The initiative for solidarity at the theater was based on the need to make various experiences of discrimination within the theater systems in German-speaking countries visible and to unite and consolidate the struggles that are being waged in many places. We want to initiate transformation processes and make the theater systems more accessible and fairer. For us, the greatest paradox of the German-speaking cultural scene is that although the artistic side deals critically with exploitative processes, they are reproduced in their own structures. We want to change that and are aiming for a new work culture and work ethic. The first step in this direction was the development of the workshop “How to be an ally – Practicing Solidarity” as part of the Politics in the Free Theater 2018 festival, in order to bring impulses for solidarity, intersectionality, criticism of power and the willingness to question one’s own privileges into the theater institutions . Since then, the workshop has been held in various contexts, including at festivals, in municipal and state theater structures, for theater collectives, drama school classes, etc.
The aim of the workshops and the ISaT is no longer to be played off against each other as competitors in a narrative of economic usability, but to counter these capitalist, patriarchal and racist logics with solidarity.