Impulse Festival for Performance, Theatre & Dance

For more than 35 years, ‘Impulse’ has been the most important festival for independent theatre in German-speaking countries and the platform for the independent performance, theatre and dance scene in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH region).

‘Impulse’ has often reinvented itself in response to current developments in the independent performing arts. What remains constant is that the festival presents its audience with outstanding productions from the DACH region over the course of a year, thereby giving visibility to the work of the independent scene. It invites a broad audience to encounter innovative and transdisciplinary working methods and aesthetics in performance, theatre and dance.

The festival editions from 2025 to 2027 are under the artistic direction of dramaturge and curator Franziska Werner.

In 2025, the Impulse Festival for Performance, Theatre & Dance changed its programme structure and now comprises the following focal points: Showcase (productions selected by a jury), Post-West (focus on exchange between East and West and the creation of spaces for encounters between the independent scenes and artists of the host region of North Rhine-Westphalia and East Germany) and Impulse meets... (discursive formats, workshops and parties in collaboration with local partners and friends of the festival).

In 2026, the Impulse Festival for Performance, Theatre & Dance will take place from 3 to 21 June 2026 in Düsseldorf, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Cologne and – after a ten-year hiatus – once again in Bochum.

The festival is supported by the NRW KULTURsekretariat and organised in cooperation with the cities of Bochum, Düsseldorf, Cologne and Mülheim an der Ruhr. The Prinz Regent Theater in Bochum, the FFT in Düsseldorf, the studiobühneköln in Cologne and the Ringlokschuppen Ruhr in Mülheim an der Ruhr are cooperating with the festival as independent venues.

The Impulse Festival is significantly supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Kunststiftung NRW, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and the German Federal Cultural Foundation.