What is THIRD and how does it work

THIRD is a peer-to-peer support structure for artistic research and practice research in the arts at an advanced level. Our facilitating model is designed as a two-year trajectory for seven fellows to undertake research. These fellows form a group of companions (previously named cohorts) supporting and nourishing each others’ research through regular, cyclical encounters in practices. Accompanied by two tutors, companions meet four times a year for four-days quarterlies during which they experiment with ways of sharing their practice research, ways of responding, and ways of knowing. Additionally, there is research space and time for a three-week residency in the summer. This process supports artists in undertaking long-term practice-led research and/or preparing for further developments through research fellowship programs, PhDs, or other fitting contexts.

Attending the yearly four quarterlies is required. Three of the four quarterlies take place at DAS Graduate School in Amsterdam. One of four quarterlies is held remotely as a way to engage with each others’ practices differently, shaping other ways of inviting, other ways of publishing, and attempting at coming closer to each fellow’s context. In addition, fellows co-design and contribute to one annual Forum which expands the peer-to-peer environment to a wider group or audience.

Proposed data THIRD Year 6 (2024-2026)

16 - 19 October 2024, 15  -  18 January 2025,  26 -  29 March, 25 - 28 June 2025, SUMMER RESIDENCIES 23 June - 11 July 2025, 8 - 11 October 2025,  21 - 24 January 2026, 18 - 21 March 2026, 17 - 20 June 2026, SUMMER RESIDENCIES 15 June - 3 July 2026 (all dates to be confirmed)

Who is THIRD for?

Currently there are very few programs in Europe catering to performing arts research in higher education and even fewer providing pedagogies and facilities focusing on research in and through practice. THIRD provides a space to expand your peer to peer research skills and to deepen your individual research questions in a working ethics of collective responsibility and support. It addresses participants who have been working for years and yearn to harvest by engaging with and activating their work as research.

The program welcomes applications from all experienced practitioners seeking to conduct practice-based research, including artists, producers, curators, educators, facilitators, designers and other professionals working in the field of the arts.

The programme thrives on the engagement and exchange between diverse participants. We specifically also welcome practices that don’t see themselves represented in the art market or academic discourses, and invite artists and practitioner researchers of all bodies to apply. We are committed to the core values of the Lectorate of the Academy of Theatre and Dance within which we sit: access, regeneration, and care, both in personal relations as well as in institutional support. 

THIRD is part of the Lectorate of the Academy of Theatre and Dance within the Amsterdam University of the Arts