The New Arts Ruhr is a whole network of different players. Here you can find out who else is behind the NKR alongside artists and cultural workers. The project offices Urban Arts and New Circus are central when it comes to network and support to the local scenes. The New Arts Advisory Board guides the program. The expert jury selects the projects to be funded. The Ministry of Culture and Science shapes the framework conditions for cultural diversity in the Ruhr region and beyond.
These are the players of New Arts Ruhr
Who we are, what we do
Project Offices
New Circus Project Office
What is the New Circus Project Office?
The project office is a coordination center for New Circus in the Ruhr region. It has a great network in the German-speaking scene and beyond. The office is your point of contact if you work in the field of New Circus or if you are interested or have questions.
What does the New Circus Project Office do?
The project office is expanding the New Circus network in the Ruhr region. It organizes network meetings for various cultural players, for artists, for venues, sometimes for their connections. The project office is also the point of contact when it comes to the international New Circus and can help you with all kinds of questions in this context.
The New Circus Project Office organizes further training: the physical, technical and artistic skills of artists and young talents can be further developed here.
The project office has a broad advisory profile, advising artists on project development, funding opportunities and applications. Municipal institutions can seek advice on events and issues relating to the culture-driven development of urban society. Production and performance venues can find answers to questions relating to the production and programming of the vibrant sector at the project office.
The New Circus Project Office is in close contact with universities and colleges that teach in the field of New Circus. These include, for example, the Folkwang University in Essen, which offers courses in scenic research, theater studies and physical theater, and art colleges in Stockholm and Rotterdam, which each offer a "Circus Art" course.
Who is behind the New Circus Project Office?
Carolin Hensel-Lippold, Axel Hupertz and Jenny Patschovsky form the New Circus Project Office.
How can I get in touch?
You can reach the project office by e-mail, telephone or contact form. You can find email addresses, numbers and the form here:
https://neuerzirkus.ruhr/kontakt/
Further links:
https://neuerzirkus.ruhr/
https://www.instagram.com/neuerzirkus/
Urban Arts Project Office
What is the Urban Arts project office?
The project office is a location and coordination center for urban arts in the Ruhr region. The office takes care of the needs of the scenes, it connects, advises, makes possible and promotes ideas and projects of the independent scene in and around the Ruhr region. Cultural events and formats for further education and training take place in the premises in Wanne-Eickel.
What does the Urban Arts project office do?
The urban arts project office is a network: it is a hub for the sub-scenes of urban arts. The urban arts project office offers artists the opportunity to connect with the scenes and find a productive environment and, if necessary, mediates in projects.
The project office is a venue and platform - it is open Monday to Wednesday between 10 am and 5 pm. During opening hours, there is always at least one person from the project office available for discussions and questions. The space will be continuously established as an event venue in 2024, it can be used as a project space for presentations, performances, exhibitions, readings or panel discussions - also for your formats! It is also free of charge.
The urban arts project office offers further education and training. The target group includes professional artists and those who want to become one.
The urban arts project office is a contact point for advice - for example, it advises on project funding from the NKR, helps with applications for project concepts and project descriptions or cost and financing plans. You are also in the right place for questions relating to the development of the artistic profile, supra-regional networking or other issues.
You can find information on the project office's current activities and events in our events calendar.
Who is behind the Urban Arts project office?
Elikem Anyigba (rap, music), Emil Imdahl (street art, graffiti) and Ates Kaykilar (urban dance) form the urban arts project office.
How can I get in touch?
You can reach the project office by email, phone or Instagram. You can find email addresses, numbers and the address here
https://www.pottporus.de/projektbuero-urbanartsruhr
How do I find the Urban Arts project office?
Address:
Hauptstraße 290
44649 Herne
Opening hours:
Monday to Wednesday 10:00 - 17:00 and by appointment
Further links:
https://www.pottporus.de/projektbuero-urbanartsruhr
https://www.instagram.com/projektbuero_urban_arts/
Photo credits: Project office Urban Arts
The Jury
Credits: Ute Classen
Ute Classen
Ute Classen specializes in the management and production of contemporary circus in all its forms – from avant-garde to variety – and has been actively involved in its development for more than 25 years. She sees herself as a mediator between artists and presenters, as she knows both sides of the field: she works as a production manager and program scout for festivals and events, and supports artists and companies with administration, marketing, and tour planning. Her work is rooted in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, and she operates within a steadily growing international network.
Since the 1990s, she has been passionate about contemporary circus and theatre in public spaces – a passion that was sparked in Berlin and continues to this day. While her pace may be more measured now, her commitment remains as strong as ever.
