The HfS Ernst Busch actively pursues artistic exchange across cultural and national boundaries through its membership and involvement in international networks. For instance, the HfS is a founding member of the Global Alliance of Theatre Schools, established in Barcelona in 2008 and expanded in 2016 to form the more comprehensive World Theatre Education Alliance at Beijing’s Central Academy of Drama. The Alexandria-Nova network has likewise existed since 2016, and became more dynamic in recent years thanks to ERASMUS+ funding. This association of Northern European directorial degree programmes involves teachers and students working together to explore new approaches to artistic collaboration and the teaching of the director’s métier.

 
Intercultural artistic exchange is further promoted by collaborating on the educational programme, theatrical productions, and on artistic research, with locations, institutions, and representatives of the dramatic arts around the world. The HfS also participates in theatre festivals and facilitates student mobility. An extensive network of partner universities enables international study and teaching exchanges within Europe.
 

The HfS Ernst Busch sees itself as part of a diverse, multifarious, and translocal artistic community, and champions this position in its educational work. Since 2023 the HfS has participated in exchange programmes run by the German UNESCO Commission. The Tandem and Incoming programmes encourage dialogue between Africa and Germany, as well as the artistic examination of the history of colonialism and its ongoing impacts.
 

Networks

World Theatre Education Alliance (WTEA) 
The WTEA is an independent, international academic organization under the aegis of UNESCO whose purpose is to initiate and encourage dialogue between theatre schools in different cultural regions. The HfS Ernst Busch is a founding member of the WTEA.
 
Alexandria Nova
Alexandria Nova is a network of Northern European directorial degree programmes. Apart from HfS Ernst Busch, the other partners are:

Den Danske Scenekunstskole, Copenhagen, Denmark
Uniarts Helsinki, Finland
Listaháskóli Íslands, Reykjavik, Iceland
Stockholms Konstnärliga Högskola, Sweden
Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo, Norway
Lietuvos Muzikos ir Teatro Akademija, Vilnius, Lithuania
São Paulo Theatre School, Brazil

International Collaborations

The following are some of the long-standing international theatrical partners of the HfS Ernst Busch:

Papermoon Puppet Theatre, Indonesia
Meeting of European Theatre Academies
Shanghai Theatre Academy
Conservatoire National de Paris
School of Drama, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh
Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn TOBS

ERASMUS Programme Partners

Student Services supports HfS Ernst Busch students in the process of applying to study at one of our partner universities. Studying abroad on an ERASMUS grant is possible at the following institutions: 

Universität für Angewandte Kunst Wien
Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava
Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LMTA)
The Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw Branch in Bialystok 
AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków Branch in Wrocław
Iceland University of the Arts in Reykjavík
Uniarts Helsinki
Oslo National Academy of the Arts
Stockholm University of the Arts
The Danish National School of Performing Arts
Institut International de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mézières
Haute École des Arts du Rhin Strasbourg
Accademia Nazionale di Danza in Roma
Ecole Supérieure d'Art Dramatique du Théâtre National de Bretagne
Escuela Nacional de Arte Teatral in Mexico City
Accademia Dimitri - Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana

Festivals

Participation and creative involvement in festivals are of great importance for students and teachers alike. There are links of long standing between the academy’s courses of study and various festivals, where HfS students regularly show their work and which make possible an exchange with the public and other theatre practitioners.

WTEA Festival 
BAM Festival in Liège
Mobarak International Puppet Theatre Festival, Tehran
Oslo International Acting Festival
World Theatre Festival at the Brisbane Powerhouse

Scholarship Programme: The Lachnit-Fixson Exchange Programme in the Performing Arts

For the first time in the winter semester of 2022–23, the HfS Ernst Busch was able to award two scholarships fostering German-Israeli cultural exchange between HfS Ernst Busch students and students of the Faculty of Arts at Tel Aviv’s Kibbutzim College of Education. The grants are made possible by funding from the Ursula Lachnit-Fixson Foundation. The exchange programme aims to acquaint two students from HfS Ernst Busch and two students from the Faculty of Arts at the Kibbutzim College of Education, through mutual visits to the two universities.
 
The Foundation’s namesake is doctor and scientist Dr. Dr. h.c. Ursula Lachnit-Fixson (1931–2014), and its purpose is to honour the memory of Jewish people who suffered persecution by the Nazis. The foundation seeks to help commemorate the work of Jewish people in German history and to protect and conserve their scientific and cultural achievements as part of Germany’s cultural heritage. The foundation also promotes dialogue between young people in Tel Aviv and Berlin, particularly in the form of exchange projects.