Cultural exchange in Europe

Odin theatre in Holstebro is coordinating a big EU-project called ‘Carvan Next – Feed the Future: Art Moving Cities.’ The project will be set up through five festive weeks, and 25 smaller artistic intervention, happening in 21 countries in Europe and beyond. One festival week will be held in Holstebro in 2017, and is planned together with the Aarhus 2017 project, Rethink Theatre.

The Odin theatre was established in Norway 1964, two years later it moved to Hostebro, where it still exists with employers from 12 different countries and four continents. Carvan next, is one of Odin Theatre’s latest international projects, first performed in a scout hut in a town called Idom-Råsted close to Holstebro. The project has been funded 2 million EUR from the EU.

Isolation in Idom

Carvan Next has 13 partners from 11 European countries and all of the partners were represented at Idom-Råsted, when the project kick-started. Families in the town invited all 37 participants into their homes, where they lived while working in the local scout hut.

Per Kap Bech Jensen, the leader of the Caracan Next project, is thrilled the international artists had the opportunity to be a part of the local community for a couple of days:

“For us it is very much about ‘community’ and that is the village. Therefore, it makes sense to gather our partners in a village to kick off. It would not make sense to put them in a hotel, here they have the chance to meet ‘real’ people in the village and not only other artists. It was also a possibility to isolate the partners a little bit, so they could be shaken together and focus on their work.”

Cultural exchange
Caravan Next will travel through Europe and have citizens they meet reflect on what it means to be a European citizen, with the new challenges that face us in the 21^st century after the economic crisis. The goal is to involve over 30.000 European citizens by allowing them to contribute to the artistic and community-building events and performances.

“We hope to involve the citizens we meet through art, to involve them to impact their culture in a different way,” explained Bech Jensen.

This form of cultural exchange is certainly not foreign to Odin Theatre, through history it has performed 76 shows in 64 countries. The unique working method is based on cultural diversity and the ‘exchange principle,’ it works in a way where the local community responds back to the performances by performing their own songs, music, and dance. It’s a sort of a swap transaction, where culture is exchanged and both partners gain insight into each other’s culture.

“This method is old and has been developed over a long time. If I sing a song for you, you also sing a song for me. In this way, we can start a dialog about prejudices, language barriers and different mind-sets through culture,” explained Bech Jensen.

Rethink theatre
Odin Theatre is a part of the ‘Rethink Theatre’ project under the European Capital Culture Aarhus 2017. It focuses on how theatre can create a meet for people outside of the theatre walls. The theatre is in this context a medium, creating interaction, exploring new perspectives and creating relations between individuals, communities and cities. The Rethink Theatre works within a frame named ‘Living relations,’ which is operated through three main projects:

Holstebro Festival: A one-day event involving the people, associations and organisations from the town with theatrical exchanges as a focal point.

Transit Festival for Female Theatre Performers: International festival and a meeting between female theatre artists.

Artistic residence: Odin Theatre offers artists, academics and dance groups to come and create and act as the house theatre artists.

Linking projects
No matter whether if performed in Idom-Råsted or in Italy the Odin’s projects all have in common European dimension and cultural exchange. The focus is on the importance of inclusion and that everyone have something to offer – it’s all about giving each other something. Therefore, it is natural to link it with the Rethink Theatre with Carvan Next.

Holstebro Festival thus becomes one of the five major macro-events, as a part of Carvan next. The four other events will be held in the Netherlands, Poland, Italy and Spain.

“The festival week in 2017 will be a form of collection of Caravan Next and all the partners. People of the town will be involved together with our international partners. The partners offer their different skills and together we will lift each other up,” said Bech Jensen.

In addition to these five festive weeks, and the 25 smaller events, Caravan Next will offer ten other international conferences in Europe and beyond.

Read more about Caravan Next and Odin Teatret.