For ten days – from 21 to 30 August – Antwerp became Louder Together: an international meeting place for young performers, performing arts professionals, artists and Teaching Artists from all over the world. Festival centre Theater Elckerlyc was at the heart of all these encounters, and quickly became a true hub for our young participants, a place they could return to every day.
The church foyer of Theater Elckerlyc – the former Church of Our Lady of Grace – was much more than a collection of cushions and soft benches. Young participants could design their own T-shirts, make musical instruments, listen to concerts and readings, watch films, or simply take the microphone themselves during the open mics. Twice a day, they joined long queues for the pop-up restaurant run by chef Seppe Nobels and his Instroom team.
For ten days, the refectory of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwcollege provided the setting for this culinary gathering.
Louder Together came about through many close collaborations. First and foremost, we want to thank our volunteers and host families, who were there day after day to support our young participants and Teaching Artists.
Louder Together was a unique blend of collaborations and locations. Our international performances took place at Theater Elckerlyc, hetpaleis, De Studio and Fakkeltheater. We even moved outdoors, to Sint-Anneke beach and the Graanmarkt. The exchange with the ITAC8 conference took shape through workshops for young people led by Teaching Artists, and reached its spectacular finale in the Crosspoint percussion parade through the corridors of DE SINGEL.
A festival of this scale would never have been possible without financial support for international exchange from JINT, Erasmus+ and EPOS. The selection of theatre groups and Teaching Artists was made possible by the network and experience of AITA/IATA, the International Amateur Theatre Association, and ITAC, the International Teaching Artist Collaborative.
The organisation of ITAC8, the 8th International Conference for Teaching Artists, was made possible in part by Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, DE SINGEL and Fontys Academy of the Arts.
At local level, we received support from Flanders, the City of Antwerp, Antwerp Convention Bureau and the UNESCO Flemish Commission. Well-known VRT faces also visited our festival centre no fewer than five times, in collaboration with deAuteurs, to read theatre texts during the Reading Club.
Sabam supported our collaboration with young artists, who in turn created a true festival anthem, designed artistic medallions representing the participating countries, and, together with Creatief Schrijven, set up a writers’ residency coached by actress Tina Maerevoet.
