WESTWIND sees itself as a work meeting of the theatres of North Rhine-Westphalia. The structure of the festival is unique: Every year, local theatres meet up in a different city with state and privat theatres, independent theatres as well as independent groups and single persons. There are performances open to the public as well as academic talks on the performances of the competition, lectures, discussions and workshops dealing with different aspects of children's and youth theatre Furthermore extraordinary international productions which are out of competition and international guests will be invited. Especially due to the support of the art foundation North Rhine-Westphalia, Westwind is able to enlarge its international framework programme in 2013.
"Next Generation", a programme launched in 2009, the WESTWIND festival also is a future-orientated workshop for young artists. From a large number of applicants we will choose ten that will receive a scholarship. A mentor will guide the participants who have received a scholarship through the week of the festival.
Last but not least there will be educational offers along to the performances for kindergarten and school classes. At the end of the festival a jury will award the winner with 10,000 Euro provided by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia