HELLERAU was built in 1911 as a festival theater and educational institution for music and rhythm according to the visions of the pioneer of modern architecture Heinrich Tessenow and the music teacher Émile Jaques-Dalcroze. As the cultural center of the first German Garden City, the legendary building attracted artists from all over Europe to Hellerau until 1914, including Rilke, Kafka, Diaghilev, Van de Velde, Kokoschka, Gropius, Van der Rohe, Werfel, Busoni, Milhaud, Le Corbusier, Nolde and Stefan Zweig.

Today, HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts is one of the most important international centers for contemporary dance, performance, music, theater and media art. HELLERAU offers spaces for productions, festivals, concerts, performances, exhibitions and discourse, cooperates with various regional cultural partners and is internationally networked. Artists from Dresden and all over the world find an opportunity to realize their ideas at HELLERAU.

The residency apartments and the opportunities for artistic research, production and collaboration are unique. HELLERAU deals with current social issues of our time in various focal points and festival formats. One program focus addresses the role of the arts in the social transformation processes of the former Eastern Bloc countries after 1989. Other topics revolve around neighbourhoods, generations, heritage, tradition and memory as well as digital transformation and ecological sustainability. From the 2018/19 season onwards, Carena Schlewitt has been Artistic Director.

HELLERAU is a stage of the state capital Dresden and a member of The Alliance of International Production Houses, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, alongside FFT Forum Freies Theater Düsseldorf, HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt am Main, PACT Zollverein Essen and tanzhaus nrw Düsseldorf.