Symposium 2026 – Moving Perspectives

The symposium Moving Perspectives celebrates the conclusion of three years of Europe wide collaboration of performing arts residencies. Join us for two days of expanding our views on inclusion, representation & institutional responsibility in the performing arts sectors across Europe.

Around 100 artists, curators, project managers, and decision-makers will gather in Copenhagen to share knowledge and engage networks in moving perspectives and develop new insights into how the European performing arts can become more inclusive, representative, and socially and environmentally responsible.

The symposium is a professional forum for reflection, exchange, and inspiration, where performing arts professionals come together to discuss concrete challenges and approaches.

The two-day program consists of panel talks with artists and institutions, discussion groups and workshops, performances, and informal celebratory activities.

Do you want to join the symposium?

Sign up now – registration for physical attendance is closed 18 March. You can still sign up for online streaming of the first day of the symposium

Everything you need to know before registering

The Moving Perspectives symposium is open for performing artists, producers, and curators, as well as representatives of institutions, organisations, and government bodies.

When is it? Tuesday May 19 (from 11am) – Wednesday May 20 (until 6pm)

Where is it? The symposium takes place in Copenhagen at UP – The development Platform for Performing arts.

UP – The Development Platform for Performing Arts Baldersgade 6, Copenhagen N, Denmark

Who can join? The Moving Perspectives symposium is open for performing artists, producers, and curators, as well as representatives of institutions, organisations, and government bodies.

Can I join online – or do I need to travel to Copenhagen? You can follow only the first day of the symposium on an online video stream. The second day is mostly workshops which require your physical attendance. You decide in the registration-form how you want to participate: physically both days, or online the first day.

Can I join just one day in Copenhagen? No. Due to a limited capacity, all spots for the symposium are reserved for people who are there for both days.

How do I join? You register for the symposium by filling in the registration form. You will receive final confirmation by mail once it is seen by the organiser. Your receipt for filling in the registration form is not your final confirmation. REGISTRATION CLOSED 18 MARCH 2026.

How do I know if I am registered? You register by filling in the registration form. You will receive final confirmation by mail once it is seen by the organiser. Your receipt for filling in the registration form is not your final confirmation.

Language: The event is in English.

Accessibility: The event space is wheelchair friendly. There is step free access to all event spaces and an accessible restroom.

Headspace and children: There will be a rest space, and a seperate children’s/carer’s room, provided at the venue. If you wish to bring a child, please contact project manager Torben Eik Jacobsen at torben@udviklingsplatformen.dk as capacity is limited.

Travel: Travel and accommodation is not provided by the symposium organiser.

Sustainability: We encourage all guests to consider their modes of transport.

See more at UP – The Development Platform for Performing Arts

Visit UP – The Copenhagen venue and symposium host

Programme May 19

Inspiration, provocations & reflection

 

11:00 | Check-in & coffee

12:00 | Welcome by symposium host Laura Allen Müller

Then | Artistic Intervention: Opening Performance: Mourning in The Wrong Language by Gomrâh (BE)

Then | Reflection: Key learnings from three years of allowing ourselves to fail forward, presented by Camilla Gürtler, project initiator and former manager of Moving Identities (DK)

Then | Provocation: Keynote Performance Lecture on European Identity by Denise Duncan, artist in Las Sistahs (ES).

13.30 | Break – light food will be served

14:00 | Panel discussion: Inside the Moving Identities residencies – What have we learned about creating inclusive spaces? 

Panellists: Patrice Lipeb, artist (DE), Wanjiku Seest, artist (DK), Aina Juanet, venue partner at Nau Ivanow (ES), Anna Skanborg, advisory partner at CKI – Centre for Arts and Interculture (DK).

Moderated by Elizabeth Löwe Hunter and Phyllis Akinyi of HAUT.

Then | Provocation: Green mobility – how can we shape the agenda? by Bojana Panevska of DutchCulture / Transartists.

15:30 | Break – light food will be served

16:00 | Panel discussion: Reclaiming space – What must the sector let go of? 

Panelists: Rhys Nugent, Advocacy Officer at Culture Action Europe (EU), Janka Dold, venue partner at HELLERAU (DE), Gulnara Iskakova, artist in ISKRA Productions (NO)

Moderated by Lea Hedeskov of In Futurum.

17:00 | Reception, networking, and music by DJ Malika Mahmoud

 

Programme May 20

Visions for the future

 

11:00 | Coffee and Morning Music by DJ suziethecockroach

12:00 | Artistic Intervention: Videos from Moving Identities

Then | Provocation: An artistic call to action by Anastasia Krasnoshchoka, artist in ANART (DK)

Then | Co-Creation Labs: From Intention to Practice – part 1: Smaller groups work on concrete ideas and initiatives

Break

Then | Co-Creation Labs: From Intention to Practice – part 2: We all continue working in smaller groups on concrete ideas and initiatives

Break

15:00 | Co-Creation Lab Presentations: We all share our concrete ideas and initiatives in plenum

Then | Visions for the future: If we started from scratch, what would we build? Conversation between Niels Righolt, Advisory Partner at CKI (DK), and Samuel Valor Reyes, artist in The Age of Love (BE)

17:00 | Thank you | Networking & Goodbyes

Co-Creation Labs:

• Hosting: Safe for whom? Rethinking hosting and code of conducts
• Open calls: Selection processes that don’t exclude by design
• Tools for inclusion – and redistribution of power
• Green mobility vs. care: Prototyping models that don’t force a choice
• Slow internationalism: Strategies for meaningful exchanges
• Representation across Europe: Who’s still missing and what do we do about it