May · June · Teatro Comunale di Bologna and theatres of the metropolitan city
For the contemporary and classical dance companies performing on the boards of the Bologna Ballet Festival, the dance schools and academies bringing their students to the masterclasses, the theatres of the metropolitan city hosting the season’s performances, the cultural associations and committees curating the festival days, the choreographers and teachers of the programming, the dance magazines and the specialised press, the cultural and dance sponsors of the territory — branded playbills and programmes for the season’s performances, coordinated uniforms for the companies and the schools at the masterclasses, organic cotton shoppers for the show audience, gift kits for the guest choreographers and teachers, didactic kits for the dance schools participating in the training days, welcome packs for the delegations of twinned festivals — delivered in time for the first performance of the Bologna Ballet Festival.
The Bologna Ballet Festival — as it is organised across the various editions by the artistic direction that curates the programme — brings together classical and contemporary dance companies, choreographers, dancers, dance critics, dance schools, theatres of the metropolitan city, cultural associations, cultural and dance sponsors and a broad audience of enthusiasts who move through the days between performances, masterclasses, open rehearsals, round tables and awards for emerging companies. It is an event that weaves together the Italian dance calendar with that of the twinned European dance festivals, and is among the central moments of the cultural life of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna and Northern Italy.
For the dance companies, the schools and academies, the theatres of the metropolitan city and the organisers of the Bologna Ballet Festival, Corp-Merch.IT manages from its operational hub the complete chain for the companies, the dance schools, the theatres, the cultural associations, the guest choreographers and the cultural sponsors: reception of the master graphic files of the dance company, the school or the theatre (AI, EPS, PDF/X-4 with CMYK images at 300 dpi, FOGRA39 colour profile for printing, Pantone for textiles), adaptation for the various personalisation techniques (water-based screen printing on GOTS-certified organic cotton for the coordinated uniforms of the companies and the schools at the masterclasses, hot foil stamping on FSC-certified paper for the playbills and performance programmes, laser engraving on maple wood for the trophies of the emerging companies’ awards, computerised embroidery on cotton and linen for the makeup and costumes aprons, sublimation printing on cotton for the tote bags of the show audience, UV printing on PVC for the open rehearsals and masterclasses signs), pre-production physical sample with Pantone colour map and technical sheet, production on Italian supply chains (Como textiles for masters, Stella Maris-stitched ballet costumes and dance gear, Alexandria-Delta dance academies; technical stitching on Belluno-Valdobbiadene ballet production lines; tapestries of Tuscan organic cotton for the audience tote bags; FSC-certified Fabriano paper for the playbills and performance programmes; Maniago steel for the awards metalwork; Padova cartotecnica for the limited-edition cofanetti) and delivery to the theatre, the rehearsal room, the dance school, the artistic direction’s consolidation warehouse or the cultural association’s headquarters on slots confirmed by the festival’s calendar.
The classical and contemporary dance companies performing on the festival boards look for coordinated uniforms (body, sweatshirt, technical t-shirt with computerised embroidery of the company name), organic cotton shoppers coordinated with the show’s graphics, FSC-certified paper playbills, performance programmes with hot foil title stamping, coordinated small ware with magnetic characters from the show images, illustrated postcards of the boards, enamel pins of the companies. The dance schools and academies bringing their students to the masterclasses need coordinated uniforms for the students (body, skirt, tights, coordinated shopper), FSC-certified masterclass programmes, dance didactic kits (small illustrated booklets of classical positions, coordinated shopper, annotation notebooks). The theatres of the metropolitan city hosting the season’s performances request playbills, performance programmes, theatre shoppers, coordinated small ware for the box offices. The guest choreographers and teachers want gift kits coordinated with the festival’s graphics, limited-edition prints of the boards, maestro-coordinated packaging. The cultural and dance sponsors request coordinated gadgets for their hospitality evenings in the theatre foyers.
Most of the dance companies, schools and theatres of the metropolitan city curating a merch programme for the Bologna Ballet Festival coordinate their operations from their Bolognese headquarters, but launching a coordinated collection of company uniforms, performance playbills or masterclass programmes requires a district supply chain that our hub can orchestrate across the Italian territory. Como for the cotton of the coordinated uniforms, Scandicci for the leather of the makeup and costumes aprons, Maniago for the steel of the awards and metalwork, Empoli for the glass of the limited editions, Faenza for the ceramics of the masterclass kits, Padova for the technical cartotecnica of the cofanetti, Fabriano for the paper of the playbills and performance programmes, Collodi for the wooden objects of the awards trophies: the hub allows consolidating the client’s graphic files, running a physical pre-production sample on the Italian supply chains and shipping the lot to the theatre, the rehearsal room, the dance school or the artistic direction’s warehouse on a short courier window, twenty-four to forty-eight hours from the national territory. For programmes involving a twinned dance festival delegation (twinning between the Bologna Dance Festivals and the European dance festivals), gestiamo materiali bilingui (italiano e inglese come minimo) e, su richiesta, rilascio multilingue completo con traduzioni allineate alla norma ISO 17100.
