Every two years, SPIELART transforms the city of Munich into a stage for an intensive engagement with contemporary socio-political issues. Originally founded as an alternative to the established programmes of the city and state theatres of the time, the festival has long since become an integral part of Munich’s cultural life and maintains an active dialogue with the city’s artists, cultural practitioners and institutions. In particular, collaborations with Munich-based artists such as fachbetrieb rita grechen, Anna Konjetzky, Nihan Devecioğlu, Serge Okunev, Mira Mann, Lennart Boyd Schürmann, Julian Warner and the Münchner Theatertexter*innen are an important part of the festival.

This strong connection to the city is also reflected in the festival’s formats, which create diverse points of access for Munich audiences. These include participatory urban projects such as CITYWORKS (2013), GLOBAL ANGST and NOSE – MAKING SENSE OF SCENTS (both 2021), as well as GGGNHM – guggenheim in munich? (2023), all of which engage public space as a site of artistic inquiry and encounter. Since 2017, the festival has also featured specially designed festival centres serving as hubs for exchange, discussion and mediation. For the 2025 edition, the Berlin-based architectural collective raumlabor developed a temporary festival centre at Köşk (KjR München-Stadt), which functioned as a social space for encounters between artists, audiences and festival guests.

Over the years, SPIELART has initiated numerous European networks, discursive platforms and collaborations that have enabled young artists, theatre critics and curators to gain their first international experiences and establish long-term professional relationships. As early as 2005, Tilmann Broszat founded FESTIVALS IN TRANSITION, a networking initiative for European festivals that fostered exchange on new modes of production and cultural policy challenges.

Through mentoring programmes such as WHAT'S NEXT? (2007), CONNECTIONS (2009) and CONNECT CONNECT (2011), SPIELART embraced international exchange, networking and artistic collaboration at an early stage.

Discursive formats such as WOODSTOCK OF POLITICAL THINKING (2009), SOCIAL FICTIONS – DIE KRISE DER EXPERTISE (2011), the performance and discourse platform WAKE UP! – VERSAMMLUNG FÜR EIN ANDERES EUROPA (2013), and ART IN RESISTANCE (2015) established SPIELART as a place where artistic practice and socio-political debate enter into dialogue. With the symposium SHOW ME THE WORLD (2015) and the discourse and performance weekend CROSSING OCEANS (2017), the festival’s previously predominantly European outlook expanded towards a more global and postcolonial perspective. More recently, formats such as WHEN DO WE WANT IT? (2021), TO GATHER (HOW TO GET CLOSER) (2021) and SITUATING MEMORIES: MAKING ART IN A SHARED WORLD (2023) have continued this trajectory, deepening discussions around processes of social transformation.

SPIELART continuously develops its programmes and partnerships in order to improve accessibility and foster participation for diverse audiences. The inclusion of different perspectives has become an integral part of the festival’s identity. One example was ECHOLOT (2017–2021), a group of Munich residents who accompanied the festival as “critical friends”. Equally important are collaborations with organisations working in the field of cultural participation in Munich, including KulturRaum München e.V., ausARTen and Köşk (KjR München-Stadt).

Since 2025, an Accessibility Advisory Board composed of people with different disabilities has supported the festival team in the development and implementation of accessible measures.

Through SPIELART Youth, young people between the ages of 14 and 24 are invited to engage with the festival from their own perspective. They write reviews, conduct interviews on site and develop their own formats – as part of a festival that for more than 30 years has been committed to exchange, participation and a diversity of voices.