Impulse Festival 2026
for Performance, Theatre & Dance
03.06. – 07.06.2026
For more than 30 years, the Impulse festival organized by the NRW KULTURsekretariat has been one of the most important festivals for the independent theater scene in the German-speaking world. The festival has often reinvented itself, thereby reflecting the developments in the independent performing arts. What remains constant is the presentation of the year’s outstanding productions from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The festival thus facilitates exciting encounters with performance, theater, and dance.
With its first edition in 2025 under new artistic direction, the Impulse Festival for Performance, Theater & Dance has also undergone a restructuring of its programming: Between June 18 and July 6, 2025, each of the three Impulse cities—Mülheim an der Ruhr, Cologne, and Düsseldorf—hosted a packed program on a weekly rotation, featuring productions selected by a jury from the Showcase and the Post-West program focus. Post-West focuses on the exchange between East and West and creates spaces for encounter between the independent scenes and artists from the host region of North Rhine-Westphalia and Eastern Germany or Eastern Europe. The third program section, Impulse meets…, comprises discursive formats, workshops, and parties in collaboration with local partners and friends of the festival. This program structure will be continued in future editions of the festival. In 2026, Bochum will join as an additional Impulse city and the PRT Bochum as a partner institution.
In 2026, the Impulse Festival will celebrate its opening at the FFT Düsseldorf. Outstanding works by Magda Szpecht, Dávid Koronczi, and the Nature Theater of Oklahoma will be presented. The program in Düsseldorf will be complemented by “Nippon Performance Nights”: ahttps://www.fft-duesseldorf.de/reihen-festivals/nippon-performance-nights-2025-Speciale with Michikazu Matsune and a concert-performance by Tanja Krone & Team.
program
She stands in the Middle of The Battlefield
Favourite Songs of Düsseldorf
A cooperation with „Nippon Performance Nights“
Pizza Oder eine Tür in der Dunkelheit tanzt Nicht
(Pizza Or a Door That Doesn't Dance in the Dark)
Chantal, the body is a text longing for perspective
credits
The Impulse Festival 2026 is organized and funded by the NRW KULTURsekretariat, in partnership with the cities of Düsseldorf, Bochum, Mülheim an der Ruhr, and Cologne, in cooperation with the FFT Düsseldorf, the PRT Bochum, the Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, and the studiobühneköln. The festival is primarily funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and the Kunststiftung NRW.
Opening Impulse Festival 2026
Favourite Songs of Düsseldorf
A cooperation with „Nippon Performance Nights“Pizza Oder eine Tür in der Dunkelheit tanzt Nicht
(Pizza Or a Door That Doesn't Dance in the Dark)