Partners

The main sponsor of the GRIPS Theater is the State of Berlin. GRIPS receives institutional funding from the budget of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion, which forms the backbone of the cultural sector.

GASAG has been the main sponsor of GRIPS Theater since 2005. The focus of the sponsorship is the promotion of up-and-coming authors through the Berlin Children’s Theatre Prize/author competition from GRIPS and GASAG as well as the promotion of one GRIPS Theater production per year. The GRIPS Fever program has also been supported by GASAG since the beginning.

With “more GRIPS! – Sponsors of GRIPS Theater”, GRIPS Theater has an active sponsorship association. The association not only supports the theatre with a substantial financial contribution each year, but also sees itself as an interface between the audience and the theatre. The members are kept up to date, can look behind the scenes and experience unique impressions of the theatre work during voluntary work or joint events.

With this in mind, the association, in cooperation with Berlin paediatricians, runs the “Theatre by prescription” program, through which paediatricians can prescribe a free visit to GRIPS Theater as a therapeutic measure.

With the long-term project “GRIPS Fever”, the Karl Schlecht Foundation supports GRIPS Theater in including the entire school in cultural education by means of cooperation agreements. Children from financially weak families receive ticket subsidies when they come to GRIPS with their class. GRIPS plays and GRIPS workshops are intended to enable teachers to apply and establish theatre more effectively as a means of education in the classroom.

With the Stapel-Stiftung as a partner, the GRIPS classes have been held since 2006 and the Berlin Children’s Congress since 2011.

The second GRIPS venue, the GRIPS Podewil am Alex, is being used with the kind support of Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH.

In addition to this continuous funding, individual projects are supported by various sponsors. For their support in the last years we would like to thank:

Project:  “LED conversion at GRIPS Theater”

Project no.: 2057-B1-H

Funded by: European Regional Development Fund and the State of Berlin as part of the Berlin Program for Sustainable Development 2 (BENE 2),
the Senate Department for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection, and the Environment

Project duration: November 28, 2024 to September 30, 2025

By converting our stage lighting and foyer to LED technology, we are reducing our carbon footprint and contributing to the achievement of the climate protection goals of the State of Berlin.

We are please to print our flyers in a climate-neutral way on 100% recycled paper with organic inks and renewable energies!

The group Manufactory of Laughter (Syntechnia tou Geliou) was founded in 2011 by actor and director Vassilis Koukalani. Its focus consisted of the traditional, emancipatory teaching plays of GRIPS theater, which became very topical in the first years of the Greek financial and social crisis. Among others, the play “Ein Fest bei Nourian” was staged by Vassilis Koukalani at the National Theatre Cyprus - THOC in 2015, received the National Theatre Prize for a play for children and young people (2016) and was Cyprus’s cultural representation in Strasbourg when the EU presidency of Cyprus took place in 2018.

The association, founded in 1965, is dedicated to promoting the performing and visual arts. Children’s and youth theatre has been an integral part of the work since 1996. There has been a close collaboration with GRIPS Theater for years. From 2013 to 2014 we carried out a collaborative writing project that was initiated and supported by Max Müller Bhavan. Three authors, Shrirang Godbole and Vibhawari Deshpande from India and Lutz Hübner from Germany, wrote a play with two different versions: “Du und Ich” or “Der Gast ist Gott”. Both versions were performed in 2015 in Berlin, Pune, Bengaluru and other cities.

Director Kim Min Gi is the symbol of the Korean resistance. Born in 1951, he studied painting at Seoul National University and became known as a singer and composer of South Korean pop music. During the two decades of the various military regimes, his music was repeatedly banned and confiscated, and Kim Min Gi himself was arrested, interrogated and beaten. However, it was Kim Min Gi and his songs that became a symbol of resistance and ultimately triumphed. In 1993 he founded the Hakchon Theatre from the proceeds of the collective edition of his works. Since then, Kim Min Gi has concentrated on the production of rock musicals. In 1994, he staged “Seoul – Linie 1”, which, with 4,000 performances, was played more often in Korea than in Berlin.

Unfortunately, the Hakchôn Theater closed its doors for good in 2024.

