Mission: Artistic Director is the third artistic research project to be launched at IFFS. The last couple of years questions surrounding artistic leadership and managerial skills in Swedish theatre have been both publicly and internally debated. Requests of increased professionalism in leadership are refuted with such arguments that this development threatens to put the artistic perspectives in the back seat. Considering the working environment deficits and weaknesses that have emerged in audits concerning the theatre industry, questions about professionalism and long-term sustainability in artistic leadership are pressing. In Sweden there is little or none reaserch done in this intersectional point where leadership meets artistic practise. It’s therefore significant to inquire into how the roles as leader and director are constued by professionals in theatre.
The projects’ key-question is: How is the role/mission ’Artistic Director’ negociated and expressed in formal and informal structures in Swedish theatre industry? Through a combination of theory from Human Sciences and methods from the artistic field the aim is to map out and frame how the leading role ’Artistic Director’ is constructed as a discourse by individuals and groups working in institutional publicly funded theatres. From the interdicsiplinary perspective - where artistic method meets leadership and organizational research the project also has a methodological focus. The project starts in autumn 2020.
