Archive in the Academy of Arts

The archive of the Academy of Arts is considered to be the most important interdisciplinary archive on modern art and culture in the German-speaking world. With its extensive holdings on the German-language theatre of the 20th and 21st centuries For 65 years, the Performing Arts Archive has made theatre developments in German-speaking countries traceable. The history of GRIPS Theater is also documented with original documents in the archive of the Academy of the Arts.

GRIPS Theater is not just an innovative theatre for children and young people that has stimulated critical thinking beyond Berlin and Germany. It is a piece of (West) Berlin cultural history. So it was clear that his archive had to come to us.
Werner Heegewaldt, Direktor des Archivs der Akademie der Künste zur Archiveröffnung

On 28 April 2019, the GRIPS archive was taken over by the Academy of Arts in an official ceremony. Since then, the archive has been freely accessible to all people who are interested in the history and work of children’s and youth theatre. 230 files of plays, 25 moving boxes with contacts and photos of the individual GRIPS productions, countless drawers with posters, educational materials for schools and other educational institutions, programs, reviews, prizes and certificates have been moved to the Academy archive and catalogued there.

The edited plays of the GRIPS Theater archive can be viewed in an online database at https://archiv.adk.net. Most of the records can be found in the archive of the Academy of the Arts, in the performing arts department, in the GRIPS Theater inventory, and another part in the poster archive. The archive is freely accessible and can be viewed by anyone. Copies will be made after an application has been checked.

Central reading room
Robert-Koch-Platz 10
10115 Berlin
Tel. 030 - 200 57-32 47
Fax: 030 - 200 57-31 02

Email: benutzung[at]adk.de

The fact that the Academy of the Arts has taken the GRIPS archive under its care is a very special honour and fills me with gratitude and pride. My 50 years of arduous struggles for the recognition of a children’s and youth theatre as being of equal value to the other renowned theatres in Berlin have thereby been most happily rewarded.
Volker Ludwig, Gründer des GRIPS Theaters und langjähriger Leiter, zur Archiveröffnung

GRIPS hopes for many interested researchers, large and small, who of course can also contact the theatre directly.

Press and public relations
Anja Kraus
Tel.: 030 – 39 74 74 16
Mobile: 0151 – 59 10 15 45
Email: pr[at]grips-theater.de