Spotlight on Karen Toftegaard

You are the Head of International Programming & Production at CPH STAGE, which is the national theatre festival of Denmark. Can you tell us about your role there and how your ISPA membership supports that?

CPH Stage is the National Festival of Denmark. The festival is relatively young, next year it's our 10th anniversary. I've been working on six editions of the festival so far, developing the international strategy to help Danish artists on international arena. We are doing it by developing a showcase and a meeting place. And now, during the last year, I've also been looking into the programming of the international shows.

We program around three to four international shows a year. (Out of around seventy.) Most of these are collaborations with the partners. I look for works that build a bridge between the art and the people who experience the art.

My ISPA membership supports me in a big way. It allows me to think in higher frequencies and exchange ideas by explorative conversations with colleagues from all over the world. That really helps me a lot. I enjoy open-minded creativity, which was really nurtured by ISPA membership.

I found your podcast: NEW REALITIES – RE:DISCOVERING WILDERNESS very interesting. Did you and your guests succeed to identify and describe the new realities emerging in these years of radical change?

I'm really happy that you mentioned that. I am planning another two series, including one reflecting on Edinburgh Festival Fringe, because this year it was really a big thing the first time after COVID. And there will also be one about the New York scene.

I can't say that we discovered concrete new realities, but we pointed at some tendencies and noticed that something actually is changing. Something in the mindset and the attitude. Empathy has become even more important these years, and you realize that, when you go to Fringe. People are taking care of themselves in another way. It’s still hectic and exhausting, but there's a thought of taking care of ourselves, also by introducing more intimate meetings and not meeting as much in the bigger format. There is also bigger awareness of sustainability. I initiated a digital festival (RE:LOCATIONS) during COVID, and while working on it I realized this is a way for me to avoid traveling so much as I use to.

One of my guests, Sharon Burgess, CEO of ARTRAGE in Perth actually experiments with four-day work week, during non-festival season. It was really great to hear that an organization of that size within the very hectic festival arena actually have the courage and also the resources to work like that. After all, it should be about working smarter, not harder or longer.

There are changes in the way that we program and the way that we collaborate.

The world will also change in the coming years. There is a far-right government suddenly in Italy. And there are a lot of indications that we haven't seen the last of the changes. Being prepared is actually one of the key things that we learned during the lockdowns, and performing arts industry has been reminded that that's actually a thing we are good at, but it's also very exhausting.

Based on your 20 years’ experience in performing arts field, what is one piece of advice you would recommend to emerging arts professionals?

I think integrity. One should never underestimate how much power it actually gives you. So, nurture your integrity and make sure that you are aligned with your own values. That you're accountable in that way. I had a period in my work life where due to several changes in management/leadership in a short time I couldn’t really see myself where I was at that time, and I decided to leave and start my own company. In that moment, I realized how not respecting your own integrity can really undermine your drive.

And then if I can just give another, and that's for women, I would say if you are ambitious and you want to have children, then make sure to find a really good partner who supports you. I've been very fortunate to have had a really good husband. We're not together anymore, but now we have a really good collaboration with my son who is 12. I would not have been able to do all the things that I've been doing if I didn't have a supportive man who actually was open to our schedule and chores negotiations. It's really about finding a person that you trust and with whom you can have a good collaboration.

How did your experience of being an ISPA Fellow impact your career?

I can bring up a very concrete example of the ISPA fellowship impact.

For many years I've been doing workshops, and during COVID, I found a way to condense my workshop training into a 21 days online workshop. Now I've actually done it several times. In November for the first time I’m going to do it as a hybrid version here in Denmark for two organizations.

The ISPA network is the reason why I actually got the courage to do it. The fellowship encouraged me to ask questions. There is something about the American attitude that actually inspired me. Unlike in Denmark, where we have the Law of Jante - simply 10 commandments that are stopping you from thinking and believing that you are in any way, more than the rest. Same as the toll poppy syndrome in Australia.

The fundamentally different American culture and energy that I experienced during NY 2020 Congress made all the difference to me.

You’ve registered to join us in New York for January congress. What are you looking forward the most during the Congress?

I'm definitely looking forward to the conversations, the meetings and the festival circuit in New York. Festivals made with clear purpose can make a huge impact on societies and people. I have a special drive for festivals and this year marks my 20th anniversary in the festival field. 20 years ago, I worked on my very first festival. I was hustling as a director in an independent theatre company and had a lot of ideas and directed, but then somebody asked me, if I wanted to be part of starting up a new festival. I joined a team of five people and we started up a new festival, which still exists in the rains of others. I realized I was way more into festival making than I was into directing, because it had a bigger picture connected with empowering the industry as well as bringing shows to people which they otherwise wouldn’t have discovered or have had access to. Since then I have been contributing to develop further 6 festivals. And that's also, why I'm looking forward to the ISPA Congress in the New York.