Open Call for the Residency Program (Directors)

Application Deadline: May 31, 2025
Program Dates: September 8–15, 2025
Location: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
(during the Sarajevo Theatre Showcase)

Organized by Sarajevo War Theatre – SARTR (BiH), Heartefact Foundation (Serbia), Ulysses Theatre (Croatia), Para Film and Theatre (Norway), Binario Vivo (Italy) and Realstage (BiH), the Sarajevo Theatre Showcase (STS) – as part of the New Theatre Market (NTM) – invites applications for the Residency, an intensive programme for 20 emerging theatre professionals from Southeast Europe.

NOTE: This open call is intended for directors. A separate call for producers and critics is available here.

This unique platform offers practical workshops, mentorship, and networking opportunities aimed at empowering the next generation of regional talent through collaboration, innovation, and sustainability.

Working language: BHS (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian) and English.
Accommodation: Fully covered
Travel: Partially covered

We welcome applications from emerging directors based in: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia.

Why Apply?

Our Head of Studies will motivate you the best!

The Residency for Directors at the Sarajevo Theatre Showcase aims to bring together a group of 10 young directors from the region who are either in the final stages of their studies or in the early years of their professional careers. This residency is specifically designed to meet the needs of emerging directors, based on an internal survey conducted among them. It is not results-driven and is not conceived as a series of lectures; instead, it begins with the question: What do you, as a young director, need at this stage of your work?

The residency program seeks to address key questions faced by early-career directors — from “How do I achieve on stage and with actors what I envision in my head?” to “How do I secure opportunities and who can I reach out to?”, “How much should I ask for my work and how do I approach fee negotiations?”, all the way to “How do I preserve my performance?” and “How can my performances reach theatre festivals?”

The program is structured around a practical workshop led by director Nina Rajić Kranjac, exchange sessions with professionals from various fields, community-building and networking with other residency participants, as well as access to the Sarajevo Theatre Showcase program and meetings with regional and international producers.

Since the program focuses primarily on individual work with young directors, the number of participants is limited. For this reason, the application includes a few questions about your vision of future theatrical aesthetics, your relationship to the theatre scene in your local context, and your specific learning needs — so we can better understand you and prepare for collaborative work.

We look forward to receiving your applications!

Selma Spahić, Head of Studies // Residency for Directors