Both the festival programme and the performances are generally designed in line with feminist principles (such as being self-critical and transparent; equal and clear relationships and doing less with more focus). Read more about this at the bottom of this page. 

This also reflects the idea of initiating a critical assessment of cultural institutions and the way they work on decision-making processes, traditional hierarchies and power constellations, and customary terms of payment. 
 

The result of the inspiring collaborations between the different European partners was a program on 4 days of our festival. At Boulevard you could see artistic contributions from: 
 

• Chiara Bersani (IT) - SOTTOBOSCO
• Buren (BE) - T-Shirt conversations
• Anna Gaïotti and Tatiana Julien (FR) - Une Nuit Entière (A whole night)
• Noëmie Lakmaier (GB) - Welcome
• Selma Selman (NL) - The pink room of her own 

This project took place in the frame of the Feminist Futures Festival which is part of the apap – FEMINIST FUTURES, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

 
Feminist school

Parallel to the performance program, Boulevard hosted the Feminist School, which took place from 6 to 10 August 2023. 

During these days students and other interested parties and people can participate in an extensive programme of workshops, discussions, lectures and (film)screenings. The aim is to enable a practice-oriented exchange and discussions between the participants and artists of the apap network. 

The Feminist School is intended to be a place where people can learn from each other and an opportunity to encounter and engage in different concepts and experiences related to feminism. In addition, the Feminist School also creates time and space for reflection, discussion, doing nothing, celebrating and meeting in a relaxed environment. 
 

The Feminist School took place in the frame of the Feminist Futures Festival which is part of the apap – FEMINIST FUTURES, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

You can find the programme here.
 

Feminist business model for the performing arts

Central themes within the apap network are reflecting on current, often hierarchical, ways of working within the performing arts addressing inequity, and instigating change towards an intersectional feminism. 

A dedicated task force, composed of partners and artists, regularly meets to elaborate, propose and test what could be a feminist business model that fosters transparency, fairness, equity and sustainability in the performing arts. The work sessions are led by Pauline Legros, consultant in strategy for cultural organizations and teacher at Sciences Po Paris. The Feminist Futures Programme and School are the chosen case studies to research, experiment and implement actions towards a feminist business model in the performing arts. 

Exchange with Lia Rodrigues' Escola Livre De Dança Da Maré 

An important part of the project outside of Europe is the exchange with the Maré Art Center of Lia Rodrigues in Rio de Janeiro, in the form of residencies there and for Brazilian artists at some of the apap partners.  
 
There was also a partner meeting in 2022 in the Escola Livre de Dança da Maré.. This place, which is located in the Favela Maré, houses both a free dance school and Lia's company. Our director Dana Kibbelaar was present on behalf of Boulevard. 

The apap partners had the chance to encounter the work of more than twenty impressive artists and collectives. It was a week full of learning about art, culture, memories and identities, the power of black women and the many social projects of the network Redes da Maré. The meeting was mainly about the responsibility of art in socio-political environments. The visit contributes to promoting knowledge about how inclusion, openness and mutual support can be used in daily life and in specific local circumstances. 

Goals of the project

1. Enabling a new generation of artists to create socially relevant projects. 
2. Develop an ecological and sustainable business model for international cooperation. 
3. Facilitate access to (performing) arts for all types of underprivileged/discriminated groups. 
4. Strengthen exchanges between institutions, artists and audiences across Europe and raise awareness of equality issues. 

Programme 2023

Sun 6 August
Feminist School: Acoustic Encounters  - Sounding Bodies / Jacqueline Hamelink
16:00 - 18:00h - The View

A musical, audio and palpable workshop about listening with your entire body.

In a world filled with visual stimuli we sometimes forget what truly listening can do with us. What happens if we connect listening and feeling? In this workshop we experience the research and training methods that underlie the development of Sounding Bodies.

This workshop is part of the creation process surrounding the research question: How can we make contact with our audience and let them experience new soundscapes by combining sound and touch?
As a performance artist, Jacqueline Hamelink, artistic director of Sounding Bodies, stands for the touch in the core of the artistic practice. Her work focuses on the creation of encounters that are characterised by attention and presence. As a classical musician, she searches for ways to narrow the distance between the audience and performer, which creates another experience and exposes an new dimension of music and sound. Hamelink teaches us a loving lesson in touch and show that consent is the centre of everything that happens.
The contribution and experience of the visitors is essential for the creation process of Acoustic Encounters that will be performed at Theaterfestival Boulevard in 2024.

Mon 7 August
Feminist School: Creating protest signs for International Women's Day - Theaterfestival Boulevard & MINOUX 
16.00 - 18.00h - The View

The 8th of March 2024 is International Women’s day. A day that revolves around combativeness and solidarity between women worldwide. During Boulevard, we design that protest signs that we will march with next year, guided by a visual artist. Monday the 7th of August we meet in the Feminist School on Boulevard. Join!

Theaterfestival Boulevard and MINOUX want to redesign International Women’s Day Den Bosch. Minou Bosua is led by the question: what does the 8th of March mean for Bosschenaren nowadays? Who are the Amazones of Den Bosch? Boulevard embraces feminism within its organisation, programming and the various ways this subject is present throughout the city. The last two years at the 8th of March, people came together to answer the question: what do we celebrate? What is worth fighting for? A broad range of themes were discussed. We concluded the 8th of March 2023 with a wish to organise a march on International Women’s Day 2024.

What could this march look like? Which cries should be on the signs? Who are we going to march with? And where? Through this workshop we find out what kind of march we should walk on the 8th of March 2024.

