Thespo is a Youth Theatre Movement that SHOWCASES, TRAINS, COLLABORATES and CELEBRATES to create a GLOBAL COMMUNITY OF YOUNG THEATRE PROFESSIONALS.

Thespo (Started in 1999) is a platform for any and every young person under 25 who is interested in any and all aspects of theatre. Except for the age limit, Thespo firmly believes in including youth from all parts of the world, all fields, all language groups and all art forms who share a love for theatre. Over the years Thespo has showcased the best of youth theatre from across the country in the form of full length plays, platform performances, play readings, devised performances and much more. Theatre stalwarts and practitioners from around the globe have collaborated with young emerging artists in India to create unique and memorable performances. Regular workshops covering various aspects of theatre have ensured access to professional training in the field.

Website: https://thespo.org

Festival Reviews and Reports

2019

The Best Indian Theatre in 2019: A Poll

Bangalore has Easily Become India’s No. 2 Theatre Hub

2018

The Perks of Bringing in New People in the Theatre Repertory

2017

A Collections of Scattered Memories

“Brotherhood: The Hip-Hop Opera” and the Art of Rap

The idea of ​​this annual festival is to create a space of multicultural dialogue through the presentation of varieties of contemporary theatre and dramaturgy of European countries. The festival is intended to be a platform for meetings of professionals and theatre lovers, and is guided by the mission of broadly defined integration of European culture and the theatre community. But most importantly, it gives viewers of the city and region the opportunity to learn about important performances.

This festival has no main theme. Instead of inventing it and looking for spectacles compatible with it, the organizers chose performances that they like and which seem important to them.

Mittelfest represents the most significant artistic focal point in Central Europe. It brings together the artistic ideas originated in this creatively potent European area together with the culture of Friuli Venezia Giulia. The rich local culture and the diversity of the Italian culture as the whole are also enriched by two dozens ethnic minority cultures here. As the major logistical route and touristic region, this area is also a platform for a meeting and exchange of the cultural forces from Poland and Germany to the south of Italy and Albania and from Romania and Serbia to Switzerland. Clearly, Mittelfest goes often beyond these areas too. Creating common ground for European identity; open-mindedness; international spirit; consideration for local culture; European values; sensitivity for human rights and freedom of expression; dialogue; curiosity; surprise; joy; sense for adventure and creative energy are the basic values of Mittelfest.

The Ashtar Youth Theatre International Festival takes place every two years at Ashtar Theatre in Palestine. A dynamic Palestinian Theatre with a progressive global perspective. Aims to promote creativity and commitment for change through a novel combination of specific training and acting programs and services and professional theatre performances. ASHTAR is a non-profit theatre organization that was established in 1991 as the first theatre training organization for youth in Palestine. One of ASHTAR’s pioneering specialties is a highly successful genre known as Forum Theatre. The purpose of Forum Theatre is to promote a more active dialogue and commitment for change within the society. ASHTAR’s core troupe of professional actors performs several high quality plays during the year introducing new theatre forms in Palestine. Increased cooperation with internationally known actors and directors ensure continuous professional development of the team, students and the wider theatre community as well as improve the entertainment culture in Palestine.

This six day festival showcases Black Theatre companies from the United States and abroad.

Hosted by The Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds, the La MaMa Spoleto Open is curated by La MaMa Umbria International, artistic residence, study and production center founded in 1990 by Ellen Stewart, founder and former artistic director of La MaMa Theatre in New York. This event aims at give support and visibility to emerging artists from all over the world. The 2019 Program includes several shows, mostly interdisciplinary, with the participation of artists of different nationalities.

Since 1947 the Holland Festival is the leading international performing arts festival in the Netherlands. The festival offers a broad scope of international performing arts with a mix of performances and concerts from all corners of the world. The festival features established names as well as new talent, showing innovation in art and exploring new types of venue and forms of theatre. The Holland Festival’s tradition of innovation is further expanded by opening the festival up, for instance by staging performances, concerts and events in public spaces.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival is an annual festival commencing on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend each June.

Established in 2001 and the biggest cabaret festival in the world, Adelaide Festival Centre’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival is a major event in the international and Australian arts calendar.

The festival has garnered a reputation of highlighting the best local, national and international artists through an eclectic program of classic and contemporary cabaret performances.

Cork Midsummer Festival is an annual multi-disciplinary arts festival that uses the city as its backdrop and inspiration. It provides high-quality arts events, both national and international, for audiences of all ages. Its program provides opportunities for significant public participation and engagement, supports the development of emerging artists across all art forms, and provides a unique platform for work by local and national artists.

Website: https://www.corkmidsummer.com/

The Isnard Azevedo Festival, sponsored by Florianopolis City Hall, through the Municipal Secretariat of Culture, Sport and Youth and the Florianópolis Cultural Foundation of Franklin Cascaes, is a show of theatrical diversity with the participation of 53 theater groups from six Brazilian states and two international theater that includes theatrical performances of children’s theater shows, children’s theater, adult theater, street theater and circus-theater of the most varied genres and formats.

Brave Festival – the festival of the brave, of the people who say where they are from, what their values are, traditions and spirituality. This is not a festival about works of art but about the art which can save and protect thousands of forgotten, abandoned, lonely cultures and people.

Our mission is to bring together children from all over the world in an atmosphere of friendship and respect for each other’s cultures. We do so by joining together children in artistic experiences aimed to inspire them to imagine a better future for themselves and their communities and provide them with tools to help realize their aspirations.

International Theatre Festival KONTAKT has been organized by Wilam Horzyca Theater since 1991. KONTAKT enabled to review and promote the most interesting theatrical events from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and their confrontation with theatres from Western Europe KONTAKT became a mediator of multinational, sometimes uneasy agreements in the new reality.
As part of the KONTAKT, accompanying events are held – art exhibitions, film projections and concerts. The performances are accompanied by meetings with artists, which are a very important element of the festival. The festival KONTAKT is a competition, the participating performances are assessed by an international jury which awards three top festival prizes. There is also the possibility of funding awards by individuals, institutions and companies.

The Cena Brasil International festival emerges in the Brazilian cultural and artistic scene as a great instrument of promotion and dissemination of the performing arts. In addition to being a theater show, Cena Brasil is committed to strengthening the Brazilian theatrical context, establishing a rich exchange between national and international theater companies, providing a rich exchange of experiences among artists during their residency through workshops and lectures that they minister and participate in.

In 2012, in celebration of the 5 years of existence of the In-Scene Theater Group, the 1st edition of Festto was held and has since been followed by annual editions, currently consolidated as part of the cultural calendar in the region.

The Association of ”The Theatre of Black and White” in Imatra has been organizing The International Black and White Theatre Festival since year 2004. Right since that time Black and White Theatre Festival has become well-known event for many people of the world. At the festival we could see the performing of different theatres from 46 countries, so far more than 250 shows and performances. For 16 years, Black and White Theatre Festival has presented a huge variety of different styles: dance theatre, ballet, pantomime, circus, traditional drama, opera, puppet theatre and street performing. The purpose of the festival is – to represent the international theatre in all its manifestation and genres.

Tramway’s Unlimited Festival showcases exceptional work by disabled artists. Like Southbank Centre’s Unlimited Festival, it programmes work funded by the Unlimited commissioning programme. Tramway’s Unlimited places a focus on programming Scottish disabled artists alongside international work.

L’Altre Festival is an International cultural event that takes place in Barcelona. It connects Performing Arts and Mental Health and seeks to involve, promote and exhibit Performing Arts among people with mental illness. Moreover, the Festival focuses on three specific objectives: performing arts and creation of companies as a rehabilitation tool for people with mental illnesses; the fight against the stigma associated with mental health; and contribution to the creation and enrichment of popular culture.

Culture From the Edge is an international festival for theater groups in which people with disabilities are artistically active.

