Project “Liberation/Becoming Free: The Transformation of Lithuanian Performing Arts after 1985”

The project seeks to consolidate the research potential of scholars at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre while involving international researchers, experts in artistic research, and early-career scholars in research and development activities based on international collaboration.The relationship of the project to the current international state of research on similar topics is grounded in the assumption that a qualitative shift is necessary for advancing the study of transformations in Lithuanian performing arts after 1985. Contemporary artistic practices and institutional shifts in the performing arts have so far been examined mostly within single disciplinary frameworks and often from a predominantly national perspective. In order for these transformational processes and phenomena to become more widely known within international academic communities and to enter broader cultural discourse, it is important to develop cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary research approaches.By expanding the thematic scope of the study, the project seeks to reveal deeper insights into performing arts and their diverse contexts, moving beyond simplified interpretations that view artistic practices merely as reflections of social structures or political processes. The research aims to significantly enrich knowledge about the social and cultural significance of Lithuanian performing arts during the period of transformation, as well as about the ways in which artistic practices empowered society and enabled artists to participate in broader social and political changes.