The Festival
WESTWIND is one of the most renowned theatre festivals for young audiences nationwide. It is hosted by a different NRW theatre each year. In addition to a selection of NRW productions, the festival features international guest performances and an extensive programme of accompanying events including workshops, panels and discussions.
WESTWIND opening ceremony
On 11 June, WESTWIND 2023 commenced in an evening ceremony with Ina Brandes, Minister of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia; Katja Dörner, Mayor of the City of Bonn; Ursula Mahler from Landschaftsverband Rheinland; Brigitte Dethier, President of ASSITEJ Germany; and Julia-Huda Nahes, one of four NRW workgroup spokespersons, along with many theatre guests! Prior to the opening ceremony, an afternoon music-theatre parade marched its way through the streets of Bonn. A few first impressions can be found on our website here
Awards ceremony
To wrap up this year’s festival, the concluding awards ceremony took place on 17 June at Theater Marabu.
Congratulations to all winners!
A press release and jury statements can be found on our website here
Festival closing photos: Tanja Evers
Outlook 2024
The festival must go on! Maschinenhaus in Essen is delighted to be hosting WESTWIND 2024. For ASSITEJ member theatres based in NRW, the application period starts with the coming 2023/24 season. Further information can be found on our website here
On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, Theater Marabu is hosting WESTWIND in Bonn from 11 to 17 June 2023 in cooperation with Theater Bonn, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Junges Theater Bonn and cultural center Brotfabrik.
Back in 2013, Theater Marabu welcomed the festival in cooperation with several Bonn institutions, including Theater Bonn, Kulturzentrum Brotfabrik and Theater im Ballsaal. In 2023, this network will continue to develop and expand, particularly due to the recent foundation of the “Bonn Initiative Theatre and Music for Young Audiences” in 2021. Here, Junges Theater Bonn, PORTAL (the platform of Theater Bonn and Beethoven Orchestra Bonn) and Theatre Marabu have teamed up to generate more awareness for artistic offerings for young audiences in Bonn.
Visitors can expect a multifaceted and high-quality programme presented at local Bonn venues. Community involvement will be high in the run-up to the festival, as there will be cooperations with schools, kindergartens, youth institutions, family centres and other partner organisations prior to the festival week. The programme specially developed for this purpose will serve to sensitise children and young people to the special guest performances, to prepare them thematically, to engage the urban community in cross-generational dialogue with visiting theatres and to enable people of all generations access to arts and culture.
We look forward to the theatre convention AND audience festival WESTWIND 2023!
Here you find some more inforamtions about the selection committee
contact informations:
Theater Marabu
Telefon +49 228 433 97 59
westwind@theater-marabu.de
Postanschrift:
Theater Marabu
Kreuzstraße 16
53225 Bonn