Art stations fundation - by Grażyna Kulczyk

The European project modul-dance is a project developed to provide artists with support and to foster their professional independence from the creation of a show through to its production, presentation and dissemination. The aim is to provide optimum conditions as well as monitoring and guidance throughout the creative process.

According to the European Union’s Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, the Mercat de les Flors in Barcelona has been chosen on the basis of previous synergies it has developed with other European countries and as a result of its experience in supporting young dancers. Moreover, it has consistently participated in other European activities, such as the European Dance House Network, of which the Mercat is a founding member. Lastly, the fact that the Mercat has successfully managed to involve the participation of 14 countries was also considered positive, as was the project’s expected outreach: 15 participating countries and more than 400 artistic works.

The project is set to specifically support the international mobility of artists and the consolidation of both local and international dance audiences. modul-dance also aims to promote multidisciplinary creation through multimedia channels and to generate support for artists from institutions and new entities that support dance.

Additional tools that will help expand the programme’s content are, amongst others, the organisation of conferences, festivals, discussion forums and parallel programmes in support of emerging artists such as Carte Blanche.

modul-dance’s main goal is to promote the trans-institutional and trans-frontier quality of European dance houses, thus strengthening the network of creators and promoters as well as dance show recipients.

The dance houses involved in the project are from Paris, Toulouse and Lyon (France), Loulé (Portugal), Dusseldorf and Dresden (Germany), Tilburg (Netherlands), Poznan (Poland), Stockholm (Sweden), London (Great Britain), Dublin (Ireland), Copenhagen (Denmark), Vienna (Austria), Athens (Greece), Nicosia (Cyprus), Ljubljana and Maribor (Slovenia).

The proposal presented was one of a total of 40 proposals assessed. The European Union has assigned 2 million euros to the project which represents 49% of its total cost. modul-dance will be developed over a period of four years starting in 2010.