This talk deals with European experiences with collective strategies for the development of the performing arts, with a focus on Flanders. In the 1980’s, international networks and platforms for (co)production and presentation were set up (e.g. IETM). In the case of Flanders, this coincided with diverse domestic strategies: a.o. the emergence of artists collectives, a touring circuit, an advocacy organisation,… In a time when government support for contemporary performing arts was absent, the interplay of these strategies resulted not only in Flemish artists being launched on international platforms. It also lead to the development of an innovative Flemish funding system. It enabled artists, companies and producing houses to develop their work and to fully engage in a transnational networks for (co-)production and presentation. This way of working has resulted in growth: more productions, in more venues and countries all around the world. There are, however, downsides to the story. With government spending under pressure throughout Europe, producers are being forced to rely on an ever growing number of increasingly vulnerable partners. The position of individual artists in this network has become precarious. How sustainable is this growth in the longer term? Are the limits of the transnational co-production and distribution model in sight? How can we re-think our current working models?

2. Shaping Networks. Shaped by Networks
JORIS JANSSENS
HONG KONG, 5 MAY 2016
On collective strategies for the performing arts in
Flanders and Europe

3. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
This can be an additional image description
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4. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
This can be an additional image description
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5. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
About Flanders Arts Institute
• Flanders Arts Institute is
the supporting institute for
the arts in Flanders
- Merger of VTi (performing
arts institute) with the
centres for visual arts and
music
- We started in 2015
- Our core functions
• Field research and
documentation
• Professional development
• Development of international
relations
• Our history is firmly rooted
in the developments in
European performing arts
since the 1980’s.
- VTi started as a centre for
international development,
documentation in 1987.
- It grew out of the VTC
(Flemish Touring Circuit), a
touring netwerk of
independent venues.
- Strongly connected to
European history of
international networking.
• We have a lot of research
material about the
(international) collaboration
and netwerking in Flanders
and Europe
- International touring and
coproduction.
- Interconnections between
local developments and
international developments
- Link with professional
development.
5

6. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
So what will we talk about this morning?
• Some truths and myths
about IETM, the
International network for
contemporary performing
arts
- Some facts & figures about
IETM today.
- Strong stories about the
early days
• About how international
collaboration changed the
performing arts: the case
of Flanders.
- The context in the eighties
• Artistic
• Organisational
• Cultural policy
- Some trends in the
production, presentation
and networking of
performing arts since then.
• About how these changes
challenge (international)
networks…
- How did IETM react to this?
- Provocation: what could this
all mean for the networking
of creative producers in
Asia?
6

7. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE7
01 SHAPING A NETWORK —
SOME TRUTHS & MYTHS ABOUT THE IETM

8. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
What is the IETM?
A “membership organisation which exists to stimulate the quality, development and the context of
contemporary performing arts.”
• Membership in 2015
- 532 active members
• including 17 Associate
Members (funding agencies,
arts councils, cultural
institutes)
- … coming from all
performing arts disciplines
- They cover all functions in
the ecosystem:
• venues, festivals, companies,
producers, independent
curators, research and
resource centres, networks,
governmental bodies…
• Geography
- 88% of the membership is
based on the European
continent
- Countries with the largest
membership:
• France, United Kingdom,
Belgium, Netherlands,
Australia
• Activities
- Two plenary meetings each
year in a European city
- Smaller meetings around the
world
• Eg Satellite Meeting Gwangju &
Caravan Meeting Seoul (2015)
- And also
• Collection and distribution of
information on international
opportunities
• Commissioning research and
publications
• Advocating the value of the
performing arts sector on
diverse platforms
8

9. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Where and when did it start?
The summer of 1981 at the Inteatro Festival, Polverigi, Italy
9

10. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Villa Nappi, Polverigi

11. Inteatro Festival
Started by Roberto Cimetta
Polverigi is a small village in the middle of nowhere in
Italy. In 1977, Roberto Cimetta, an Italian director and
playwright, created the Inteatro festival Polverigi there, in
the setting of Villa Nappi, which the local mayor allowed
him to use. The Villa Nappi was home to companies of all
kinds, from all parts of world. Cimetta gave artists as a
place to meet to rehearse and audience. He also invited
his international colleagues there, in the summer of 1981.
They talked about setting up a network and meeting on a
regular basis, to share experiences about supporting the
work of artists. The first ‘real’ Informal European Theatre
Meeting was organised by ONDA in Paris, later that fall.

12. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Théâtre Gérard Philipe , 15 October 1981
12

13. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE13
Number of people claiming to have been at one of these two gatherings
Number of people conceiving IETM at the Villa Nappi in Polverigi in summer 1981
Number of people at the first ‘real’ IETM meeting in Paris in October 1981

14. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Why was IETM such a success?
What needs did it cater for, in what context? How was all this organised?
• The context for
international collaboration
- International collaboration
by intergovernmental
organisation
- Performing arts landscape
dominated by large festivals
• Eg Wiener Festwochen
- New alternative festivals
popping up
• Festival of Fools, Kaaifestival,
Festival de Nancy,
Copenhagen International
Festival
- East-West division in
Europe: the ‘iron curtain’.
• Knowledge exchange in
predigital era
- Detecting talent:
• The combination of a ‘nose’
for talent and a ‘network’
- Practical know-how
• How to organise a festival,
visa issues, policy issues
- Empowering members for
advocacy
• What arguments for
supporting contemporary
performing arts?
• The structure: informal, but
closed
- Membership
• Cultural ‘entrepreneurs’: festival
directors (sometimes producing
artists)
• Not the artists
- Informal structure
• Everyone could organise a
meeting
• Bureau managed by Flemish
Theater Circuit (1984)
• Not-for-profit international
organisation based in Brussels
in 1989
14

15. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE15
02 COLLABORATIVE STRATEGIES FOR THE
PERFORMING ARTS
— THE CASE OF FLANDERS

16. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE16
The impact of international networking?
Flanders and Brussels as a case study
What has been the impact of international networking in Europe since then? This can be a tricky point to
make. The impact of networking, of meeting people, of knowledge exchange is often quite difficult to prove in
terms of cause and effect… But what we can do, is have a look at some developments in the contemporary
performing arts in Europe since then. We will take Flanders and Brussels as a case.
Flanders is a very good example of how international networking has really shaped the development —
almost out of nothing — of a very dynamic contemporary live arts scene ànd of an innovative policy for
supporting contemporary performing arts. In this chapter, I will first sketch how these developments took off
in the eighties and early nineties. Second, we will have a look at some major trends and crucial
transformations in the international touring and coproduction since the nineties. International networking
initiatives, such as the IETM, did have an effect on the emergence of a transnational system for producing
and presenting contemporary performing arts.

17. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE17
Flanders is the northern, Dutch-speaking
part of Belgium. In Belgium, the competence
for cultural policy resides not with the federal
Belgian State, but with three communities:
the Flemish community, the French
Community and the (small) German
Community.
Flanders Arts Institute works within the
context of the Flemish Community and the
data we collect are focused on work
supported by the Flemish Community, which
is also very active in Brussels.

18. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE18
The situation in Flemish performing arts in the
eighties

19. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
The ‘Flemish Wave’ of the eighties
Rosas, Fabre, Vandekeybus, Needcompany, Alain Platel, Meg Stuart, Luk Perceval, Ivo van Hove,…
19

20. Funding for dance
back then
Flemish community funding for dance in
1985
Klapstuk Festival
Rosas
Royal BalletThe 1980’s in Flanders showed a
remarkable artistic dynamics. Remarkably,
at that moment, there was no developed
policy framework for contemporary
performing arts…

21. Funding for dance
back then
Flemish community funding for dance in
1985
Support for contemporary performing arts in
that time was… peanuts. But the peanuts
have proven to be very important. While
there was almost no project funding in the
mid-eighties, emerging artists received
small support from the International
Department, which helped them to connect
to international networks…
Collaboration is the key to the development
of the local scene in Flanders in those
days.

22. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE22
Bottom-up & collective strategies
… were important for the “ex nihilo” creation of a performing arts landscape in Flanders in the eighties
• Collective artist-run self-organisation
- Schaamte, les Ballets C de la B
• Coproduction and presentation: new arts centres and festivals
- Vooruit, STUK, Kaaitheater, Klapstuk, Monty, CAMPO
(Nieuwpoorttheater)
• Collective strategy for touring and international promotion
- The VTC (Flemish Theater Circuit) became VTi (Flemish
Theater Institute)
• Advocacy and lobbying
- Vlaamse Directies Podiumkunsten (employer’s advocacy
umbrella)
• International networks and coproduction partners
- Networks: IETM, ONDA, EFAH,…
- Hebbel Theater, Théâtre de la Ville,…
In the absence of a contemporary arts policy
framework, the generation of the eighties
managed to spark off international careers.
Almost out of nothing, a number of gifted
organisers and entrepreneurs developed a
landscape for contemporary performing arts,
through a number of collaborative
strategies, both domestic and international.
Different functions in the ecosystem were
tackled collectively: production, touring,
presentation, international promotion,
documentation and advocacy.

23. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE23
How did policy makers react to this?

24. 0
10.000.000
20.000.000
30.000.000
40.000.000
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992
Rosas
Vandekeybus
Platel
Funding for contemporary dance on the rise
Flemish community project funding for dance: evolution 1985-1992

25. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Rosas
Major policy innovations since 1993
Flemish community project funding for dance: evolution 1985-1992
25
There was a major shift in
1993: the opening to different
disciplines, and multi-annual
funding.
The critical thing is this : since
then, the Flemish laws are
really fit to support bottom-
up initiatives, evaluated by
peers, allowing for multi-
annual planning.
• Theatre Decree (1975)
- Only annual subsidies for theater companies
• Performing Arts Decree (1993)
- New disciplines: dance and music theatre
- New types of structures: arts centres
- Multiannual envelopes and projects
• Arts Decree (2006, 2013)
- New disciplines: visual arts, music, architecture
- New structures: workspaces and management bureaus
- Grants for individual artists
- Functions: development, production, presentation,
participation and reflection

26. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE26
Shifting the balance
Ballet, contemporary dance structures + projects
• First Level
- Second level
• Third level
Rosas
Les Ballets c de la b
Ultima Vez
Meg Stuart
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
4%
3%
1%
1%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
3%
5%
5%
6%
7%
11%
44%
Royal Ballet
Rosas
Ultima Vez
Les Ballets C. de la B.
Eastman
Damaged Goods
Kris Verdonck
Workspace Brussels
Peeping Tom
Action Scénique
Soit
Kobalt Works
Kunst/Werk
Deep Blue/Field Works
Projects > organisations
Projects > artists
Grants > artists

27. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Trends in international collaboration since 2001
Source: http://data.kunsten.be
27
In its current research,
Flanders Arts Institute is
mapping out the international
dimension of the performing
arts, including performances
abroad as well as
international co-productions.
The position of the artists in
the system is also a major
topic for research.
• The distribution of Flemish performing arts
shows abroad
• The number of international coproducers
involved in these productions
• The position of artists in the system

28. # productions per year
Before focussing on developments in the
international arena, we will give an overview of the
number of productions per season. This has
increased year after year. The graph distinguishes
between new creations that year (blue), and
productions presented earlier (grey). We call the
latter ‘re-runs’. The number of new creations each
year remains stable. The increase in the number of
productions on the bill each year is mainly due to
these ‘re-runs’.
Reruns
Creations
Source: http://data.kunsten.be

29. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE29
Performances abroad
Source: http://data.kunsten.be
How much
where these
productions
shown outside of
Belgium?
The number of
international
shows has been
on the rise since
2001.

30. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE30
Performances abroad
Source: http://data.kunsten.be

31. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Intercontinental touring since 2001
31
Source: http://data.kunsten.be

32. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Number of foreign coproducers
Subtitle
32
Source: http://data.kunsten.be
Many performing arts
productions are made today
based on a partnership
between companies and
sometimes various festivals,
art centres and other domestic
and foreign partners. This
graph shows how many
foreign organisations have
collaborated each year in
theatre, dance and music
theatre productions.

33. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE33
Origin of foreign coproducers
Source: http://data.kunsten.be

34. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Type of foreign coproducers
To support, or to be supported
34
You can make a distinction between two
types of partners. The red bars are foreign
companies that partnered with Flanders'
supported art centres and/or festivals. The
bar rises slightly. The growth is mainly in
the blue bar: these are foreign co-
producers who contribute to productions
by Flemish companies (co-production
contributions, residencies, etc). The growth
appears to be especially here: the capacity
of Flemish performing arts production is
being maintained because more and more
overseas partners can be mobilised.

35. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
The number of
performers each year
• The next two slides deal with the position
of artists in this emerging ‘transnational’
system for production and touring.
• First, the graph on the left shows that the
number of artist has risen.
• The graph on the next slide suggests that
the rise is due to fragmented employment.
The rise is to be situated in two ‘categories’
of artists:
• Those who have only been involved in one
Flemish productions in a 4-year timespan, and
‘freelancers’ working with different
organisations.
• The number of artists working with only one
company does not rise.
35

36. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Fragmented employment
With how many companies does an artist work?
36
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
1993-1997 1997-2001 2001-2005 2005-2009
Working with 1 company
2
3 to 5
More than 5
One offs...

37. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE37
03 CHANGES IN AND CHALLENGES FOR
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

38. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Shifting practices
The development of a transnational system for the production and presentation of performing arts
• These trends show that
prototypes have been
shifting:
- Companies have become
flexible production units.
- Freelancers from different
disciplines and countries
join forces to make a
production.
- They assemble a
transnational network of
coproducers, where they
show the work.
• Production capacity and
mobility of artists has
increased a lot since the
1980’s, due to a.o.
- The impact of international
networks,
- The development of
national policies,
- The development of EU
policy,
• But how sustainable is the
growth?
- More productions
- More shows abroad
- More artists
- Funding is under pressure,
but more foreign
coproducers are engaged to
maintain the growth.
• Annual growth ratio of 11%
(average)
• This is exponential growth
• Doubling time: 6,15 years.
38

39. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Science fiction of international coproduction
What if the annual 11% rise of the number of coproducing partners would continue?
39
YEAR N° coproducers
2020 1090
2026 2180
2032 4360
2038 8720
2044 17440
2050 34880
2056 69760
2062 139520
2068 279040

40. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE40
How sustainable is the growth? We have some
sorting out to do….

41. Plug in and play!
Thomas Friedman’s optimistic view on changes in
the world economy.
• The playing field is being levelled.
• Three stages of globalisation:
- Globalisation 1.0: Nations
- Globalisation 2.0: Companies
- Globalisation 3.0: Individuals
• More opportunities for individuals to
‘connect and collaborate’ globally.

42. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
What kind of art does
this system produce?
Richard Sennett’s bleak view on the work culture of
global capitalism, which clearly resembles
practices in the arts field…
• The precarious position of flex-
workers in the knowledge economy.
- Freelancing > difficult socio-economic
conditions
- This system asks for a certain kind of
artists
• Not only artistic skills, but also social skills
- Difficult to develop a consistent artistic
body of work
42

43. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Challenges for international networks
43
• Economic pressure: both internally and externally
- The ‘coproduction bubble’: how sustainable is our way of working?
- The legitimacy of arts funding is under pressure in a lot of countries in Europe.
- Political agendas increasingly driven by economic interests.
• Individualisation
- Freelancing has an impact on socio-economic position of artists.
- Freelancing has an impact on the art being made.
• Internationalisation & globalisation
- Ecological sustainability
- Inequality in the transnational system for touring & coproduction
• Digitalisation

44. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
Sorting out for (international networks)?
44
• Is the aim and function of a network still relevant?
- IETM sees itself as a ‘biodegradable’ network
• Who are the possible partners of our network?
- Many more potential partners, also individual players, but also more vulnerable partners
• Connecting to the local and the global
- The need to seek more connections on a local level > outside of the arts.
- Why connect globally in a changing world? What is your interest?
• Resources of the network?
- Funding under pressure: how to relate to economic political agenda’s?
- What is ‘membership’? What does solidarity mean? Who can put what on the table?
• Formats & processes
- Live meetings and retreats? Digital formats?
- Formal or informal network?

45. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE
How did IETM respond to all this?
45
• Expansion of the network
- Starting op new networks, eg. Culture Action Europe, Balkan Express,…
- Connecting to other continents via Caravan meetings, Satellite Meetings, …
• Opening up the network to companies and to individual artists
- The type of partners has shifted 180°: focus on smaller companies
• Knowledge exchange on survival strategies.
• New topics: focus on different meanings of sustainability
- Focus on capacity building: demand from network & political agendas.
- Other topics: advocacy of the value of the arts, ecology, the refugee crisis,…
• New formats, next to live meetings
- Live meetings remain the backbone, but have another function.
- IETM Campus and staff exchange are new formats for capacity building.

46. FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE46
But what about the Creative Producers Platform?
You are bright people taken initiatives in sometimes difficult
conditions. There is a similar energy in the region as in
Europe in the eighties. But the world has changed. And so
have the performing arts.
For older and larger networks it’s difficult to change.
Can you inspire us with new ways of working together and
sharing?
The discussion is open.

47. WWW.FLANDERSARTSINSTITUTE.BE
For more information:
www.flandersartsinstitute.be
joris@kunsten.be