{{Short description|German theatre director (born 1934)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Nele Hertling | image = Nele Hertling.jpg | caption = Hertling in 2012 | birth_name = Nele Schröder | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1934|02|23|df=y}} | birth_place = Berlin, Germany | death_date = | death_place = | education = Humboldt University Berlin | occupation = {{plainlist| * Culture administrator * Theatre manager }} | spouse = Cornelius Hertling | organizations = {{plainlist| * Academy of Arts, Berlin * Hebbel Theatre * Goethe-Institut * Kulturstiftung des Bundes }} | awards = {{plainlist| * Ordre des Arts et des Lettres * Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany * Legion of Honour }} }} '''Nele Hertling''' ({{nee|'''Schröder'''}}; born 23 February 1934) is a German theatre manager and promoter of innovative culture. Working for the Academy of Arts, Berlin, from 1962, she has founded regular programs of innovative art in the city, such as Pantomime-Musik-Tanz-Theater in 1970 and the Tanz im August festival in 1988. She managed the program for Berlin as the European City of Culture that year. Hertling is considered the ''grande dame'' of the established German {{Ill|Freies Theater|de}} (free theatre).<ref>Rolf Hosfeld, Andi Schoon: ''Festivals 2007/2008.'' Helmut Metz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-937742-26-7}}, {{p.|148}}.</ref>
== Life and work == Hertling was born in Berlin as daughter of composer Hanning Schröder and musicologist Cornelia Schröder-Auerbach. Growing up in a family of musicians, she was early exposed to the performing arts and contemporary culture. After studying German studies and theatre studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of Humboldt University Berlin, which she completed in 1957, she worked freelance for radio and theatre.<ref name="Eisenbeiss" /> She lived in London for one year with her husband, {{Ill|Cornelius Hertling|de}}. She worked for the Academy of Arts, Berlin, from 1962, as a research assistant in the departments of music and performing arts.<ref name="Tanz im August 2018">{{cite web |date=16 August 2018 |title=Tanz im August – Internationales Festival Berlin – Nele Hertling |url=https://www.tanzimaugust.de/en/30years/nele-hertling/ |access-date=16 June 2021 |website=Tanz im August}}</ref><ref name="Eisenbeiss" /> There, she brought innovative art forms to Berlin.<ref name="Tanz im August 2018" />
From 1974, she also worked as a senate secretary.<ref name="Eisenbeiss" /> In 1987, she took over the management of the Werkstatt Berlin to develop the program for Berlin as the European City of Culture in 1988.<ref name="Eisenbeiss">{{cite web | last=Eisenbeiss | first=Martin | title=Dachverband Tanz Deutschland: Nele Hertling | website=Dachverband Tanz Deutschland | url=http://dachverband-tanz.danceinfo.de/index.php?id=89 | language=de | access-date=16 June 2021}}</ref> From 1989 to 2003, she was artistic director of the Hebbel Theatre.<ref name="Eisenbeiss" /><ref name="Akademie Schloss Solitude 2020">{{cite web | title=Nele Hertling | website=Akademie Schloss Solitude | date=26 March 2020 | url=https://www.akademie-solitude.de/de/person/nele-hertling/ | language=de | access-date=16 June 2021}}</ref>
From the summer of 2003 until the end of 2006, Hertling was director of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program.<ref name="Tanz im August 2018" /> She is a member and collaborator in numerous bodies and networks, including the I.E.T.M. (Informal European Theatre Meeting), Theorem, Gulliver Clearing House in Amsterdam, since 1995 she has been a member of the "Franco-German Cultural Council" (President since 2001), the Goethe-Institut's Performing Arts Advisory Board and the Board of Trustees of the {{Ill|Kulturstiftung des Bundes|de}}. She is a co-founder of the initiative "{{Ill|A Soul for Europe|de}}" and a member of its strategy group.<ref name="Start">{{cite web | title=A Soul for Europe: Stiftung Zukunft Berlin | website=stiftungzukunftberlin.eu | url=https://www.stiftungzukunftberlin.eu/initiativen/a-soul-for-europe/ | language=de | access-date=16 June 2021}}</ref> Since 2006 she has been vice-president of the Academy of Arts, Berlin.<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin">{{cite web | title=Hertling | website=Akademie der Künste, Berlin | url=https://www.adk.de/de/akademie/mitglieder/index.htm?we_objectID=51436 | language=de | access-date=16 June 2021}}</ref>
== Work == Hertling initiated several programs of innovative culture. From 1970, she created programs and series of events in Berlin, including Pantomime-Musik-Tanz-Theater (PMTT), with Dirk Scheper, for pantomime, music, dance and theatre.<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> From 1972, several art didactic programs were added. In 1988, she founded a festival Tanz im August, which was named Internationales Tanzfest Berlin – Tanz im August from 1999 to 2003.<ref name="Tanz im August 2018" /> She was responsible, with {{ill|Thomas Langhoff|de}}, for the conception and program of the Germany-wide festival Theater der Welt (theatre of the world).<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" />
== Awards and prizes == * 1978: Deutscher Kritikerpreis for dance, together with Dirk Scheper<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> * 1993: Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> * 1995: Order of Merit of Berlin<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> * 1999: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> * 2001: Knight of the Legion of Honour<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> * 2004: Caroline Neuber Prize of the city of Leipzig<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> * 2004: ITI-Preis zum Welttheatertag of the International Theatre Institute<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> * 2013: Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> * 2014: {{Ill|Ernst-Reuter-Plakette|de}}<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> * 2014: Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> * 2018: Deutscher Tanzpreis<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> * 2024: Der Faust – life's work<ref name="m693">{{cite web | title=Nele Hertling beim Deutschen Theaterpreis "Faust" geehrt | website=nmz – neue musikzeitung | date=18 November 2024 | url=https://www.nmz.de/menschen/nele-hertling-beim-deutschen-theaterpreis-faust-geehrt | language=de | access-date=18 November 2024}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * Leonie See, Ania Wilder-Mintzer (ed.): ''Ich weiss, was ich will: Frauen, Kultur, Management.'' Orlanda Frauenverlag, 1991, {{ISBN|3-922166-72-5}}, pp. 50 f. (with biography) * {{cite web |last=Merschmeier |first=Michael |title=Nele Hertling |website=Der Theaterverlag |url=https://www.der-theaterverlag.de/theatermagazin/dtm/theatermagazin-08-2018/nele-hertling/ |language=de |access-date=16 June 2021}}
{{authority control}} {{portal bar|Theatre|Germany}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hertling, Nele}} Category:German theatre directors Category:German women theatre directors Category:Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin Category:Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour Category:Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin Category:1934 births Category:Living people Category:Theatre people from Berlin