Name: ARENA… of Young Arts 2026
Start: 2026-06-11T00:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-06-14T00:00:00+00:00
Location: FAU – verschiedene Spielorte

ARENA Festival

About ARENA Festival

Since 1991, ARENA… der jungen Künste has been the annual flagship event for the independent theatre and performance scene in Erlangen. Students from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU) curate and organize an international festival featuring young, contemporary, interdisciplinary, and experimental stage art – with performances, workshops, and production funding of up to €1,500 per contribution. In 2026, the 36th edition will be titled KRAWALL (Riot/Uproar).

Dates 11 Jun — 14 Jun 2026

Venue Erlangen (09562)

Prices —

Status Confirmed

Edition 2026

ARENA Festival — edition 2026

The 36th edition of ARENA of Young Arts runs from June 11th to 14th, 2026, at FAU Erlangen under the motto KRAWALL. Young international theatre, dance, and performance groups will develop contributions on the theme; the festival supports selected productions with up to €1,500 and covers travel, accommodation, and catering for invited artists.

The official festival channels (arena-festival.org, FAU announcements, Kulturstiftung Erlangen) confirm the dates June 11–14, 2026, and the annual motto KRAWALL. The application period for participating artists ran in 2025/26 via an international call for submissions; the curated contributions will be announced through the festival program.

As in previous years, several performances will take place concurrently on various FAU stages. The specially constructed Festival Centre remains a central meeting point – not only as a place for artists to stay but also as an open space for the audience with catering, discussions, and after-show activities.

The program and schedule will be finalized in early June 2026 and published on arena-festival.org as well as via FAU channels.

Highlights ARENA Festival 2026

36th festival edition under the motto KRAWALL, international applicants, production funding of up to €1,500 per contribution, Festival Centre as a central meeting and discussion hub.

Programme ARENA Festival 2026

Thursday, June 11, 2026 — Opening

Evening — Festival opening at the Festival Centre with welcome address, presentation of contributions, and first performances on the theme KRAWALL

Friday, June 12, 2026

Afternoon and Evening — concurrent performances on FAU stages (theatre, dance, performance)
Late Evening — After-show at the Festival Centre, artist talks

Saturday, June 13, 2026

Daytime — workshops, performances, discussion formats
Evening — further performances, focus on international productions

Sunday, June 14, 2026 — Festival Closing

Afternoon — final performances
Evening — Festival party with artists and audience

The schedule, performance times, and venues will be published shortly before the festival on arena-festival.org.

Prices ARENA Festival 2026

Ticket prices and the pass model will be published on arena-festival.org. Student-friendly rates have been a tradition since the festival's founding.

Practical information

Practical information — ARENA Festival

Getting There

Train: Erlangen Station (ICE stop), FAU locations are reachable in 10–20 minutes on foot or by bus.

Car: A73 Bamberg–Nuremberg, exit Erlangen-Nord, then city centre. Parking in the city centre multi-storey car parks.

Tickets

Ticket modalities will be announced on arena-festival.org and via Kulturstiftung Erlangen; based on experience, many program items are accessible at student-friendly prices or via a pass model.

A Student-Organized Festival with Over 30 Years of Tradition

ARENA… der jungen Künste is one of the oldest student-organized theatre festivals in Germany. Founded in 1991 at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, it sees itself as a platform for young, contemporary, interdisciplinary, and experimental productions – theatre, dance, performance, hybrid forms. The organizer is the association ARENA – der jungen Künste e.V., run by FAU students and supported by the Kulturstiftung Erlangen.

Concept: An Annual Motto

Each year, the festival sets a motto to which international artists can develop and submit contributions. For 2026, the theme is "KRAWALL". Artists are invited to engage creatively and individually with the term – understood as rebellion, noise, disruption, uproar. Thus, the 2026 edition continues a tradition of regularly addressing politically and socially charged topics through the means of young stage art.

Production Funding Instead of Just a Performance Slot

Unlike many festivals, ARENA offers selected contributions production funding of up to €1,500. Invited artists also receive accommodation and catering during the festival days. This provides a significantly more attractive framework for student and independent groups than the usual "performance opportunity without a fee" and is one of the reasons why ARENA has attracted an international applicant pool over the years.

Venues at FAU

ARENA uses various spaces at and around Friedrich-Alexander-Universität: the Audimax, smaller lecture halls, a theatre space, and the Festival Centre, specially constructed each year as a meeting and catering point for artists and the audience. Several performances run concurrently on multiple stages; in between, the Festival Centre invites exchange.

Erlangen as a Festival City

Erlangen, the Franconian university city on the outskirts of the Nuremberg metropolitan area, boasts a remarkably dense festival landscape: International Comic Salon, Poetenfest, Altstadtfest, ARENA. ARENA brings the international, young performance scene to the city – a distinctly different tone from Erlangen's established major events, but with an energy that directly reflects the city's student-dominated character.