What matters most to her in collaboration? A combination of personal enthusiasm – for a topic, a person, or a unique moment on stage – social relevance, and a tangible connection with the audience. When these elements align, she enjoys sitting down with artists to develop ideas and shape strategies for working together.
Credits: Tino Flad
Tice
15 years of microphone experience, coupled with numerous releases in recent years, have left their mark. Tice's distinctive voice, in combination with her honestly learned MC craft, is now making the rounds far beyond the rap and hip hop scene; because she contrasts her hit-worthy, catchy hooklines with honest, emotional lyrics, rapping and singing in her own perfect rhyme and narrative scheme. Partly with edgy toughness, partly with soulful words - but always with a rarely heard feeling for flow and technique, you get to feel her versatile mood worlds like a punchline. In order to maintain her versatility and give her art more space, Tice is currently working on fresh material that will once again make her grating voice accessible to a wider audience...
Credits: Julius Erdmann
Marina Rieger
Marina Rieger (she/her) works as a freelance cultural practitioner in the fields of new circus/contemporary circus and accompanies artistic actors and organizations from conception to creation and mediation.
Having grown up with circus for children and young people, she worked in various positions in Northern Europe (including Cirkusgymnasiet Gävle, Sírkus Íslands), followed by a B.A. in Scandinavian/Northern European Studies and Cultural Studies in addition to artistic practice and advocacy at association level for the visibility of circus arts as part of the performing arts.
Active in the Bundesverband Zeitgenössischer Zirkus (then: Initiative Neuer Zirkus) since 2018, Marina accompanies circus performers through mediation and networking formats. She has also been part of the advisory board since 2024.
Between 2018 - 2021 she was part of the strapmania collective (DE/DK/SE) and accompanied the research and creation programs, such as Kristofferscenen 2021 - 2022 and the Kreationsbündnis für Zirkuskunst - Zirkus ON 2022 - 2023 in the field of knowledge transfer.
Photo credits: Patrick Williams Seebacher
Takao Baba
Takao Baba is a choreographer and dancer. The roots of his work lie in urban dance, which he combines with the expressive forms of contemporary dance. As a dancer, he has worked for many international artists such as Spice Girls, Jamelia and SClub7.
Since 2003 he has concentrated on the field of contemporary dance theater. In 2003, Takao Baba founded the dance company E-Motion, which regularly develops dance theater productions. In 2008, it was the first urban dance company to be invited to the German Dance Platform with the production "2nd ID". The children's production "Boys don't dance" was invited to the Augenblick Mal and Westwind Festival. Since 2010, he has also worked as a choreographer for Urbanatix, a project that brings young street art talents and international artists together on an annual basis. Takao Baba is co-founder of the Dance Unity platform, which organizes Germany's most important urban dance events "Funkin' Stylez " and "Juste Debout" in cooperation with tanzhaus nrw. In 2018, he curated the "Urban Dance" section of the international tanzmesse nrw.
Takao Baba performed as a dancer in Robert Wilson's production of "The Jungle Book" at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus. In the 2020/21 theatre season, he worked with director Roger Vontobel on the choreography for the production "Das Rheingold. Another Story" by Feridun Zaimoglu and Günter Senkel. In the 2023/24 season, he staged "Time to Shine", a dance and theater spectacle for hearing, hearing-impaired and deaf people, at the Junges Schauspiel and developed the choreography for "Glaube, Liebe, Fußball" directed by Peter Jordan and Leonhard Koppelmann.
At Zurich Opera House, he choreographed the opera "Amerika" based on Roman Haubenstock Ramati under the direction of Sebastian Baumgarten.
Dr. Philipp Bojahr
Dr. Philipp Bojahr is currently a curator at the Siegerland Museum in the Oberen Schloss. In addition to the exhibition concept, he is responsible for the focus on multimedia mediation. He also researches and teaches in this field as a postdoctoral researcher at the Cologne Game Lab at Cologne University of Applied Sciences. His research interests include game studies, platform studies, digital museology, memory studies and decolonial studies, for which he designs and manages various projects - such as “Hören, Sehen, Sinnstiften” for the Siegerlandmuseum or “Höhlenerlebniszentrum VR” for the TH Köln. His publications include numerous works in the aforementioned fields. He is a member of the AG Games in the Association for Media Studies and a founding member of the research initiatives GamesCoop and X-Mem.
