Grand Tour in Italy
What is The Grand Tour?
The Grand Tour offers international professionals a deep dive into the Italian theater for young audiences, facilitating discovery from festival stages to the local territories and spaces of artistic creation.
How does it works?
The Grand Tour facilitates the creation of personalized itineraries among festivals, theater seasons, and youth theater organizations in Italy, distributing the costs of hospitality for international professionals. The project secretariat acts as a central hub, matching interests and availability through international communication via ASSITEJ International and leveraging contact databases shared by partner festivals.
International participants can express their interest through the form below.
Simultaneously, Italian organizations can register their hospitality offer for specific periods, detailing the type of experience provided: from open rehearsals and artistic residencies to guided tours of the local area.This collaborative system ensures a personalized Grand Tour in Italy for each participant, meticulously tailored based on current opportunities and available cultural proposals.
FAQ for international professionals
No. The Grand Tour starts from one partner festival, but the aim is to go beyond a single festival visit.
The itinerary may include performances, meetings, residencies, rehearsals, local organisations, artists, companies and other cultural contexts.
International professionals, festival directors, programmers, curators, artists, companies and cultural operators can take part.
The Grand Tour is open to people interested in discovering or connecting with the Italian performing arts scene for young audiences.
No. The Google Form is the first step.
After receiving the information, Chain Reaction staff checks possible matches between your interests, partner festival windows and available Italian hosts. A route proposal is then created case by case.
Yes. In the form, you can indicate what you would like to discover: a specific region, city, artistic language, age target, type of performance, company, artist or professional context.
The route will be built according to interests, dates and real availability.
A Grand Tour may include performances, meetings with artists or programmers, open rehearsals, artistic residencies, workshops, roundtables, venue visits, local projects, informal exchanges or visits to other cities and territories.
Chain Reaction staff connects the interests of international professionals with the offers and availability of Italian partner festivals, organisations, artists and companies.
Each itinerary is tailor-made and built around real opportunities, real people and real contexts.
Nothing is automatic.
Costs and hospitality are discussed case by case before confirming the itinerary. International professionals may be asked if they can cover their travel costs. Partner festivals, Italian organisations or artists may contribute with accommodation, meals, tickets, local transfers or other forms of support, depending on the route and availability.
Yes. Places are limited because the project budget is limited.
Applying early makes it easier to organise possible routes, hospitality and practical arrangements.
There will be recurring deadlines connected to the different Grand Tour periods.
Applying as early as possible is recommended, because it helps the team organise routes, dates and hospitality.
Yes. The Chain Reaction logic is based on sharing contacts.
Participants are encouraged to suggest other relevant colleagues who may be interested in joining the project, travelling together or connecting with the Italian network.
Yes. The Grand Tour is designed to help international professionals discover Italian artists, companies, festivals and practices.
It is not a booking platform and does not create automatic programming obligations, but it can open future professional connections, invitations and collaborations.
FAQ for italian festivals, company and artists
Festivals, theatres, cultural organizations, companies, artists, residencies, spaces, associations, or local entities interested in meeting international professionals can host a stage.
Being a festival is not a requirement.
No. You do not necessarily need to have a finished show.
You can also host around an artistic process, a rehearsal, a residency, a project in progress, a reading, a company practice, a meeting with artists, or a conversation about a new work.
The important thing is to have something meaningful to share.
Yes. Companies and artists can also propose a stage.
The stage can be a meeting, an open rehearsal, a residency, a studio visit, a feedback session on the creative process, or a presentation of your work.
An Italian organization can offer:
a show;
an open rehearsal;
a residency;
a workshop;
a meeting with artists;
a space visit;
a local project;
a dinner or an informal gathering;
an encounter with the local territory;
a working table/roundtable;
a conversation with local institutions or communities.
Yes. A stage does not have to be complex.
It can also be a meaningful meeting: for example, a conversation with a company, a project reading, a rehearsal, a theatre visit, or a networking moment with an international professional.
Italian organizations will fill out a Google Form indicating:
city;
available dates;
contact person;
what they can offer;
type of meeting or activity;
any practical support or hospitality they can provide.
No. The form is used to gather availability and proposals.
Each stage is confirmed only after matching the international professional’s interests, available dates, itinerary, and practical possibilities.
Yes. Italian organizations can suggest international professionals they would like to connect with, even if they do not know them directly.
The proposal can be shared with the partner festivals or the Chain Reaction staff, who will check if a match can be arranged.
Yes. A partner festival or the Chain Reaction staff can propose an international professional.
If the profile is relevant to your organization, you can create a tailor-made situation to welcome them.
Hosting a stage does not automatically mean covering all costs.
However, Italian organizations are invited to contribute, whenever possible, with some form of practical support: tickets, meals, local transfers, accommodation, access to spaces, meetings, or other forms of hospitality.
The exact contribution is defined on a case-by-case basis with the Chain Reaction staff.
Yes. If you already have an international guest, artist, professional, or practitioner that you would like to welcome during your season or activities, you can propose linking their visit to a partner festival or a Grand Tour itinerary.
The main logic of the Grand Tour revolves around the windows of the partner festivals.
However, proposals can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis if they are compatible with the itineraries, dates, and interests of the professionals.
The Grand Tour may be promoted through the Chain Reaction network, website, project materials, or communication channels.
However, the communication strategy will be defined on a case-by-case basis and with the necessary permissions.
EN 
IT