Tue 8 August
Feminist School: Feminist Business Model  - Theaterfestival Boulevard & apap
14.00 - 16.00h - The View

About reprocity and equality in programming

In the art sector we are dependent of each other. We inspire and move each other, facilitate and make (possible) for each other. The sector is relational in its core; without artists no stages and vice versa. Without relations between programmers, artists, audiences, press, societal organisations, municipalities and funds there is no sector.

Boulevard is a part of the international network apap, a collection of European cultural organisations led by intersectional and feminist questions. This year, Boulevard develops a Feminist Business Model: starting from a feministic way of thinking, we research reprocity and equality in our programming. How do Boulevard and artist find each other? How can we be more transparent in this process?

During this private gathering we meet with partners and artists to put a magnifying glass on (power) relations within the sector.

Tue 8 August
Feminist School: Connecting with the World and Steppin on Toes – Noemi Lakmaier
16.00 - 18.00h - The View

Performance artist Noemi Lakmaier will lead an interactive, workshop on body extensions and on how to build connections to the world and other people through them, while questioning them at the same time. Noemi will introduce their own way of working with the body, with body extensions to challenge societally preconceived and expected ways of interacting with each other and our surroundings. In a playful, experiential experiment, they will then invite participants to create their own simple body extensions with each other and the space that surround them to uncover potentially new, absurd, funny and revealing ways of connecting with the world.

Wed 9 August
Feminist School: Entering the cultural field - Fontys Theater / Theaterfestival Boulevard
16.30 - 18.00h - The View

Fontys Theatre: a student programme during the festival in which 11 Fontys graduates share their work with the audience at Huis73/Ciruskapel/Parade. Next season, they will enter the cultural field as new artists. But which working environment is this? Which development possibilities exist? How do you get your work on a stage? We will talk with various guests about programming processes and the position of new artists in the sector.

Wed 9 August
Feminist School: Parenthood with the Kardashians - Mensen Zeggen Dingen / buren
15.00 - 16.30h - The View

Mensen Zeggen Dingen and buren have a conversation about parenthood: what does it mean to be one, to have one, or to miss one? How does chosen family work? Based on the most famous family in the world, The Kardashians, buren and Mensen Zeggen Dingen discuss what the ultimate shape of parenthood is and if it exists. This programme is part of Mensen Zeggen Dingen: You're Doing Amazing, Sweetie! which will be performed at the 13th of August.

Thu 10 August
Feminist School: Letters Exchange & Book launch The Magical Book of A True Story – Daniël Mariblanca / What You See Festival
16.00 - 18.00h - The View

71BODIES / Daniël Mariblanca present their work A True Story at Theaterfestival Boulevard; about transgender childhoods, transgender parenthood and family relationships. Exchanging letters has been and important part of our methodology to create A True Story. The letters are from both, the protagonist (the transgender people on the stage) and the family members. In this Feminist School at Theaterfestival Boulevard, we will continue this exchange of letters, ánd Daniel will launch his new book The Magical Book of a True Story. This book takes you on a multitude of journeys toward self discovery, insistence in societal acceptence and the beauty of transgender lives.

Daniëls wish with The Magical Book of A True Story is to showcase family models that are underreperesented, create a solid reference of what a more inclusive and diverse way of living could be and a broader perspective of beauty. He wants it to be an authentic reference for families facing challenges and bring light to family stories that are outside of the heteronormative cisgender centered mainstream society.

Everyone experiences transitions in different forms; a change in gender, or a change of job, residence, partner, beliefs, etc. A family often seems like a fixed thing, a monument; changes in a family can therefore be earth-movingly beautiful and/or difficult. In this Feminist School, by launching his book, Daniël Mariblanca and What You See Festival invite you to write a letter to your family, about a form of transition that has put your family relations on edge. Write a letter (it does not matter if you actually send it or not), and by doing so, we strech the borders of beauty and family relations.

Sun 6 August till Thu 10 August
Feminist School: Mothers & Others - buren
Continuous

In Mothers & Others three panels are brought together based on their research for their performance SPARE TIME WORK.

What is the position of the mother regarding dedication, freedom, work, leisure, safety and gender equality? buren put a magnifying glass on motherhood and acting as a mother. They reflect on the idea of mother through time, from Mother Superior to the modern Combinatrix.
 

Sun 6 August till Thu 10 August
Feminist School: Fereshteh's beauty salon I
Continuous

During their travels in Iran in 2019, Nastaran Razawi Khorasani and Davy Pieters reflected on the women who grew up under the country’s Islamic dictatorship, and were confronted with the immense impact that (un)freedom has on their daily lives and outlook on life. Both women and artists in Iran face immense amounts of censorship and restrictions to their self-expression. Acknowledging their privilege and responsibility, the duo set out to offer a voice and platform to those who are left unheard. 

Their film Fereshteh’s Beauty Salon /  سالن فرشتھ was inspired by conversations with various Iranian women, based both in Iran and in the Netherlands, on the role that freedom plays in their daily lives. Set in a beauty salon—one of the few safe spaces for women to express themselves in an oppressive society—the film shares stories of ‘small resistance’ by women from Iran. Their experiences and accounts speak to the women’s resistance, power and determination, as well as their humour and lightness, and demonstrate how a build-up of small-scale action has had a massive impact on their individual and collective freedom.

Nastaran Razawi Khorasani (1987, Babol/Iran) and Davy Pieters (1988, Heemstede/Netherlands) make up the artist duo KOBE. The pair formed a close collaboration during their time at the Toneelacademie Maastricht, institute of performative arts. KOBE’s interdisciplinary work is characterised by a distinct visual style that takes current events and personal fascinations as its starting point. Their performances use glorification and criticism to scrutinise contemporary pop culture, with previous work presented at BAR Rotterdam, Roodkapje, Mysteryland, TENT Rotterdam and more.