The head of dance will not be judged solely on which choreographies she brings to Freiburg. Routes into the theatre, rehearsal conditions and the question of who is routinely considered as part of the audience are also part of the artistic work. Anna Mülter, who is set to take over the dance department at Theater Freiburg according to an announcement dated 4 November 2026, brings experience of these issues from her work as a festival director. When she will take up her new post is not yet known.
Accessibility is explicitly central to the appointment. Mülter describes dance as an art form that can make different physical and sensory experiences visible. For now, this is a statement of intent, not evidence of how the Freiburg department will change in practice. This is precisely the task of leadership: to translate a position into decisions about staffing, production, spaces, time and money.
Accessibility begins before the performance
According to the available biographical information, Mülter worked as dance curator at Sophiensæle from 2014 to 2020 and was responsible for Tanztage Berlin. She subsequently directed the Theaterformen festival, which alternates between Hannover and Braunschweig, from 2020 to 2026. Her work thus spans dance, international performance and a curatorial practice that takes urban space into account.
At the Theaterformen festival, accessibility was not treated simply as access to the auditorium. Its published provision included alternative seating options, relaxed performances, audio descriptions with touch tours, and interpreting. At the same time, the festival itself acknowledges that it cannot meet every need and that the process is ongoing. This qualification matters: accessibility is not a seal of approval that an institution acquires once and for all, but work on specific barriers — and on which perspectives are given space in the programme.
In an interview with the specialist magazine “Theater der Zeit”, Mülter also described the tension between a shared live experience and digital access. A digital offering could be crucial for people who find it difficult to get to the theatre because of a disability or chronic illness; at the same time, it requires resources and must suit the work in question. The issue, then, is not one of replacing one format with another. It is about whose access a particular approach to production and performance makes easier or harder.
From festival to municipal theatre
A festival can use unusual venues for a limited period and establish a concentrated focus. A municipal theatre, by contrast, must build accessibility into its day-to-day operations: from communication and ticket allocation to rehearsal conditions and collaboration with artists. Mülter’s task in Freiburg will therefore not simply be to transfer festival models. What will probably matter is which structures an ensemble and a theatre can sustain in the long term.
Her festival work reveals another guiding principle: curating art not only for an already seasoned theatre audience. Speaking to nachtkritik, Mülter stressed that a piece should not require prior knowledge and that different people should be able to find their own ways into it. At the same time, she connected festival work with the city and its political negotiations. This position changes how audience engagement is understood: the audience is not merely the recipient of a finished programme, but part of the question of whom a theatre exists to serve.
How such principles will take shape in Freiburg remains unclear. The appointment announcement mentions international networks, local roots, guest performances, co-productions and interdisciplinary formats. This does not yet describe specific productions or measures. A leader cannot dismantle barriers through good intentions alone; she needs clearly assigned responsibilities, reliable funding and a willingness to change routines. Mülter’s work to date provides experience for this, but no ready-made blueprint. The real test begins when those ambitions become decisions in the theatre’s everyday work.
Original reviewed by the editors · 6 November 2026
