This October, Fabbrica Europa hosts the launching of SHIFT, a groundbreaking project funded by the Culture strand of the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission.

SHIFT, which stands for ‘Shaping Harmony, Innovating Forms & Thought’, aims to transform the way dance is experienced and presented. The project seeks to explore new formats of artistic expression, community engagement, and audience interaction, involving artists, experts, and citizens from multiple EU and Mediterranean countries.

The project is led by Cie Omar Rajeh & Maqamat (France), Fabbrica Europa (Italy), Albania Dance Meeting (Albania). In association with France Travail Scènes et Images- Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (France), Beit El Raqs (Lebanon), Teatri Kombetar Eksperimental Kujtim Spahivogli (Albania).

SHIFT commences in Florence at Fabbrica Europa with the first gathering of all project partners and advisory board of artists and curators, ensuring broad participation and considerate decision-making.

With the vast array of possibilities that Fabbrica Europa Festival can offer, the first On-Site Explorations will also kick off, where invited artists, together with experts and citizens, will investigate, rehearse, discuss and test their stage performances, exploring new politics of creation and shared relationships. The second phase of the residencies will take place during the next edition of Fabbrica Europa in 2025.

The outcomes of these research processes will be evaluated and discussed at the Big Dance Lab in Tirana, Albania, in January 2025. A foundational theoretical framework of brainstorming, knowledge sharing, and focused discussions. This feedback loop will help to set the stage for reimagining creation processes and performance spaces, including deserted urban landscapes, ex-industrial areas, historical buildings and other non-dedicated performance spaces.

The project will continue with Creative Labs in Beirut and Tirana, engaging several emerging and established artists from Europe and the Mediterranean. These creative meetings and artistic residencies will culminate in a vibrant 3-day dance gathering in the Metropole de Lyon in the summer of 2026, immersing citizens in an interactive journey of artistic creativity and community participation.

SHIFT aims to foster meaningful connections between artists and audiences while revitalizing significant community spaces. It aims to uncover the essential conditions for transitioning from the ‘visual’ to the ‘active’, illuminating the requirements for engaged creations, innovative relationships, and unconventional audience experiences.

The SHIFT project attaches great importance to the way audiences perceive and interact with creative experiences, offering the opportunity to accompany artists in a process of rethinking the relationship between space and performance.

During the days of work in Florence from October 13 to 16, among the partners of SHIFT, the project will open the dialogue to the public with a series of meetings, debates and presentations that will explore essential themes of the project such as performance spaces, engagement, sustainability and ecology.
This open dialogue will not only share the project’s progress, but also engage the audience in a collective reflection on how art can transform and enrich the live performance experience.

The program of initiatives open to the public will be announced soon.