In addition to regular discussions, workshops and studio visits, a Cheers for Fears festival or an academy has been held annually since 2014 with changing partners such as the Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, Theater Oberhausen, FFT Düsseldorf, the IMPULSE Festival or TanzFaktur Köln. The festivals focus on the presentation and feedback of artistic works – in addition, we explore a pressing question in workshops with invited guests and in discussion formats. In 2014, we asked what experimental freedom exists at universities beyond the curricula; the following year, we looked at the role of music in works of performing and visual art; in 2016, we wanted to know what forms of performance play a role in theater training at NRW universities; at the 2017 Cheers Festival, we were interested in the significance and understanding of political “art between reflection and action” and in 2018, under the motto “Organize yourselves! (Working) together in the arts”, we addressed questions of collective creation. In 2019, as part of the Impulse Theater Festival, we invited young artists and theater makers to explore the fine line between empowerment and self-optimization in theater and the arts. In 2020, we invited under the title “Staging Complexity. A Lab on Culture and Theatre in the Digital Age” at the Academy for Theatre and Digitalization at Theater Dortmund. In 2022, students, teachers, young artists and their audiences came together as part of the Cheers for Fears Festival at tanzhaus nrw. Under the motto of interdisciplinary exchange and teaching in the arts, i nstallative, cinematic, scenic, dance as well as musical formats came together. Also Panel discussion “Together for the Theater of Tomorrow – Training in the Performing Arts” was held.