3. How to reserve space for the unexpected?

Just like many other people, we have a lot of meetings. Meetings are useful, they can help us take decisions about whatever is on the table. And we held quite a lot of meetings in making this programme.

But we also organized conversations. True conversations, unlike meetings, are open processes; they can lead to unexpected results. Our new conversation partners for this programme are people or organizations that actively work around community building, social justice and/or support artistic practices that have not yet found their way to larger stages. We started our conversations with them by asking What are we missing in our theatres today? Is there any urgent topic that you would like to address? Can we invite you to be the host at our venue so you can invite other people? Some of the conversations we started this winter quickly led to defined projects. Some others are not done yet. They are still open and running because deep trust needs time and some processes are longer than others. So, in the meantime, we are reserving space for them. In our calendars and in our budgets, we are keeping spaces free and undedicated, so that when these conversations do come to an end, their outcomes can be met with the attention they need and deserve.

This too is a learning path. Can we learn to leave the comfort of knowing for certain how things will be in the future?

– AGNES QUACKELS & BARBARA VAN LINDT