Playing Memories is an artistic residency project designed to foster the creation and performance of original, multidisciplinary performances on an international scale.

Unique to Playing Memories will foster cross-cultural, artistic and human exchange, as well as the sharing of ideas, skills and inspiration among young artists from different corners of the world.

Eight distinct 15-day artistic residencies will be produced, each hosting 15 performers, including dancers, musicians, visual artists, photographers, set designers, and other artistic figures, selected from across Italy, totaling 140 artists and performers.

During the two-week residency, the assembled team, based in one of the partner institutions, will embark on an intensive creative journey to conceive, stage, and present their own original and unprecedented multidisciplinary artistic performance. Each residency will have its own leader or ideator, but the final performance will be a collaborative effort, resulting from teamwork, constant interaction, and a process of collective creation.

All residencies and related performances will be captured by a TV crew for the production of a TV docuseries – 2 seasons for a total of 24 episodes – to be released on prestigious international streaming platforms.

The Playing Memories is part of the NRP – MISSION 4 COMPONENT 1 – Investment 3.4 University Teaching and Advanced Skills” – CUP Code B93B24000010001 and will be implemented from May 2025 to March 2026.

The residencies, subject to changes that may be made after the publication of this Call for Artists, will be held at Saint Louis in Rome and Milan, Conservatory of L’Aquila, Accademia d’Arti e Mestieri dello Spettacolo Teatro alla Scala Foundation, Cuba School of the Arts, Academy of Performing Arts Prague, Staffordshire University, Uk, Kazakh National Academy of Arts, Kazakhstan.

Docuseries

All project activities, from casting to residencies and performances, will be meticulously documented by a film crew.

The footage collected will be used to produce a 2-season, 24-episode docuseries chronicling the entire making of each artistic performance: from casting and the daily life during the 15-day residency to the backstage moments just before the performance and the performance itself.

The first season is scheduled for release in May-June 2025. The second season is scheduled for release in January-February 2026.

Not all artistic residencies will necessarily be featured, at the sole discretion of Saint Louis’ Artistic Director, as the project’s lead and executive producer, in consultation with the project’s Artistic Committee.