The Associação Cultural Paidéia was founded by Aglaia Pusch and Amauri Falseti in 1998. In 2006, after a few makeshift venues, Paidéia got the unique opportunity to take over a shed in a former refuse yard in the Santo Amaro district of São Paulo. Gradually, hand in hand with parents, children, friends, teachers, artists and actors, the site was transformed into today’s Cia. Paidéia, one of the most important private cultural centers in São Paulo for children and young people. In addition to the professional theatre ensemble, which mainly shows children’s and youth theatre, there are numerous other activities such as acting lessons for children, work in the set design workshop, discussions, workshops and smaller projects for children. There is also an intensive cooperation with German theatres such as GRIPS Theater and the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus. Every year in September the “Paidéia – International Children and Youth Theatre Festival” takes place: “A window for utopia” was held, where theatre groups from Brazil and abroad perform. Paidéia has won the following from among several awards: 2019 the Shell Theatre Prize, the Prize of the Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte (APCA) and the São Paulo Prize for the promotion of theatre for children and young people.

The First Contemporary Dance Company In ArmeniaMIHR works with no borders; we are young and full of energy! We work with our own approach based on the experimental and new trends! The mission of our theatre is to reveal the philosophical depth of every movement by unifying painting, psychology, dance, philosophy and drama arts. https://mihrtheatre.com

There are first joint projects and regular exchanges with BITA (Bangladesh), Arab Origami Center (Egypt) and Dance Revolution East Africa (Uganda).

The GRIPS works promote theatre education and cultural education around GRIPS theater. The association carries out projects, training courses and specialist conferences and works together with schools, other institutions and initiatives. Everyone should be able to participate! All offers are free of charge.

In order to identify the topics that are currently relevant for children and young people and to bring them to the stage in an appropriate manner, GRIPS Theater works together with a large number of professional partners. We would like to thank the following partners for their support in the current productions:

• NACOA and ESCAPE – Notdienst für Suchtmittelabhängige und Gefährdete Berlin e.V. (“Das Leben ist ein Wunschkonzert”)
• BORA and BIG prevention (“Magdeburg hiess früher Madagaskar”)
• Gesicht zeigen! („#diewelle2020“)
• Bahnhofsmission (“Aus die Maus”)
• BiKo Berlin, Dissens und Social Media Interventions! (“Das Nacktschnecken Game”)

GRIPS Theater or its employees are members of the following associations:

• Stage Association
• ASSITEJ
• Arbeitskreis Ost
• Arbeitskreis Berliner Kinder- und Jugendtheater
• Geheime Dramaturgische Gesellschaft
• Berlinklusion – Netzwerk für Zugänglichkeit in Kunst und Kultur
• Bundesverband Theaterpädagogik e.V.
• Offensive Kulturbus

As a political theatre dedicated to the implementation of children’s rights, GRIPS Theater is active in various networks and campaigns.

GRIPS Theater is the only theatre accepted as a member in the National Coalition Deutschland – Netzwerk zur Umsetzung der UN-Kinderrechtskonvention e.V. Together with around 100 nationwide organisations from various areas, we strive to make the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child known throughout Germany and to promote its implementation.

The association DIE VIELEN e.V. promotes art across genres as a pioneer for an open society with equal rights. It acts as a supportive active network and offers networking platforms for art and cultural institutions and artists. This applies in particular to artists for whom theatre and making art mean working on a society which is made up of people of all skin colours and gender variations, many sexual orientations, different needs and abilities, believers and non-believers and is based on their equality.

The nationwide association of young refugees, Jugendliche ohne Grenze (JoG), arose from the campaign pieces “We stayed here!” and “SOS for Human Rights”, with which GRIPS Theater was present at schools nationwide, but also at various demonstrations. The work follows the principle that those affected have their own voice and do not need a “representative policy for those affected”.

GRIPS Theater is a partner of Berlin against Nazis, a broad network against right-wing extremism and racism with strong partners and strong support, funded by the Berlin Senate.

GRIPS Theater cooperates with Artists4Future, an association of people from music, visual arts, literature and performing arts who show solidarity with the climate strike.