The Bologna Ballet Festival window is concentrated and must be prepared with a calendar that includes the theatre setup days opening the previous Friday, the Saturday inaugural evening at the Teatro Comunale, the season’s performances of the following week, the Thursday and Friday masterclasses for the dance schools, the Saturday dance critics’ round tables, the Sunday open rehearsals and the grand finale evening of the emerging companies’ awards on the Wednesday. For the dance companies and dance schools the gap between the confirmation of the festival’s graphics and the opening of the season’s performance days is normally below ten weeks, and any object that must reach the company’s meeting point, the theatre or the artistic direction’s warehouse for the first performance must be closed and shipped at least one week before the inauguration. We work backwards from that moment: production must close two to three weeks before the inaugural evening; the courier slot must be booked for the Wednesday or Thursday of the festival’s week; the addressee list must be finalised simultaneously with the confirmation of the performance calendar; the specific edition details (num, edition, performance titles) add only a small reprint to an already produced neutral graphic base.
For Italian clients with a VAT number the invoice is issued via the Exchange System (SdI) of the Italian Revenue Agency with 22% VAT applied in EUR; reduced rates of 4%, 5% or 10% available on the product categories that allow it (publishing, on-demand art objects, products typical of the dance and cultural chain). Reverse charge for intra-EU buyers registered in VIES, split payment for public administration bodies, recipient code or PEC for electronic invoice delivery. For clients subject to CSRD reporting (D.Lgs. 125/2024, transposing Directive (EU) 2022/2464) we provide a sustainability sheet per order with Scope 3 CO₂e estimate according to the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain on the internal legs and from the indicated production supply chains.
Technical body in GOTS-certified organic cotton or mixed elastane with computerised embroidery of the company or school name, coordinated sweatshirt for the masterclasses and rehearsals, technical t-shirt for the training days, durable fabric shopper, metal badge for the larger company uniforms.
FSC-certified paper playbills with hot foil stamping of the show title and artistic direction, illustrated performance programmes with biographies of choreographers and dancers, limited-edition prints of the boards in a technical cartotecnica cofanetto, emerging companies cards for the awards.
Organic Tuscan cotton shoppers, Scandicci leather small leather goods for the rehearsal notebook covers, Maniago steel corkscrews for the guest dinners, limited-edition print of the boards, packaging coordinated with the institutional colours of the guest dance festival.
Illustrated booklets of classical positions and dance history printed on FSC-certified paper, organic cotton shoppers for the student kits, bilingual agenda, masterclass annotation notebook with singer-stitch binding, limited edition of a small object from the boards’ tradition.
Before starting production, graphics, quantities per recipient, packaging and named receiving point must be confirmed. The final delivery address is defined close to the Bologna Ballet Festival weeks against the calendar issued by the artistic direction or by the organising theatre responsible for the event: the theatres in Bologna’s historic centre have narrow access roads and regulated vehicular gates; the rehearsal rooms have their own delivery times that must be coordinated with the referents; the dance schools have loading windows coordinated with the school referents; the artistic direction’s consolidation warehouse is often outside the centre and must be reached with adequate couriers. The ZTL of Bologna’s historic centre conditions courier access, which is why most teams opt for early morning deliveries or after 19:30, when heavy vehicles are again permitted in the ZTL areas of the centre.
For an Italian programme routed via the national hub, deliveries are consolidated and shipped to the theatre, the rehearsal room, the dance school or the artistic direction’s warehouse with twenty-four to forty-eight hour windows via BRT, SDA, GLS or DHL Express Italy, by appointment for venues requiring telephone notice. For programmes above 1,000 pieces we propose appointment delivery with telephone notice and, on request, on-site setup by our staff at the theatre or the artistic direction’s warehouse. For materials requiring controlled environmental conditions (prints of the boards, performance programmes, limited-edition glass) we coordinate climate-controlled transport with specialised partners. For didactic kits destined for dance schools and for welcome packs destined for twinned dance festival delegations we manage multilingual labelling (Italian, English, French, German, Spanish) and packaging in tamper-evident envelopes with bilingual packing list addressed to the recipient.
Eight to ten weeks is the safest window for FSC-certified paper playbills, coordinated uniforms for the companies and schools at the masterclasses, gift kits for the guest choreographers and didactic kits for the dance schools. Tighter programmes are only possible after confirming stock, printing methods and access to the theatre or rehearsal room of the festival.
Only after the artistic direction or organising theatre has confirmed the loading window, gate access and named recipient. For the prints of the boards and for the performance programmes specific packaging conditions must be agreed.
Yes. Uniforms for dance companies, playbills for the performances, gift kits for choreographers and guest teachers and didactic kits for dance schools can be packed and labelled as separate lots, tied to each audience and each delivery point.
No. Corp-Merch.IT is an external and independent B2B supplier that helps dance companies, schools and academies, theatres of the metropolitan city, cultural associations, guest choreographers and cultural sponsors prepare their merch for the Bologna Ballet Festival. It does not organise, sponsor or represent the artistic direction nor the organising theatres of the festival.
Corp-Merch.IT is an external and independent B2B supplier of dance companies, schools and academies, theatres of the metropolitan city, cultural associations, guest choreographers and the organising committees of the Bologna Ballet Festival. This page helps teams prepare their merch for the festival; it does not represent the artistic direction, the organising theatres, the companies nor any sponsor of the event.