The International Bodrum Dance Festival fest is one of the biggest dance festivals in Europe.

In 2018, the festival started to be celebrated as four international festivals, namely Folk Dance, Modern Dance, WDSF Bodrum Open and Latin Dance.

Hangö teaterträff is an annual festival where performing arts are presented, experienced, discussed and developed. The festival is one of the main events within the Swedish-language theatre of Finland, connecting the local, international, traditional and experimental. A gathering of performing arts in the small town of Hanko in the unique archipelago of the southernmost point of mainland Finland.

International Theatre Festival hosted by Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava

Website: www.eurokontext.sk

The Varna Summer International Theatre Festival is the major international theatre event in Bulgaria. It takes place each year in the beginning of June in the city of Varna at the Black Sea coast. The festival is organized by ViaFest Foundation and is supported by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Varna in constant partnership with Bulgarian Theatre Association and Union of Bulgarian Actors.

In 2002, the Festival was renamed the National Arts Festival, and is now an independent Section 21 company that has an unrivalled reputation as the leading African showcase of local and international creativity.Spread over 11 days and across 90-odd different venues in Makhanda, the Festival enjoys strong participation from artists from all of South Africa’s nine provinces as well as a number of international artists and audiences visiting South Africa.

Kunstenfestivaldesarts is an international arts festival dedicated to contemporary theatre, performance and dance. It occasionally also opens itself to film and visual arts. It is the live character of these disciplines that brings them all together. The festival explores hybrid and unconventional forms, and always addresses these fundamental questions: what can live on stage mean today? Who is represented? And who’s watching, who’s experiencing this live moment?

The PuSh Festival expands the horizons of Vancouver artists and audiences with work that is visionary, genre-bending, multi-disciplined, startling and original. The Festival showcases acclaimed international, Canadian and local artists and mixes them together with an alchemy that inspires audiences, rejuvenates artists, stimulates the industry and forges productive relationships around the globe.

The one and only international theatre festival in Colombo.

The main goal of “Maskarada” is to discover the variety of masks which contemporary theatres put on. The festival provides performances for children and adults, workshops, and plenary sessions.

t is one of the biggest theater festival in China, and also the first international theater festival for children which is held outdoor. Every year, it invites more than 15 famous theater groups from all over the world to participate and celebrate this festival together. It encourages show without verbal language.

Created in 1978, FITEI – Festival Internacional de Teatro de Expressão Ibérica is Portugal’s oldest theatre festival – a reference in its domain and a recognised award-winning event. For nearly 40 years that the festival promotes theatre and performing arts; and enhances creative and collaborative bridges between Portugal and the Ibero-speaking world (Spain, Latin America, African Portuguese-speaking countries).

International artists are programmed alongside local performers. Performances are often followed by Q&A sessions and the festival also organizes parallel events such as seminars, workshops and exhibitions, which allows the exchange of good practices, promotes networking between artists with different backgrounds and brings audiences closer to both artists and a cultural organization, thus enhances their sense of belongs to a project strongly rooted in the local performing arts scene.

ANTISTATIC International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance started in 2008 as the first festival in Sofia with this profile. It was initiated in the context of the efforts of the Balkan network for contemporary dance Nomad Dance Academy to promote and to develop this art form in the Balkan region and to make it one of the vital dance centers in Europe.
Over the years, ANTISTATIC Festival has established itself as a platform for new forms and practices in dance and performance and till now it has presented groundbreaking works by both emerging and acknowledged international artists.

Website: http://antistaticfestival.org/en/

Brighton Fringe is the largest open-access arts festival in England. It is an international festival that is at the same time rooted in the community. It embraces every art form and every form of artistic expression, and supports both new and established performers in trying out new work and taking risks.

Website: http://www.brightonfringe.org

IntegrART, a Migros Culture Percentage networking project, actively supports the inclusion of artists with a disability within art and society. Since 2007, the biennial initiative has been linking up local festivals, presenting national and international productions, and organising symposiums in cooperation with key partners.