Credits: Roland Owsnitzki
Zuri Maria Daiß
Zuri Maria Daiß is a music curator, cultural producer and event organizer based in Berlin. As press spokesperson and Head of Marketing, Sponsoring and Cooperations at the CTM Festival, she is not only responsible for strategic communication, but is also involved in developing the content of the program in an advisory capacity. She previously worked for several years as a music curator at HAU Hebbel am Ufer. She is also the founder and owner of the agency ZURI & MARIA, which specializes in artist management, project development and booking.
With over two decades of experience in international cultural production, Daiß conceives and realizes projects at the interface of music, art and society - often as part of publicly funded programs.
Her most recent work includes the festival “Das Verschwinden der Musik” (House of World Cultures, Berlin), “The Only Good System” (Radialsystem & YAAM, Berlin) and the upcoming event series “MULTICORE” in collaboration with sound artist Nik Nowak. In addition, she was a jury member for various cultural funding programs, including the Berlin Senate's open-discipline funding and the renowned Giga-Hertz Prize of the ZKM Karlsruhe, and was significantly involved in the conception and development of the Open Ground club in Wuppertal.
Vladimir Ivkovic
Vladimir Ivkovic is a major player on the European club and festival scene. After his 20-year residency at the Salon des Amateurs in Düsseldorf, he proved that he feels just as comfortable in famous nightclubs such as De School (Amsterdam) or Berghain (Berlin). His DJ tours have taken him to Canada, Asia, Australia, Brazil, Colombia and the USA.
Ivkovic's music focuses on dark and often psychedelic sounds. Ivkovic regularly provides musical contributions for Noods Radio, Kiosk Radio or Oddity Radio, to name but a few. He is currently the music editor of a weekly program "Zaum" on Rovr.live.
Vladimir Ivkovic is label manager of Desolat and operator of Offen Music. He is also currently a lecturer at the Institute of Pataphysics in Todmorden.
In 2024, the readers of the renowned GROOVE magazine voted him 29th out of 100 DJs of the year 2023 and his label Offen Music 18th out of 50 labels of the year 2023.
Gordan Savičić
Gordan Savičić is a media artist whose work explores the effects of digital culture(s) in various media. His artistic research deals with the visualization of invisible infrastructures, datification and digital interventions in online and offline life. He has received awards and honorary mentions for group and solo works at various media art festivals, including transmediale Berlin, Rhizome New York and Ars Electronica Linz. Gordan Savičić currently holds an apprenticeship in Lucerne.
We are also...
The New Arts Advisory Board
An advisory board made up of creative minds from the various scenes in the Ruhr region is available to guide the project. The participants of the 2023 advisory board include
Vesela Stanoeva-Broer, artist, scenographer, Dortmund
Matthias Krentzek, co-founder of the Places virtual reality festival, Gelsenkirchen
Jenny Patschovsky, Chairwoman of the Federal Association of Contemporary Circus, founder of Atemzug, Cologne
Christian Eggert, owner of the agency DACAPO Kultur Offensiv!, initiator of Urbanatix & Open Space, Bochum
Frieda Frost, breakdancer, doctoral student at the Institute for Dance and Movement Culture at the Cologne Sport University
Zekai Fenerci, artistic director of Pottporus e.V. and Renegade, Herne
Ahmet Sisman, DJ, music manager, event organizer, Third Space, Essen
Inga Marie Sponheuer, cultural manager and agent for diversity development, Bochum
Michael Eickhoff, Academy for Theater & Digitality, Dortmund
Sabeth Dannenberg, artist, Bochum
Annika Pacyna, co-founder of the RKNKT Festival, DJ Bochum
Ursula Meyer, artist, scenographer and event organizer, Essen
Fabian Saveedra-Lara, curator, head of the medienwerk.nrw office, Dortmund
Aaron Stratmann, interdisciplinary artist, event management, Ruhr region
The Ministry of Culture and Science (MKW)
The Ministry of Culture and Science shapes the framework conditions for cultural diversity and scientific excellence in North Rhine-Westphalia. Ina Brandes has been the Minister of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia since June 29, 2022. Further information on funding programs and the ministry can be found at www.mkw.nrw
Cooperations
Ruhr Regional Association (RVR)
The 480 employees of the Ruhr Regional Association (RVR) are competent and experienced in regional planning and regional development, in the management of infrastructure projects such as the Industrial Heritage Route and Emscher Landscape Park, in the planning and expansion of the regional cycle path network and in the maintenance and development of forest and green spaces. At the heart of the RVR's legal mandate is the well-being of the Ruhr metropolis - as a networker, coordinator, initiator, service provider or project sponsor. You can find more information about the association at www.rvr.ruhr
