workshops

Since 2011, the Brachland Ensemble has been developing projects and participatory formats to encourage people to become politically and socially involved, whether in political education or the performing arts. In collaboration with our diverse partners and thanks to an international pool of players from socially relevant fields, we have developed methods and insights that we impart in our workshops in the areas of research, project development, participatory methodology, audience engagement, and media.

IN (E)MOTION / pARTicipatory methodology for more pluralism

IN (E)MOTION is a practical workshop for multipliers and decision-makers from education, politics, administration, culture, business, and civil society. It shows how complex topics can be experienced emotionally and negotiated collectively – without populist simplification. Using creative tools from the Brachland Ensemble, participants learn how fact-based content can touch, mobilize, and connect with real life.
The focus is on practical possibilism—the combination of fact-based hope and solution-oriented action. The workshop offers participatory methods that use emotions constructively, promote discourse, and activate people—for change with heart, mind, and attitude.

CONTACT – CONNECT – COMMUNICATE / From idea to goal

How does an idea become a viable, vibrant project? CONTACT – CONNECT – COMMUNICATE is aimed at cultural professionals, local authorities, NGOs, and educational institutions that want to implement ideas in a structured, convincing, and sustainable way. The workshop combines acting and communication techniques with methods of project development, research, and networking. Based on the ideas and topics of the participants, we jointly develop viable concept drafts – practical, goal-oriented, and feasible, whether for small regional projects or an international network.

RE-SEARCH / Research with conviction

The workshop is aimed at theater makers, authors, dramaturgs, and cultural professionals who want to research documentary material and use it creatively. The focus is on methods of on-site research, dealing with sources, ethical questions, and creative transfer into text, scene, and form – including live research as part of a performance. Using works by the Brachland Ensemble, the opportunities and limitations of documentary art are discussed and participants develop their own conceptual ideas. The workshop combines journalistic thoroughness with dramaturgical sensitivity and offers practical tools for participants' own documentary projects.

OVER THE EDGE / Addressing the audience between moderation, acting, and performance

Participation and interaction with the audience have long been part of theater. This has resulted in a new way of engaging with the audience, whether in performances, moderations, or on the theater stage. The Brachland Ensemble combines all three aspects in projects involving the performing arts and political education. In the workshop, similarities and differences are explored in a playful way and made usable for one's own work on stage, on the podium, or in dealing with groups: from the moment of encounter, the feeling for spatial constellations, charm, interview techniques, to spontaneity, (figurative) improvisation, and the right amount of “audience management.”

IT HAS TO BE PRETTY! / Media use for the stage and public space

Live film, audio walk, automated audio-video installation or video conference show... since 2011, the Brachland Ensemble has implemented a variety of projects using different media. Playfully, visual worlds are opened up, atmospheres are established in public spaces, live broadcasts abroad are realized, and surveys are conducted. “It has to be pretty!” is always the motto. Mostly cost-effective solutions are used. The workshop focuses not only on different technical devices and their possibilities, but also on the audio-video and lighting software Qlab, which the Brachland Ensemble has been using for complex shows for over ten years.