Huggy Bears

Since 2016, Huggy Bears has been a pillar of innovative performance art, supporting emerging artists in Vienna. Each year, the supporting programme provides three or four individual artists or art collectives with comprehensive support in areas from production to administration, equipment and dramaturgy. In a series of different presentation formats as well as regular feedback sessions within the group, the young artists’ projects develop into very special pieces. At the end of the supporting programme, the mentees get to present their performance projects for the first time. The programme is run by Philippe Riéra and Charlotte Bastam and operated by the initiative Bears in the Park, one of the city’s ‘cultural anchor centres. Bears in the Park is dedicated to supporting Vienna’s independent performance scene and has become an important place to work, connect and join forces in creativity. In addition to the Huggy Bears programme, the initiative provides rehearsal spaces in its dance studios and awards residencies for the sound studio as well as for an artist studio to be used by visual artists.

As part of the Huggy Bears Days, the artists’ works are presented in a small festival organised by brut Wien and WUK performing arts, taking place across the stages of both venues. In 2026, over the course of four consecutive days, the pieces by Sunggu Hong and Daria Nosik & Katerina Nosik will be presented as double bills at studio brut, while the works by Els van Houtert and Katarína Krupičková & Florentina Ebenbauer will be shown as double bills at WUK performing arts. The programme is complemented by shared accompanying events and post-performance discussions with the title Snacks & Chats with …