Prologue
The lights go up.
A stage appears – not in one city, but across Europe.
Virtual Academy for Performing Artists (VAPA) is a European Erasmus+ project in the field of Vocational Education and Training, created as a shared space where young theatre practitioners can grow, experiment, and shape their professional future.
Within the Virtual Academy, learning unfolds through structured training programmes and public performances. Participants develop their artistic language while strengthening the skills needed to navigate today’s cultural and creative industries – from collaboration and authorship to self-entrepreneurship and sustainability.
At the heart of VAPA are two artistic paths.
Socially Engaging Theatre (SET) explores theatre as a tool for participation, inclusion, and social reflection.
Puppeteering training (PUP) opens a world where objects come to life, stories are shaped through movement, and imagination becomes a powerful form of expression.
Each programme is rooted in practice. Ideas become scripts, rehearsals become performances, and learning continues on stage – captured through video recordings that document the creative process and its public impact.
This is an invitation to enter the Academy.
To choose a path. To watch, to learn, and to perform.
Scroll down and begin the first act.
Virtual Academy For Performing Arts
Socially Engaging Theatre (SET training)
The stage expands.
The audience is no longer seated – it is invited in. Socially Engaging Theatre (SET) is a core training programme within the Virtual Academy for Performing Artists, focused on theatre as a space for dialogue, participation, and social connection. It invites young theatre practitioners to explore how performance can respond to real communities and real questions.
This is theatre as a process.
This is learning as a collective act.
This is SET.
Public call for participation
The Performances Are About to Begin
The Story Behind This Performance Is Coming Soon
Puppeteering Training (PUP training)
The curtain lifts.Objects awaken.
Stories find new bodies.
Puppeteering training (PUP) is a training
programme within the Virtual Academy for
Performing Artists, dedicated to the art of bringing
stories to life through objects, figures, and movement.
It explores puppetry as a powerful theatrical language, one that speaks through gesture, rhythm, imagination, and collective creation.
This is imagination in motion.
This is puppetry as contemporary performance.
This is PUP.
Public call for participation
The Performances Are About to Begin
The Story Behind This Performance Is Coming Soon
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or OeAD-GmbH. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.