With 800+ performances by 500+ artists from across the globe, fringing is a festive adventure full of surprises. Over 60 000 festival-goers celebrate diversity, accessibility and artistic freedom with us annually.

The program of the festival offers a variety of shows and experiences. True to its eclectic, multidisciplinary line and international, the festival will welcome both confirmed artists as emerging. 

Printemps des Comédiens is an international theater festival, popular and accessible to all, both for its artistic line and the practice of low rates, with a diverse choice: classical shows, contemporary, circus, young companies, world cultures.

The International Contemporary Theater Festival will feature renowned theater makers from all over the world. You can see premieres, guest performances and workshop presentations. 

Downtown Urban Arts Festival (DUAF) is a five-week annual multi-disciplinary arts event with cultural offerings in theater, film, music and poetry held during the spring at renowned venues in downtown Manhattan, NYC. DUAF treats New Yorkers, East Coasters and tourists to the best of new groundbreaking theater and film from around the world. Writers from America’s burgeoning multicultural landscape and from around the world have the opportunity to share their stories that interpret our history and our times.

The Festival presents the most interesting international avant-garde and independent works including theatre shows, concerts, and exhibitions. It also engages its audiences in workshops and panel discussions.

The World Shakespeare Festival (WSF) is a celebration of Shakespeare as the world’s playwright.

With the development of other dramatic performances such as environmental theater, consultative theater, practical and performative interwoven arts, Mariwan International Festival as a most specialized outdoor Theater Festival is to be receptive not only for street theater but also for all other dramatic performances. 

In any country, no matter where you are, come to Konya. Let us share the enthusiasm of our festival together this year. Even if we live with different religions, cultures, and speak the same language with different dialects and dialects gelin let our voice, our breath and our voice be in this open-air museum in a friendly, brotherly, tolerant and peaceful way.

In order to contribute to the 23 April National Sovereignty and Children’s Day Atatürk, which Atatürk gave as a gift to children, with the art of theater, to open the Turkish theater abroad through the children of the world, to promote it and to follow intercultural development and change by following the developments in this field, Since 2005, the General Directorate of State Theaters has been organizing the International Children’s Theaters Festival in Ankara every year.

KONTRAPUNKT (Counterpoint) is one of the oldest theatre festivals in Poland. It integrates the whole artistic environment of Szczecin with theatre artists, writers and poets, fine and photography artists among them. KONTRAPUNKT exposes the latest trends and developments in Polish and German theatre. It confronts the achievements of recognised artists with interesting experiments by the emerging artists. Besides the Jury Awards, the general public gives out Grand Prix, the major prize of the festival.

The Livingstone International Cultural Arts Festival boasts of outstanding events that gives Livingstone locals something to look forward to every year. Events range from Public Perfomances by various cultural groups and pop artists, Street Carnivals, Gala Dinners.

The Maitisong Festival is undoubtedly the biggest arts festival in Botswana. International and local artists will bring theatre, music, dance, poetry and comedy to audiences in and around Gaborone. We look forward to celebrating another year of arts promotion, raising the professional bar in the arts, launching careers and connecting Botswana artists with their international counterparts.

MATA presents an internationally-recognized festival, now celebrating its twentieth anniversary, each spring in New York City of new music by early career composers selected from a free global call for submissions; MATA Presents, an acclaimed series of occasional concerts held at venues throughout New York, now in its eleventh season; and MATA Jr., currently entering its third season: an evening of music by pre-college composers, mentored by emerging composers, and performed by an ensemble of their peers.

In Scena! presents – each year – a survey of the best Italian Theater, from Italy, in New York. It features full productions that have already toured in Italy as well as readings of Italian plays in translation, workshops, lectures and exchanges between Italian and International artists. The goal is to promote greater awareness of Italian theater and Italian artists among New York theatergoers, and to build a bridge between the artistic scenes in Italy and New York, so that they may each support and inspire the other.

