International Visitors Programme

The programme is based on the idea that it is people with their ideas and skills who are best able to develop and sustain cultural dialogue and artistic cooperation. The International Visitors Programme provides financial, organisational and content-related support for this. The international guests are proposed by event organisers and cultural institutions in the cities and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as by international network partners, primarily the Goethe-Institut's representations abroad, embassies and other foreign cultural organisations.

Aims and Implementation

The visitors' programmes, in various artistic disciplines or also transdisciplinary, are generally designed to last four to five days. They are organised for special occasions (festivals, cultural events, conferences) or on specific topics and are carried out in small groups. In addition to the exchange of ideas and transfer of know-how with those responsible, artists and experts, the programme primarily includes visits to performances, concerts and exhibitions. 

The types of programme - themed, event, network and press trips - are specifically designed to meet the interests of the visitors. The aims of the visitors' programme are to promote and publicise artists and cultural professionals from NRW and to support their international orientation through sustainable networks. With the help of the intensive accompaniment of the guests and their mediation to regional actors, contacts are made, networks are cultivated and cooperations are initiated. In addition, journalists from Germany and abroad draw attention to North Rhine-Westphalia as a cultural state through targeted reporting and thus increase its level of awareness. Since 2019, the visitor programme has also been increasingly dedicated to the implementation of digital and hybrid formats for visitor trips and international network meetings.

How can I participate?

Cultural institutions, organisers and festival organisers in NRW can submit proposals for international guests on an event-related basis in order to be considered for the annual programme. Unsolicited applications from international guests are not possible. The call for applications for programmes in the period from January to December 2025 is closed. Further information on the application procedure can be found here.

Incidentally, cooperation projects resulting from the individual visitors' programmes are given preferential consideration when applying for Cooperation and Export Funding of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (in German only).

Through personal contact on site, lasting networks are created that often lead to co-productions and collaborations. The International Visitors Programme promotes the establishment and maintenance of sustainable networks in various artistic fields. One of the aims is to support the participants from abroad and from NRW in thematic discourse and in deepening contacts with regard to joint projects through organisational and logistical coordination, including on the basis of structured contact management.  

For several years now, the International Visitors Programme has also been using digital formats to expand and maintain these networks. Important impetus for this came from the international conference held in 2019 to mark the tenth anniversary of the Visitors' Programme, ‘Synergize! Culture in Democratic Action. The Socio-Political Impact of International Networks and Cultural Relations’, a hybrid event with numerous cultural actors and alumni from all over the world and their partners in NRW (Documentation). Since then, several projects have been realised: for example, after the outbreak of the pandemic, 35 alumni of the visitor programme from 28 nations provided insights into their pandemic-altered everyday lives (‘Culture in the Time of Corona’, 2020) on the initiative of the NRWKS. Meanwhile, established networks between dance professionals in NRW and north-west Europe were formed from the residency programme ‘CROWD - International Dance Exchange’, a cooperation with the Goethe-Institut London, the Arts Council England, Creative Scotland and Nordisk Kulturfond, which ran from 2021 to 2024. In collaboration with the Academy for Theatre and Digitality at the Dortmund Theatre, the virtual networking and presentation platform ‘togather’ has created an open space for international and interdisciplinary professional exchange and joint project development.

A key element of the future sustainable progression of the International Visitors Programme is an increasing focus on, and maintenance of these international networks – with particular emphasis on the integration of digital formats. An international conference entitled »Synergize! Culture in Democratic Action. The Socio-Political Impact of International Networks and Cultural Relations« took place in 2019 as part of the tenth anniversary celebrations of the founding of the International Visitors Programme; it was a hybrid event that brought together many cultural operatives, including alumni from across the globe and their NRW counterparts (Documentation). In 2020, this networking and alumni activities included an online video project entitled »Culture in the Time of Corona« with contributions from 35 international cultural operators from 28 nations.

With the residency programme "CROWD - International Dance Exchange", which will be held for the first time in 2021, the International Visitors Programme in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut London, the Arts Council England, Creative Scotland and Nordisk Kulturfond promotes the establishment of networks between dance professionals in NRW and Northwest Europe. In collaboration with the Academy for Theatre and Digitality at the Dortmund Theatre, the virtual networking platform "togather" is being created as an open place for international and cross-disciplinary encounters and joint project development. Further information and a film about the works realised by around 30 international artists on the virtual reality platform can be found on the project website. 

A newsletter provides regular information on developments in NRW's cultural landscape and on collaborations that have emerged from the visitor programmes. In order to evaluate the trips, create continuity and further develop networks, visitors report on their experiences in the form of written feedback at the end of the programmes. The aim is to promote the continuity and expansion of new connections and to continuously develop the quality of the visitors' programmes.