PAMPA (Producers, Agents, Managers Performing Arts) is a community, a caring and brave space for both new and experienced international producers, agents, managers, and similar professions, based in Europe.
Forged from the collective labour of a working group, PAMPA aims to build cooperation between us, to demystify, improve and empower the people in these roles who are highly skilled, deeply connected, and which support production and distribution equally.
PAMPA is built on international exchange in order to help its members have a stronger voice and take action nationally by getting the knowledge of, and by being inspired by, international conditions, contexts, and best practices.
Visibility and Clarity.
We want to create a new and accurate picture of our professions, that reflects how different practices operate in different countries.
Cooperation.
We want to develop opportunities and collaborative initiatives which enable us to exchange skills, grow our practices and create alternate ways of working.
Working Conditions and New Narratives.
We want to promote new narratives that support a clear and fair recognition of our professions, and to ensure ethical, sustainable and inclusive work practices and working conditions.
Exchange.
Develop a program (live and online meetings, forum, workshops…) which creates spaces to meet, support, connect, share experiences and knowledge.
Research.
Collect, organise and disseminate information. Create a common, foundational knowledge of our professions (through an archive of resources) to enrich our thinking and promote the skills and value of our professions.
Advocacy.
Create a dialogue with international professionals (institutions, funders, and the actors of our sector) to formulate advocacy actions and content adapted to different international contexts and needs. Propagate and communicate this new narrative/story-telling towards the different actors of the sector.
RESIDENCY: PAMPA's 1st European Producers Residency
Set in an idyllic, rural location in Belgium, this 5 day residency and 2 day community meeting for producers, agents and managers of the performing arts based in Europe offers a chance to be in community with peers, share your specialist knowledge, learn from others, rest and reflect on your practice. We’ll have our main meals provided by an on-site chef, have dedicated blocks of time to rest and reflect and you’ll be able check in with any caring commitments you might have. Each residency participant will be asked to lead a workshop (lasting between 1-3 hours) on one of their specialisms, something they’re curious about or a concept they want to test.
When: 11-19th June 2025
Where: Torgny, Belgium
Language: English
PAMPA Live Meeting
To mark the 60th anniversary of ASSITEJ International, Bright Generations - Générations Lumineuses will welcome hundreds of performing arts professionals from all over the world to Marseille, France.
We’ll host a presentation about PAMPA alongside the PADA and LAPAS networks on 27 March at 11am where you can find out more about these networks and meet some of their members.
As part of our work, we’re attempting to gather and share links to existing online resources around the roles, reflections and realities of working practices as a producer, agent and manager in Europe. With help from you, we want to create a comprehensive, ever-growing, crowd-sourced international pool of knowledge. If you know of any existing resources that are not listed below - please fill in this form.
At the bottom of this section, there are a number of links to other organisations and individuals who host multiple resources.
Case Studies and Reflections
Education and Courses
Tax, VAT, Legal, Visa and Finance
Fair Practices
Sustainability
Mobility and Internationalism
Further/Multiple Resources
PAMPA commissioned On The Move to analyse the results of our Europe wide survey which gathered 380 responses from people in 25 countries. This analysis creates a greater understanding of the realities, working practices and care responsibilities of producers / agents / managers in Europe. We’ll be releasing more details in our next newsletter, but some headlines from the survey identifies the archetypal future potential PAMPA member:
A 39 year-old woman with no dependents living in Berlin.
Working full-time as a freelancer producer for five dance and theatre companies.
She's been doing the job for 11 years.
After paying social contributions and taxes, she lives on an income of €1,875 per month.
She feels like she works too much and is regularly stressed about her personal finances.
Further analysis reveals that:
Our final headline analysis of worker profiles, skills and the roles that the majority of respondents undertake reveals:
Nearly 70% of all respondents use producer as a job title (or one of their job titles) and these are the kind of tasks they perform on a regular basis:
84% of all respondents build relationships with current and potential partners
83% of all respondents negotiate and/or write contracts and other legal documents
80% of all respondents raise funds (secure co-producers, apply for grants)
79% of all respondents manage budgets and financial administration
74% of all respondents coordinate with service providers, including freelancers
One point of interest reveals that higher levels of international connectedness seemed to correlate with higher income. Respondents who answered ‘I feel highly connected’ had an average yearly net income of €35,145 and those who answered ‘most of the time I feel more connected than isolated’ had an average yearly net income of about €26,280.
Those who had a membership of a professional network or association also seemed to correlate with higher income. Those who said yes when asked “are you currently a member of one or more existing professional associations or networks?” had an average yearly net income of about €24,495. Whilst those who said no had an average yearly net income of about €20,480.
As we build PAMPA, we invited colleagues from across the European continent to tell us about their professional situations, current needs, and recommendations for our initiative. Thus we designed a survey in collaboration with On the Move which was intended to create a mapping of the PAMPA profession in Europe* and will help us to further strengthen the basis of our network as we work towards our future priorities.
*Regarding "Europe" we refer to this -> Wikipedia list.
In December 2020, Dachverband Tanz Deutschland and LAPAS launched the initiative of brainstorming-inventing-creating a network for international producers, agents, managers etc. based in Europe.
Dachverband Tanz Deutschland (DE)
Dachverband Tanz Deutschland (DTD), the German Dance Association, operates as a network of outstanding dance associations and institutions since 2006 – regardless of any aesthetic differences, varying production methods and specific careers in dance. It develops policy papers and concepts for the promotion of dance in Germany and implements them in its projects. DTD is lead partner in the nationwide funding programmes and the representative of the German Dance Award. Since 2012, DTD hosts the informal network of independent performing arts producers, called InfoPlus – it is a platform for exchange of know-how and experiences for producers based in Germany. Since 2016, the DTD has been offering international InfoPlus meetings as well.
DTD is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
LAPAS (FR)
L'Association des Professionnels de l'Administration du Spectacle is a French umbrella organization bringing together professionals from the fields of administration, production, distribution and communication that work with companies, production offices and artists in the independent performing arts sector in order to think through and address the issues at the heart of these professions.
Current Members: Ian Abbott, Ann-Jette Caron, Marion Gauvent, Anna Giolo, Jana Grünewald, Sarah Holzmann, Klara Kühn, Aurélie Martin, Magnus Nordberg, Timo Steffens and Laura Trocan.
Former Members: Silvia Albanese, Maxine Devaud, Sofie Luckhardt, Rachel Feuchtwang, Stéphane Hivert, Vicenç Mayans, Anikó Rácz and Katja Sonnemann
PAMPA is supported by the -> German Dance Association`s programme -> Kreativ-Transfer, with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
An archive of some of our previous PAMPA activites.
International Producer's Networks in Asia and Beyond at BIPAM, Bangkok - 13th March 2025 - Hear from three Producer's networks - ProducersSG (Singapore); PAMPA (Europe) and the Asian Producers Platform (Asia).
PAMPA Live Meeting at KUNSTENFESTIVALDESARTS - 16th May 2024 - Discussion on the role of a cultural producer, and hear from KFDA Co-Artistic Director Daniel Blanga Gubbay.
PAMPA Open Session Online #1 - 6th June 2024 - Artists and Producers: together, side by side, in or out of tune, for each other?
