Take Care Conference #3 | Final conference

After the opening conference in May 2025 at CircusDanceFestival and the second edition in April 2026 at Circusstad in Rotterdam, the European project Take Care, is reaching the end of its journey with a final gathering at the ON THE EDGE festival in Vienna.

Entitled Relationally Curious: Awareness, Behaviour and Well-Being, the conference explores collective responsibility and the healing power of relationships within and around artistic creation. Rather than approaching well-being as an individual pursuit, it asks how our relationships, behaviours and shared environments can contribute to feeling better, together. 

This third and final conference will bring together circus professionals, artists, psychotherapists, educators and researchers to reflect on the project’s findings, share experiences and explore new ways of creating ecosystems of care in the circus and performing arts.

👉 Discover the latest results of the Take Care Mental Health Survey conducted by Codarts researchers with students from 17 FEDEC schools.

👉 Take part in workshops exploring rest, risk, interdependence, curiosity, care and the relationship between physical preparation and mental well-being.

👉 Discover the four Take Care short films and join a panel discussion exploring mental health through artistic practices.

The conference takes place as part of the ON THE EDGE Festival in Vienna, offering participants the opportunity to continue the day with a rich programme of performances.

Practical info

📅 Saturday 7 November 2026
🕐 9:30–17:00
📍 Theater am Werk im Kabelwerk Oswaldgasse 35A, 1120 Vienna, Austria
👉 Registration required: Register for the conference
🛌​ Recommended hotels nearby: Hotel Altmannsdorf Kyriad and Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf.
🍴Recommended lunch option: Restaurant Genuss am Werk. 

Programme

👇Download the full programme at the bottom of the page for complete details on all sessions.

09:30 | Accreditation & coffee
10.00 | Welcome words by ON THE EDGE, CircusDanceFestival and FEDEC
10:15 | Keynote by Anna Mendelssohn - actress, performance artist and systemic psychotherapist
10:40 | Keynote by Rogier van Rijn - PhD human movement scientist, CODARTS associate professor
11.15 - 13:00 | 3 Workshops in parallel

• With Verena Schneider – interdisciplinary circus artist & Christina Rauchbauer – choreographer, performer and theatre facilitator
• With Anna Mendelssohn - actress, performance artist and systemic psychotherapist
• With Chiara Marchese – multidisciplinary artist

13.15 - 14:30 | Lunch break by registration @Genuss am Werk
14:30-15:10 | Take Care Films Screening by Filip Jacobson and Miikkael Kukkula
15:10-16:40 | Panel with Chiara Marchese, Miikkael Kukkula, Filip Jacobson and Isabel Joly, moderated by Valentina Barone. Live-drawing by Birgit Kellner.
16:40-17:00 | Snacks & drinks

ON THE EDGE Artistic Programme

17:00 & 18:30 | Running Gag by Sööt/Zeyringer (AT/EE)
19:30 | Cracks in the Wood by Maria Madeira (PT/BE)
21:00 | Dark Glowing by Laurence Felber, Silvan Strübel, Caroline Schenk (CH)

Acknowledgments

Take Care is a European project co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission, and led by FEDEC - International network for professional circus education, with the following partners: Around about circus (DEU), Circus Dance Festival (DEU), Codarts (NLD), Filip Jacobson (DEU) and Miikkael Kukkula (FIN).