In 2026, artists in the performing arts were once again able to apply for conceptual development grants and/or work grants. Whether ensembles, independent theater groups, or individual artists: Applications for both grant programs were accepted until March 3. While the working grant supports research phases of up to two months, artistic training, or the development of conceptual ideas, the concept development grant supports longer-term projects lasting up to two years that exist independently of specific projects or premieres and cannot be covered financially by project funding. 

A five-member jury of experts selected the application “SpielRaum: Interactive Theater for Youth” by Nora Koschel-Gelecker in collaboration with KoschelundStahl (Christiane Stahl) for the concept development grant.

Koschel-Gelecker and Stahl, collectively known as KoschelundStahl, aim to sharpen their artistic profile by developing a model for interactive and aesthetically innovative youth theater that combines documentary research, physical performance, and game theater elements. To this end, the artists will immerse themselves in the immediate living environments of young people and conduct socio-spatial research there. In joint workshops with the young people, physical theater methods will be used to gather personal stories, experiences, and perspectives to serve as source material. Young people will be taken seriously as experts on their own lived realities and integrated into the artistic process. In this way, this target group is to be engaged not only as audience members but also as cultural creators themselves. The goal is to develop a theatrical form in which spectators become active participants and take responsibility for the course of events. The theatrical space becomes a playing field where movement, strategy, interaction, and collective dynamics take on dramaturgical significance.

The jury selected the following proposals, which will be awarded a working grant:

• Katharina Heißenhuber with “Musical Hybrids” (vocal training and composition of cross-genre songs)
• Ann Kathrin Pfahler with “Von Astronauten und Tiefseetauchern // UFO (AT)” (writing a play)
• Moritz Buch with “Nationalism reloaded - 20 Years of Summer Fairy Tales (AT)” (development of a transdisciplinary, multimedia performance on the theme of nationalism)
• Elena Packhäuser with “Herland (AT)” (Concept for a theatrical adaptation of the book “Herland” by Charlotte P. Gilman)
• Matthew Tusa with “Dance Research: Why Does Patriarchy Persist?” (dance research critiquing patriarchy)
• Lena Kunz with “tauchgänge (((((((( of echoes & ghosts ((((((((((((((” (movement and text research on transgenerational trauma)

The jury consisted of the following members. 

• Antigone Akgün, freelance performer, author, and dramaturg
• Bernhard Siebert, theater scholar and research officer at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts
• Anne Tysiak, Hessian State Theater Wiesbaden, Director of the Young State Theater 
• Mareike Uhl, ID Tanzhaus Frankfurt Rhein-Main, Co-Artistic Director
• Franziska Domes, Head of the Department of Neighborhood Culture – Performing Arts – Music – Artistry at the Cultural Office of the State Capital of Wiesbaden