In April 2027, ASSITEJ Norway will host INAF – the International Norwegian ASSITEJ Festival in Oslo under the title:
Who Cares?
It is a simple question. But right now, it does not feel simple at all.
Across Europe and beyond, we are witnessing a shift in priorities. Cultural funding is under pressure, often redirected towards defence and security. Public discourse is becoming more polarised. Communities are fragmenting. And within this, the arts, and particularly performing arts for young audiences, risk being pushed further to the margins.
So, we ask:
Who cares?
Who cares for children and young people as audiences, as citizens, as participants in culture?
Who cares about the role of performing arts in shaping how we understand ourselves and each other?
And perhaps most uncomfortably: Do we care enough ourselves?
Within the field of TYA, care has always been present, but often implicitly. It can be found in how we create, how we invite audiences in, how we hold space, and how we choose what stories to tell.
But care is not one thing.
Care can be:
- protection, or exposure
- listening, or confrontation
- tenderness, or provocation
- inclusion, or the questioning of who is included
Care can be expressed through dramaturgy, aesthetics, spatial design, participation, humour, language, or silence. It can be embedded in artistic processes, production structures, or the way we relate to audiences and collaborators.
It can even take the form of not caring – of refusing expectations, rejecting norms, or disrupting comfort.
This multiplicity is what makes care both powerful and difficult. It resists definition. It demands negotiation.
At INAF27, we are not looking for a single answer. We are interested in the tension.
We are curious about how artists, producers and thinkers across different countries and contexts engage with care today. How is care shaped by political realities, cultural traditions, and working conditions? What responsibilities do we take on, and which do we resist?
At the same time, this is also a strategic question for our field.
As a relatively small field, and even more so within the broader performing arts landscape, TYA is particularly vulnerable to being overlooked. Worst case – we risk becoming irrelevant in the eyes of decision-makers.
So how do we respond?
How do we articulate the value of our work, not only in terms of access or participation, but as high-quality artistic practice with societal impact?
How do we ensure that children and young people are not treated as an afterthought in cultural policy?
How do we remain artistically ambitious while also being politically aware?
And again:
Who cares?
Perhaps the answer lies not in claiming care as something soft or self-evident, but in recognising it as something demanding. Something that requires attention, responsibility, and sometimes the willingness to challenge both our audiences – and ourselves.
INAF 2027 invites the international ASSITEJ community to join this reflection.
Not to agree, but to engage.
Our Open Call is now live, and we welcome proposals for both performances and professional programme contributions. We are looking for works and ideas that resonate with the many possible meanings of care – across forms, disciplines, and contexts.
We are genuinely curious to hear how artists and colleagues from different parts of the world approach this question.
And of course, we warmly invite you to join us as a delegate at INAF 2027 at Riksteatret, Oslo, 20–23 April 2027
Let’s continue the conversation.
