International Mentorship 2026

Pan Pan is delighted to welcome Silvia Calderoni & Ilenia Caleo as mentors for 2026 to work with up to four performance makers based in Ireland to develop early-stage ideas for contemporary performance projects.

This is a one-on-one mentorship programme in which each participant will have four mentorship sessions with Silvia & Ilenia (two online and two in Dublin) and each of the selected participants will receive a bursary of €2,200 to help them set aside dedicated time to work on their ideas. We will also offer some travel subsidy to each artist to help them to see relevant work internationally. Previous participants have used the subsidy to see work in Brussels, Ghent, Groningen, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Vienna, Paris, New York, London, Bristol, Edinburgh and Istanbul.

This is the thirteenth edition of the International Mentorship programme which Pan Pan initiated in 2012. The previous mentors have been Kirsten Delholm of Hotel Pro Forma (Denmark), Viviane De Muynck of Needcompany (Belgium), Tim Crouch (UK), Stewart Laing of Untitled Projects (UK), Anna-Sophie Mahler of CapriConnection (Germany), Johanna Freiburg of She She Pop/Gob Squad (Germany/UK), Kelly Copper of Nature Theater of Oklahoma (USA), Terry O’Connor of Forced Entertainment (UK), Susanne Kennedy (Germany), Julian Hetzel (DE) & Caden Manson of Big Art Group (USA). The programme is a way of re-engaging with the legacy of the Dublin International Theatre Symposium that Pan Pan ran from 1997-2001 – an event where theatre and performance makers were at the core, and where learning from each other was a key focus.

As part of the Dublin Theatre Festival programme, we hosted an informal sharing of the ideas and the mentorship process at a day-long public symposium. 

The Pan Pan International Mentorship is funded by the Arts Council and Dublin City Council. Dublin Theatre Festival and Istituto Italiano di Cultura are the 2026 mentorship partners.