Please ASK

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PPlease ASK! – Art Science Kick is a Creative Europe co-funded project bridging the realms of art and science. Designed to facilitate knowledge-sharing and artistic exchange, the initiative aims to build capacity and strengthen the competencies of the participating organizations to create impactful art-science theatre performances. The project’s initial phase focused on exploring diverse approaches to art-science collaboration culminating in a 7-day laboratory held in the Bulgarian mountains. Each project partner will then develop a theater performance on a scientific topic – astrobiology, quantum physics, and evolutionary biology – tailored to a specific audience and with the support of a science partner.

The performances will premiere nationally in April 2025, culminating in an international showcase at Sofia’s Theatre of Wonder festival on October 10-12, 2025, accompanied by a conference on art-science collaboration.

Central to Please ASK! is to expand audience engagement with science by making innovative cultural productions accessible to diverse groups: women in science, underrepresented communities, children, teenagers, adults, and families, while empowering artists to approach science responsibly.

Please ASK!’s objectives are to establish performing arts as a dynamic tool to foster societal engagement with science, empower citizens and organizations to address pressing challenges, deepen artists’ understanding of science, scientists, and the scientific process, and create successful innovative models for sustainable art-science partnerships. The project seeks to inspire, inform, and engage a plethora of audiences across Europe, leaving a lasting legacy in the intersection of art and science in the form of high-quality, thought-provoking, and engaged theatre performances.

Please ASK! Partners, Science Topics and Target Audiences:

Dafa Puppet Theatre – Prague (Theme: Quantum Physics; Local Partners: Technical University of Prague & QWorld – QCzech; Audience: Children 7-12).

Arte Urbana Collectif – Sofia (Theme: Astrobiology; Local Partners: Astronomy Department of Sofia University & Municipal Centre for Extracurricular Activities, Baykal village; Audience: Adults & Teenagers);

Pro Progressione – Budapest (Theme: Evolutionary Biology; Local Partners: Jane Goodall Institute & Women in Science Association; Audience: Family);

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exchanging and generating

innovative performing arts and science good practices and ideas. 

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building the partner organisations’ capacity

to produce and promote such practices and ideas and then share this know-how and ideas with the national and international artistic, scientific, and educational communities.

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creating ground-breaking art science theatre productions

connecting artists, scientists, and audiences. 

2023

october

Official start of the project

2024

february

First in-person meeting of the partners in Budapest

September

Summer School in Bulgaria

MarcH – April

Open call for artists

September

Starting of the artistic residencies in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Hungary

2025

March – April

Creation of the performances in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Hungary

10-12 October

International showcase of the performances at Theatre of Wonder Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria

April – May

Local premieres

December

The project closes