IETM – International network for contemporary performing arts is one of the first and largest international cultural networks, uniting 450 performing arts organisations and individual professionals working in the contemporary performing arts worldwide.
We advocate the value of the arts and culture and empower performing arts professionals through access to international connections, knowledge and a dynamic forum for exchange. We work to stimulate the quality, development and context of the contemporary performing arts, in all their diversity.
We create opportunities for our members and the international performing arts community at large by organising networking activities, peer-to-peer learning, exchanges and dialogues via various events.
We also commission publications and research, facilitate communication and distribution of information about the performing arts and advocate for the position of performing arts professionals, worldwide.
Our members are organisations and freelancers working worldwide in the contemporary performing arts. They come from all genres of the performing arts and all functions in the ecosystem: artists, producers, companies, venues, festivals, research and resource centers, residencies, networks and associations, universities, institutions and governmental bodies and more.
They work on all aspects of international cooperation: creation, production, presentation, curation, promotion, support, education, research and more.
Our Associate Members are organisations providing support to the performing arts field, in their own country as well as internationally. IETM Associate Members are official bodies, ministries, arts councils, public funding organisations and foundations. They have the same rights as other members but their higher fee includes a support grant to the network. We provide our Associate Members with a special forum for peer exchange and feed them with information on our activities and policy developments.
We aim to make our network more diverse and our activities more inclusive and accessible, reaching out to performing arts professionals from all backgrounds.
IETM acknowledges that climate change is the greatest emergency of our time and asserts the need to accelerate action for moving towards zero emissions and zero waste.
The daily operations of the network are run by the IETM Team in Brussels, Belgium. With over nine languages spoken between them, they always welcome questions and enquiries, as well as new ideas. Contact us now
IETM is an association based in Brussels and operates under Belgian law. You can learn more about our structure and meet appointed representatives on this page.
Our members guarantee the operation of our network through their annual membership fee. IETM is also the proud recipient of the European Union Network Grant offered by its Creative Europe programme.
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| When was the network founded? In July 1981 in Polverigi, Italy, during the Inteatro Festival |
| When was the first IETM meeting? 15 October 1981 at the Théâtre Gérard Philippe inParis |
| How many members does IETM have? 450 in more than 60 countries. You can see the full members list here. |
| Which organisations has IETM founded or co-founded? Roberto Cimetta Fund (arts mobility in the Mediterranean), On The Move (mobility web portal), Balkan Express (platform for collaboration in and with the Balkans), ICARJ (International Coalition for Arts, Human Rights and Social Justice), European Alliance for Culture and the Arts. |
| What is IETM’s annual turnover? approx. € 500.000 (managed directly through the Secretariat) |
| What is the annual expenditure for the network (adding in partners and co-organisers’ budgets)? at least € 1.000.000 |
IETM was founded in 1981 at an informal gathering of performing arts professionals at the Polverigi Festival (now called Inteatro festival) in Italy. It was a time when international collaboration was to a large extent performed by and through governmental and intergovernmental institutions. As one of the first European cultural networks, it was founded by and for professionals to create a space of exchange and strengthen international collaboration in the thriving independent performing arts sector in Europe.
IETM developed, organising ‘meetings’ twice a year with debates and performance programmes, but without a formal association, structure or status. In 1989, it became a not-for-profit international organisation under Belgian law with a Secretariat and membership fees.
From 1989, IETM (a predominantly EU-based membership) was active in including colleagues from Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, and from 1994, those from the countries around the Mediterranean. From 2003, IETM also became active as a bridge between its professional members in Europe and those in Asia (including Central Asia), Africa and the Americas, although its main membership still comes from Europe.
With the number of members growing consistently each year, and representing an increasingly diverse range of interdisciplinary contemporary performing arts, in 2005 IETM dropped its original title Informal European Theatre Meeting to become simply ‘IETM’ with the tagline ‘International network for contemporary performing arts”.