Reimagining Tales: Inclusive Narratives in the European Performing Arts for Young Generations is a 24-month project running from February 2026 to January 2028.
The project challenges the exclusion of marginalized children and young people—especially disabled, d/Deaf, neurodivergent, racialized, and gender-diverse youth—from performing arts and cultural narratives.
ArteVOX Teatro (Italy) leads the project, specializing in visual and puppet theater, making performances accessible to neurodivergent and d/Deaf children.
Kopla Bunz (Luxembourg) creates interdisciplinary works blending music, dance, and theater, with a focus on multilingual storytelling and inclusive, community-based projects.
Dansema Dance Theatre (Lithuania) is a pioneer in contemporary dance for young audiences, specializing in movement-based and sensory-friendly performances for children with developmental and visual disabilities.
The project introduces a new methodology in which accessibility tools — including sign language, tactile scenography, AAC, and relaxed performance design — are integrated from the outset as part of the aesthetic and dramaturgical process, not as secondary adaptations. Through artistic residencies, local feedback groups, and an international advisory board, the project reinterprets shared European narratives in ways that reflect the identities and cultural realities of underrepresented young people.
While inclusive methods are gradually emerging across Europe, Reimagining Tales stands out for its systemic ambition: to support the transformation of the theatre sector for young audiences by embedding inclusive practices into co-creation processes, enabling the active participation of marginalised groups, and reshaping cultural imaginaries through the re-interpretation of traditional tales.
The consortium brings together partners from Italy (ArteVOX Teatro), Luxembourg (Kopla Bunz), and Lithuania (Dancema Dance Theatre) — three countries with distinct policy contexts and inclusion infrastructures — offering a meaningful testbed for cross-border cooperation and the transferability of innovation. In this way, the project lays the groundwork for a more inclusive, imaginative, and sustainable future for theatre for young generations across Europe. In doing so, the project also supports youth mental health and social well-being by fostering visibility, belonging, and active cultural participation — key priorities recognised in the programme’s broader societal goals.
Aligned with the Creative Europe Work Programme’s priorities on inclusion, innovation, and resilience, the projects aims at achieving three objectives:
These objectives are pursued through the following actions:
in Italy, Luxembourg, and Lithuania, where professional dance theatre companies will work side-by-side with members of Local Focus Groups and artists and experts with lived experience of exclusion. Each residency will reinterpret a traditional or contemporary European tale through inclusive dramaturgy, treating access tools (e.g., tactile scenography, sign language, relaxed formats, AAC) not as add-ons, but as core artistic materials. Each residency culminates in a public performance embedded in a festival-style event that includes local dissemination, community dialogue, and shared evaluation. Each residency will be shaped by the partners and may be supported by cultural practitioners with disabilities and/or with other experiences of exclusion serving as facilitators and advisors (INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD). These disabled experts and practitioners may facilitate feedback sessions, mentor creative teams on anti-ableist and intersectional dramaturgy, and ensure that accessibility principles are operationalised throughout the creative development, acting also as bridges between the advisory board’s strategic direction and the day-to-day evolution of each artistic residency. However, this support will be adapted based on each partner’s needs and working methods.
In addition, the project centres on dramaturgy as a tool for reshaping social and cultural imaginaries, working with children and youth from underrepresented communities as narrative co-creators and audience experts. By reimagining popular European tales through intersectional, anti-ableist, and inclusive lenses, the project seeks to foster more equitable forms of representation and to promote social inclusion among young European generations.
will be established in each partner country through collaboration with local schools and youth and disability organisations. These groups will include 5–10 young people per country. They will be formed in close collaboration with trusted local partners — including schools, disability organisations, and youth services. Where relevant, families, educators, and community facilitators will also be involved to ensure intergenerational dialogue and holistic support. From the earliest phases of the artistic residencies, participants in the Focus Groups will:
LFGs are not conceived as passive audiences or testers, but as co-creators, collaborators, and cultural contributors throughout the project. This authorship model directly fulfills Goal 2 by empowering participants to move from recipients of cultural content to producers of it, fostering creative confidence, visibility, and long-term cultural participation.
in each country, co-led by the creative residency artists and advisory board members, offering hands-on exploration of inclusive creation methods to local artists, educators, and cultural operators; and Seasonal international dissemination events hosted via the International Inclusive Arts Network (IIAN), integrated into its pre-existing online calendar to ensure maximum reach and continuity beyond the project’s funding period.
In each country, selected participants — including theatre companies, artists, and cultural practitioners — will take part in structured observation and exchange visits to another partner country. These transnational encounters are designed to foster reciprocal learning, deepen understanding of inclusive methodologies in diverse contexts, and promote the cross-European circulation of knowledge and practice.
embedded within accessible festival frameworks, including a planned collaboration with Oriente Occidente International Dance Festival in Italy, aligning with the Italian programme of Europe Beyond Access (event in December 2026).
at the ASSITEJ World Congress 2027 in South Korea, positioning Reimagining Tales within global debates on inclusive practices in the performing arts for young audiences and policy innovation.
featuring case studies, templates, and practice-based recommendations designed for easy replication across different contexts.
a project by ArteVOX Teatro
in collaboration with Dansema Dance Theatre (Lithuania) and Kopla Bunz (Luxembourg)
co-funded by European Union within the project Creative Europe - CREA CULT 2025 COOP
Marta Galli, Project Manager
Stefania Di Paolo, Project Manager and project advisor
Morea Francesca Velati, project officer
Anna Maini, Playwright
Nadia Milani, Director
Camilla Bisaggio, Communication and Accessibility manager
Chiara Lusetti, Administrative manager
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