20 Years of ARENA

ARENA made their first phenomenal appearance in Erlangen in 1990, with the aim of promoting young, unconventional and innovative theatre for students. From then onwards, the local arts scene was to be enrichened by a rebellious institution. The student festival's unusual experimental performances brought new life to the town's outdated theatrical structures.

Noone could have guessed that this unconventional project with no permanent staff or funding would have any future at all. But then an ever changing team of organisers meant it was possible to have a new ARENA every year. It was possible to experiment with the organisation and renew the structure, over and over again.
In addition, the range of program items has been steadily increased. After the very first festival, the ARENA coproduction was established. With ten groups to start with, the number of artists that ARENA has invited each year has grown steadily, with 17 groups in 1996. Workshops, public talks, prizes awarded by a professional jury, a festival newspaper and a camera team have all been added to the line up along the way.

Thanks to the determined creativity and passion of the ARENA team over the years, the festival had grown from strength to strength without ever forgetting its origins. So ARENA will continue to be what it always has been: Free, student based, young, unconventional, experimental, not for profit, dictatorial, professional, monodemocratic and wonderful. In 2010, we would like to embrace both the whirlwind of this history whilst looking forward with optimism. Enjoy the future now, so you can't grumble later that:

„The future used to be better“.