2026 has been both a concluding and a developing year for BIRCA; we have completed our large Island Connect project and embarked on new thematic paths through a focus on rituals in the performing arts and the geopolitical situation around us. We have received a two-year grant of DKK 400,000 per year from the Danish Arts Foundation under the title Laboratory and archiving within new ecological performing arts (Laboratorium og arkivering indenfor ny økologisk scenekunst). We held BIRCA Kids for the seventh year in a row, this year with only 1 week with Norwegian artists in order to see how the Nordic perspective can be included. BIRCA Ritual started our new research on the use of rituals in the performing arts, with the participation of 6 Nordic women, and it brought many new perspectives. BIRCA Outreach gathered various artists who work with geopolitical issues. We began the third and final year of our grant from Creative Europe for the Island Connect project, based on a network of 7 European island partners in total plus a number of pop-up partners. We ran the established Artistic Residency format and the developing Islander Focus at BIRCA, and sent an artist to the Co-creation format in Tenerife. We have also received support from Bornholm Regional Municipality and Sparekassen Bornholm. In total we have had 11 weeks of supported residencies at BIRCA and took part in two pop-up island residencies in Gotland and Martinique. Finally, as usual, we had a programme during the Bornholm Culture Week this year with 2 different performances – and worked towards a project with a Ukrainian artist, which unfortunately was cancelled.

In total, 31 performing artists (of whom 9 Danish) and 5 children stayed at BIRCA in 2026. We held 4 showings at BIRCA with 81 audience members in the residency programme, plus a showing during Culture Week for 22 at BIRCA, and the project Hope and Ponies at Hodda in Rønne, which more than 2,000 people experienced, while 4 new banner works about hope were created. Once again this year we have seen a diverse representation of artists, including children, older people and gender diversity, and we have again experienced great diversity in fields of work and methods. We have increased our focus on curation and the development of themed residencies, inspired by and in collaboration with some of the Danish artists who are closest to us. We have partly invited these artists in as consultants on the individual residencies, and partly given them space for development.

We have continued the ecological perspectiveand our focus on archiving as part of our practice. We remain mindful of our CO2 footprint.

And this year, 3 kittens moved in at BIRCA.

The full annual report can be found here with details on artists and lots of photos. 

We recommend searching on the thinking and processes of the participating artists in our online archiv here