsburg, Germany), Klaas Overdam (Vlissingen Festival, Netherlands)
1992: Charlie Bick (Festival Sommerszene Saarbrücken, Germany), Kristien Gerets (Dommelhof Festival, Belgium), Hansi Ruile (Festival La Piazza, Augsburg, Germany), Wim Claassen (Festival Boulevard, Den Bosch, Netherlands)
1994: Charlie Bick (Festival Tete-a-Tete Rastatt) Bidovec (Festival Week of Encounters, Klagenfurt, Austria), Omar Abdul Rub (BITEF Festival, Belgrade, Serbia)
1996: Omar Abdul Rub (BITEF Festival, Belgrade, Serbia), Michael Merczynski (Malta Festival, Poznań, Poland), Jean Marie Sogny (Festival d'Auriallac, France), Frank Wilson (Riverside Festival, Stockton, Great Britain)
1998: Frank Wilson (Riverside Festival, Stockton, Great Britain), Claes Karlsson (Stockholm, Sweden), René Marion (Cognac Festival Coup de Chauffe, France), Diana Brus (Festival La Strada, Graz, Austria)
2000: Frank Wilson (Riverside Festival, Stockton, Great Britain), Claes Karlsson (Stockholm, Sweden), René Marion (Cognac Festival Coup de Chauffe, France), Diana Brus (Festival La Strada, Graz, Austria)
2002: Frank Wilson (Riverside Festival, Stockton, Great Britain), René Marion (Cognac Festival Coup de Chauffe, France), Diana Brus (Festival La Strada, Graz, Austria).

Participant of the 8th Festival 2005

Voskresinnia Theater from Lviv (Lemberg) (Ukraine)
Discipulos de Morales from Barcelona (Spain)
British Events Theater Company from Solingen (Great Britain / Germany)
Ana Monró Theater from Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Compagnie d'Ailleurs from Columbes (France)
Grejpfrut from Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Les Alama's Givrés from Pantin (France)
Bouldegom Théâtre from Mane (France)
Theater Anu from Heppenheim (Germany) in cooperation with Rostcrew (today: Rost: licht) from Schwerte
Pyromantiker AG from Berlin (Germany)