Performing at Boulevard

Dear maker,

Welcome to the website of Theaterfestival Boulevard.

We are the programming team of Boulevard consisting of Gido Broers, programmer public space Stephan Bikker, programmer music Ivo Dierx and artistic coordinator Nina Aalders. The management, Dana Kibbelaar, also cooperate on the programme.

We are a festival in and with the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch. We consider ourselves advocates between art and society as providers of encounters. For this reason, we choose makers who invite audiences, are aware of the encounter nature of their work and want to relate to the context of the festival or the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch and its surroundings.

We work on a programme with an intersectional-feminist heart and multi-voicedness as a constant pursuit. This means, among other things, that we ensure a diverse formation of the group of makers we involve and showcase and that we programme from the idea that many different people can recognise (parts of) their life experiences on stage. For further information about the festival, have a look around this website.
 

If you want to research whether your work fits our festival but you have not yet engaged with any of us, we encourage you to read the following:

• Boulevard shows theatre, dance, site-specific theatre, musical theatre and performance, youth theatre, circus, music (bands) and music (night).
• We are programming with a fondness for theatre that starts from movement or visuals over text.
• Besides the classical performances in venues and on-site, we programme various interactive forms, from one-to-one to conversations to large visual objects. We are open to performances in alternative lengths, from 12 up to 40 minutes.
• We regularly programme from longer relationships with makers, which means that a part of our programme exists of makers who have performed during our festival before. Or with whom we have been in contact for some time. We do this from a sustainable perspective because we believe it is important that makers get more than one chance to perform at our festival. This way, our audience can get to know the maker.
• We rarely programme graduating or freshly graduated makers. Our colleagues at Festival Cement do so in March. If you fit this description, Festival Cement might provide better context. 
• Many of the young makers we programme are part of PLAN Talentontwikkeling Brabant, which we participate in, or are a part of Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten.
• In the venues, we often programme international or other unique projects, for example, performances that use the venue in an alternative way, match our theme or have not repeatedly performed, but we believe they should be seen. We mostly do not programme work performed in theatres throughout the year because we are a festival. If you want to tour theatres, de Verkadefabriek or Theater aan de Parade are better partners in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
• We work towards an as accessible festival as possible. If you have an idea that contributes to the accessibility of our festival, please let us know!
• Music programming has other requirements. We prefer diverse music styles. We attach value to artists/DJ's (live)/bands, who want to create a show with us driven by an artistic need.
   

If you want to get in touch with us after reading the above, you can email us at programmering@festivalboulevard.nl.

We spend a lot of time in the theatre but cannot always visit a performance. However, we rarely programme a new maker for us with only a digital encounter. If you sent us an email, please attach a registration or trailer of earlier work to show us what you make. Furthermore, everything is welcome, from photographs to descriptions and statements to performance overviews. If you have an idea of where you want to perform at our festival, please let us know.

We start programming in April for the coming year. For example, in April 2024, we begin programming for August 2025. After March, we cannot programme anything for the forthcoming edition.

We try to answer every email within two weeks. However in some periods this is not possible. In the meantime, we hope this page will give you some guidance. Thank you in advance for your email!

Kind regards, on behalf of the whole programming team,

Gido Broers and Nina Aalders