ARTIST LAB 2023 | Get labelled: Parents in Theaters!

an evaluation lab of the Ag Dance and Parenthood in sponsorship of ZTB e.V.

In July 2023 we started our new Artist Lab together with ZTB e.V..
In exchange with artists, networks and initiatives and in collaboration with two Berlin venues, we are developing criteria and best-practice models that enable parents interested in dance and theater to participate as an audience. To this end, we are also evaluating formats that have emerged during the pandemic since 2020. We are developing a ‘Kids and Caregivers – Rider’ and a family-friendly label. The results of the funded Artist Labs will be presented, among other things, at the meeting of the Nationwide Artist Labs B.A.L.L. at Kampnagel in Hamburg on October 20/21, 2023.

The starting point for the labs was the question:

How can cross-generational understanding and acceptance for families and children as audiences grow in theater? In front of, on and behind the stage?

In the experimental field of several labs from July to September 2023, we, Ag Tanz und Elternschaft, have exchanged ideas with our international network of dance creators and individual Berlin venues and developed a kid & caregiver – friendly rider that encourages making events and formats in dance and performing arts accessible to an audience of parents, caregivers and families. With the Berlin venues Radialsystem and Tanzfabrik in the context of Tanznacht, we have conducted one pilot event each to test and evaluate strategies and formats of a family-friendly event setting.

Four phases have shaped our evaluation and development of the Rider:

Ask the network: What best practice experiences in dance and the performing arts have you had? What methods and formats have emerged in the wake of the pandemic and promoted accessibility?
Dialogue: Talks/interviews with organizers about family-friendly criteria.
For the future: testing and evaluating formats with venues
Be the utopia: Art action – What could it ideally be like to go to the theater with children?

For the rider, we have developed best practice examples, suggestions and ideas based on the following questions:

What circumstances make it easier to attend a performance with children, and which formats are particularly suitable for families?

• Formats in which free movement and individual interruptions are possible, a noise level is already present, which are free of charge or inexpensive and/or offer additional offers
• Formats that take place during the day, allow for advance planning and late admission
• site-specific and outdoor formats, participatory and interactive formats
• hybrid or digital formats due to time flexibility

• pieces adapted to family-friendly criteria

Our concern is to think of dance and theater venues as vibrant, open, and permeable, as places where the potential of parents, caregivers, and children as publics is co-conceived and valued. Our Rider highlights strategies for implementing a sustainable approach to transgenerational audiences in dance and the performing arts. Broken down into relevant categories, such as communication, space, timing, pricing, formats, and more, the Rider provides concrete guidance on how to design family-friendly events. With the resources already in place, the first step can be taken NOW!