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Group photo of participants standing in the middle of a hall and waving at the camera

Patrick Essex

Group photo of participants standing in the middle of a hall and waving at the camera

Patrick Essex

Promotion of young artistic talent

A retrospective look at the NEW TALENTS RUHR creative camp

New Talents Ruhr has made it its mission to get young people excited about the various disciplines of the Neue Künste Ruhr (NKR). New Talents Ruhr is an anchor project of the NKR. As the name suggests, the idea behind these projects is to form an anchor for the various disciplines and thus build sustainable structures in the region. Anchor projects are usually supported and accompanied by the funding programme over several years. The programme supports teenagers and young adults in professionalising their artistic hobbies. The project is sponsored by the Regionalverband Ruhr (RVR) and supported by the NKR, among others. The project consists of various parts and starts with a 10-day creative camp. The first round of the subsequent mentoring programme then started in October. In addition to actively promoting talent, the main focus is on networking within the Ruhr region and between the individual players. New Talents Ruhr is cooperating on the implementation with the ten cities in the Ruhr area (Bochum, Dortmund, Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Hamm, Herne, Oberhausen, Unna and Wesel) as well as with the Folkwang University of the Arts, the Academy for Theatre and Digitality, the Theater im Depot, URBANATIX and Pottporus e.V.. In this article, we will tell you how Creative Camp 2024 went. We asked Sophie Charlotte Kirk a few questions about it. She is a project manager at New Talents Ruhr and has a background in media and cultural studies.

shows young people producing music

Joshua Hoven

For those who are not yet familiar with New Talents Ruhr, what does the project promote?

New Talents Ruhr is a talent promotion programme that focuses on young artistic talent from the Ruhr region, concentrating on the artistic areas of urban arts, contemporary circus, electronic music and digital arts & performance.

In other words, precisely the areas covered by the NKR. What makes the programme unique in the Ruhr region?

No other talent promotion programme or artistic project focuses on all four of these artistic areas at the same time. The RVR has the privilege of being able to cooperate with five outstanding artistic partners in the region, as well as ten cities in the Ruhr region.
The promotion of talent does not end after the 10-day artistic camp. Thirty-two young talents are given the opportunity to participate in a two-year mentoring programme, in which they receive individual support and encouragement. The aim is to help them become more professional and pursue their own artistic goals. All 73 talents are invited to continue participating in the community module. There, they are offered a platform to continue networking, participate in theory modules and attend art and cultural events together.

That really sounds like a great concept for supporting young people in the long term. The current round kicked off last year with the creative camp, which is a central component of the New Talents Ruhr programme. What did you do with the artists during the 10 days?

Immediately after checking into the youth hostel and kicking off the artistic workshops together at the Theater im Depot, the Kulturort Depot and the Academy for Theatre and Digitality, our talents got started. At the camp, they had the opportunity to deepen their creative practice or gain initial insights into specific artistic practices in their area of focus. This was particularly true for our innovative focus on digital arts & performance, which opened up whole new (digital) worlds for almost all participants in this field. The camp also facilitated and encouraged interdisciplinary exchange between the different areas of focus. After the first few days of workshops, the talents gave each other insights into the artistic processes of their workshops. This sparked an exchange for possible artistic collaboration within and outside the camp. The camp culminated in a final presentation, which served as a snapshot of the time spent together at the camp and the artistic work.


Young people sitting on the floor playing cards

Joshua Hoven

What was your personal highlight or best experience during the camp?

That's not an easy question to answer – I don't think I can pick out just one moment! There were so many! For example, the moment when I got my first glimpse of the talents' work in the workshops. Seeing friendships form, how passionate our talents are about what they do, and hearing from many of them what participating in the camp means to them. Hearing the singers rehearse in front of the academy in the evening after the workshop ended, arriving at the youth hostel and seeing motivated producer talents still working on their laptops in the lounge at 11 p.m. Seeing the 3D printers of the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in action through the collaboration between Digital Arts & Performance and the street art/graffiti talents from the Urban Arts programme. Getting live insights into a fascinating exercise from the field of new circus, led by artist Sabeth Danneberg, and experiencing the skills of our talents in the field of new circus. I could probably go on and on with this list!

That sounds like a resounding success and an unforgettable experience! What comes next for the participants after the creative camp?

Thirty of our participants (initially 32) are now in the New Talents Ruhr mentoring programme. All 73 of our talents are part of the NTR community and are invited to networking meetings and monthly community events, where we attend art and cultural events. The first cycle of New Talents Ruhr ends on 31 August 2026.

Cool, we can't wait to see what else will come of it! What is the main goal of the mentoring programme that follows the creative camp?

The mentoring programme aims to provide individual support to the talents. They should be helped to focus on their own artistic goals and work towards them. The aim is for everyone to deepen their artistic practice. The goals may vary: some may want to prepare for an entrance exam for an art college, others may be working on a set or their first track, on self-marketing or on producing their own works. Where possible, we also want to strengthen interdisciplinary artistic collaboration.

With this comprehensive and sustainable support programme, you are securing the next generation of artists in the New Arts in the Ruhr area and also strengthening the networking between the individual disciplines. Thank you very much for this exciting insight into New Talents Ruhr!

Young people giving each other a high five

Joshua Hoven

Two teenagers performing acrobatics on a trapeze

RVR und NTR

Young people sitting in a circle on two mats on the floor of an industrial hall

Patrick Essex

Group photo of participants standing in the middle of a hall and waving at the camera

Patrick Essex

Neue Künste Ruhr - the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia promotes new artistic tendencies in the Ruhr region.

Made with ❤️ in the Ruhr region