WESTWIND Festival — Theatre Meeting for Young Audiences NRW

The Largest NRW Festival for Young Generation Theatre

Since 1984, the WESTWIND Festival has been the annual showcase for the best productions of theatre for young audiences in North Rhine-Westphalia. The meeting, managed by the working group 'Theater für junges Publikum NRW' (tjp-nrw.de), changes its host venue annually – in 2026, after several years, Münster is once again the host city, co-organized by Junge Theater Münster and echtzeit-theater, in cooperation with Theater im Pumpenhaus and Theater in der Meerwiese.

Programme: Ten NRW Productions, Three International Guest Performances

From 49 applications, a panel of experts selected the ten outstanding productions for 2026 – the criteria were 'artistic quality, aesthetic diversity, and social relevance'. In addition, there are three international guest performances and a dense supporting programme with workshop discussions, production analyses, a Citizens Dinner, and the Next Generation Forum for young theatre makers from across the German-speaking world. The selection for 2026 includes, among others, '1001 Nacht oder die Macht des Erzählens' by the independent group subbotnik (ages 8+), plays like '1984', 'Burning City', 'INTO IT', 'The BIG Picture (UA)', and 'Es liegt was in der Luft (UA)' – with age recommendations from 4+ to 15+.

Venues: Münster as a Distributed Festival Area

WESTWIND 2026 will use multiple venues in parallel: the Grand and Small Theatre of Theater Münster, the Theater im Pumpenhaus (with its own festival-within-a-festival weekend on June 4 and 5), the Theater in der Meerwiese, the Theater Titanick, the Junge Theater Münster, and echtzeit-theater. Thus, the festival will span the city from the Promenade to the harbour district. Münster, the largest city in the Münsterland region and a centre of university culture and student life in the western part of North Rhine-Westphalia, is ideal for this concept: compact distances, an open theatre scene, and a growing audience of families, school classes, and professionals.

Three Juries, Three Prizes

A special feature of WESTWIND is the parallel jury system: a Children's Jury, a Youth Jury, and an Adult Jury each award a prize endowed with €3,333. This allows the young target groups themselves to explicitly comment on the productions – a format that makes WESTWIND unique in the German theatre landscape and understands children and young people not as 'audiences of tomorrow', but as active co-creators of theatre.

Accessible and Inclusive

Numerous performances will be accompanied by German Sign Language (DGS), and some with audio description. Workshops, discussions, and accompanying formats are explicitly focused on diverse access. With the motto 'Where do I (want to) belong?', WESTWIND 2026 poses the question of belonging in a changing society – a theme that has shaped children's and youth theatre for years.

Funding and Organizers

The festival is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the City of Münster, and the Fritz Terfloth Foundation. Through the tjp-nrw working group, the largest network of independent and institutional children's and youth theatres in NRW, WESTWIND also serves as a central industry meeting point for theatre makers from Münster, the Ruhr area, the Rhineland, and the Bergisches Land.