Info
The next Tampere Theatre Festival is held between 5–11 August 2024. The Main Programme will be announced on 7 May.
Tampere Theatre Festival is the oldest and the largest professional theatre festival in the Nordic countries, serving as a display window for the most interesting and up-to-the-minute productions in Finnish theatre, and attracting leading international guests from all corners of the globe. Annually in the beginning of August the city of Tampere becomes Finland’s theatre capital as local and international performing arts troupes take over the city’s stages and squares.
Below you will find the contact information of Tampere Theatre Festival office and staff. You will also find a list of the members of the board and the artistic team.
If you are interested in taking part in the festival and you would like to propose a production, please click "how to apply".
The Facts & Figures section includes background information about Tampere Theatre Festival, as well as information about the different programme categories.
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ARTISTIC TEAM
The performances for the Main Programme are always invited to the festival by the artistic team, which currently includes Tanjalotta Räikkä, Taija Helminen and Hilkka-Liisa Iivanainen. The Artistic team is in charge of the festival’s Main programme along with the Executive director Hanna Rosendahl.As of fall 2023, the members of the artistic team have two focuses. Tanjalotta and Taija will focus on selecting the national and international productions for the Main Programme. Hilkka-Liisa will also focus on selecting the international productions for the Main programme, as well as working on the festival’s international strategy development.
Tampere Theatre Festival continues to operate as a presenting festival with very limited possibilities for producing new work. The annual selection of the performances for the Main programme is co-curated by the artistic team. The curatorial choices are based on the festival’s strategy and values, as well as the careful assessment of the artistic, thematic, technical and logistic aspects of the performances.
Hilkka-Liisa IivanainenHilkka-Liisa Iivanainen (born 1980) is a stage director, writer, and curator. Iivanainen was awarded an artist's grant for 2017-2021 by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland. She has a bachelor's degree in theatre from the Chicago College of Performing Arts (2003) and has graduated as a stage director from the Uniarts Helsinki's Theatre Academy in 2010. Currently Iivanainen is finishing up her studies in the Master's Degree Program of Futures Studies in Turku School of Economics.
Iivanainen's directorial works are mostly premieres of contemporary dramas and new adaptations of classics. Her works have been performed in various Finnish theatres and festivals, by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), and also internationally, e.g. in The United States and Mexico. During 2015-2018, she was the artistic director of Theatre Jurkka in Helsinki.
In 2019, she was the first Finnish person to be chosen as a Fellow in the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) Global Fellowship Program, as well as for the jury of the prestigious International Ibsen Award. In addition, Hilkka-Liisa frequently visits international festivals, events and seminars as a speaker and moderator. Iivanainen started as a director in the Tampere Theatre in early 2022.
Tanjalotta RäikkäTanjalotta Räikkä (born 1962) is a freelance actor, writer and director. During her career, she has worked in several theatres across Finland both as a permanently employed actor and as a guest actor. Räikkä's long career has included involvement in independent groups and projects as well as about 20 movie roles and a great deal of TV and radio work.
She is a founding member and a member of the artistic team of Theatre Telakka, which received the Finnish state prize for performing arts in 2013.
In recent years, Räikkä has worked also as a writer and director. She has taught acting and held positions of responsibility in the theatre field, such as the role as a member of the National Council for Performing Arts.
Räikkä has also participated in international projects and festivals in Germany, Mexico and Estonia among others. In addition to acting, she has sung backing vocals on several artists' albums. Hospital clownery is also very close to her heart.
Taija Helminen
Taija Helminen (born 1984) is a playwright and dramaturge, who has worked multidisciplinarily in the fields of theatre and multi-arts in different positions. She graduated Theatre Academy in 2011, where she studied in the degree programme of dramaturgy. In 2020 she graduated University of Helsinki and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. Helminen has studied social policy as a part of her studies in dramaturgy. Her works have several social and political themes.
Helminen worked at Lahti City Theatre as a dramatuge in 2017–2018, but for the most part she has worked as a freelancer. She has dramatized and written pieces, for example, for the Finnish National Theatre, Radioteatteri, Riihimäen Teatteri, Teatteri Avoimet Ovet and Teatteri 2.0.
Photo: Carolin Büttner -
OUR ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT
As event organizers, we are committed to minimizing the impact of festivals on the environment.Complying with the standards of the EcoCompass environmental management system means we are taking measures such as fine-tuning our logistics and international flight arrangements to reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible. We express our dedication to the well-being of the planet across our communication outlets, to the media, our partners and to our audiences. By placing emphasis on environmental issues and taking action, we are conveying a positive message to everyone – a message of a better future. The Tampere Theatre Festival is proud to be on the frontline of the Pirkanmaa region arts community, leading the way towards a cleaner, healthier Earth.
Tampere Theatre Festival was granted the EcoCompass environmental certificate during the festival week 2022. The certificate is part of the EcoCompass environmental management system, which has been developed according to the international ISO14001 standard to suit all small and medium-sized enterprises as well as events. The system is owned by the oldest and strongest environmental organization in Finland, The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.
The EcoCompass certificate is granted when an enterprise or association has created with the help of the system an environmental program with goals and measures. The certificate is audited by an external source.
With the granted EcoCompass certificate, Tampere Theatre Festival is committed to continue its work for the environment. The aim is to reduce the strain on the environment caused by the Festival and encourage both the attendees and partners to act in an environmentally friendly way.
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FUTURE LEADERS IN PERFORMING ARTS NETWORK
The Future Leaders in Performing Arts is a new peer-to-peer network for emerging cultural leaders in the performing arts in the Nordic-Baltic regions. The network is built slowly and sustainably through a mentoring process. In the network’s inaugural year, four creative practitioners together with a group of mentors gather to explore and conceive questions and possibilities in updating power structures in the field of theater, dance and performance.The network recognizes the systemic barriers for participation in leadership roles in societies today. The participants are individually and collectively passionate in carving new pathways, challenging the existing paradigm and promoting new trajectories and paths to positions of agency and leadership.
The participants at Tampere Theatre Festival in 2023. Photo: Carolin Büttner
Network Partners
Tampere Theatre Festival (Finland)
Festspillene i Nord-Norge (Norway)
New Theatre Institute of Latvia / International Festival of Contemporary Theatre, Homo Novus (Latvia)
Teater Grob / Independent stage director and playwright Jesper Pedersen (Denmark)
The Future Leaders in Performing Arts network is supported by the Nordic Culture Point and Operation Pirkanmaa.