The Festival reflects our contemporary, cosmopolitan city with its many communities. It challenges artists and audiences to be bold and take a risk. Through the work of artists of Aotearoa and across the world, we aim to unify, enlighten and inspire the people of Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau and our many visitors.

For 59 years Adelaide Festival audiences have delighted in an outstanding mix of internationally acclaimed theatre productions, an eclectic array of world-class musicians, breathtaking dance pieces, renowned writers and striking visual arts displays. Enjoyed amid warm March days and starry nights, Adelaide Festival’s celebration of creative excellence makes for an event of truly epic proportions.

Since 2014, the MITsp – International Theater Show of São Paulo has brought together a significant cut in the contemporary world scene, productions that lead to experimentation in language, but are also critical of their own time.

The Festival of Performing Arts of Lima – FAE Lima is an artistic exchange platform that hosts national and international theater shows.

State Theaters continue to be a source of pride in our country, which has always been supreme with its long, long-standing, principled and successful past. With great pride every year, the T State Theaters Sabancı International Adana Theater Festival presents a new edition of arts lovers.

The Curitiba Theater Festival began in 1992 with 14 shows and the proposal to promote the meeting of the arts with entertainment. A stage of international premieres and strong names of Brazilian arts, it is also a showcase for those seeking recognition in the performing arts, as well as the opportunity for the people of Paraná to enjoy winning productions on the national scene.

One of the oldest professional theatre festivals in the country where the most interesting and important plays of the previous season made in Poland and Europe are presented. The main objective of the event is to confront the most remarkable Polish and European plays; however, the program is interdisciplinary and, apart from plays, it offers numerous side activities, such as discussion panels with the participation of Polish and international guests, exhibitions, and concerts. The jury of the festival is the audience who selects the Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Play.

Hakawy International Arts Festival brings international and local performances designed for children and presents them in a vibrant 10-days- long festival with the aim of educating and entertaining Egyptian children and their families through arts and culture.

Since its inception in 2011, the festival has been keen on bringing world-renowned companies as Le Vélo Theatre from France and Aga Boom from the U.S.A. among many others.

Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF) is Egypt’s only international multi-disciplinary contemporary arts festival that takes place over three weeks between March and April each year, at multiple sites in Downtown Cairo. D-CAF includes local, regional and international music, theatre, dance, visual arts, literature and film by cutting-edge artists from Egypt, the Arab world, and beyond. In addition to featuring established Downtown cultural spaces and theatres, D-CAF breaks new ground by using non-traditional sites such as historical buildings, storefronts, alleyways, and rooftops for performances, events, and arts installations, with the aim of bringing both audiences and performers to engage with the city in a new way.

Theatre Olympics is an international theatre festival that runs every few years in different locations and presents the greatest theatre achievements around the globe. Theatre Olympics 2019 is a large scale international festival, a venue for development of global theatre integration and dialogue between theatre professionals from around the world. The festival program includes performances by best foreign theatres and national theatres from various Russian regions, as well as lectures and workshops by leading theatre figures. With Saint Petersburg as its main host city, the Theatre Olympics runs from March to December 2019.

Founded in 2004 and organised by Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation, the annual multidisciplinary Festival is the largest cultural celebration in the entire region and reaches across the world through co-commissions and the international presentation of innovative Arab creativity. In essence, Abu Dhabi Festival strives to deepen global cross-cultural dialogue whilst inspiring a deeper interest in the cultures of the Arab world.

The Festival will expand its year-round contribution to Perth’s cultural life and be central to supporting the next generation of creative thinkers. We will commission and present works that give voice to this generation and we will commission acclaimed national and international artists to collaborate with our local artists.

The FEVERESTIVAL had its first edition in February of 2003 and arose attending to the demand of cultural programming of the District of Barão Geraldo. Initially, it was a show of local shows and some artists who visited the city during this period (seeking artistic and experimental improvement with important local groups such as Lume Theater, Barracão Theater and Good Company, which carry out training activities during the month of February until the present day).

Throughout its trajectory, the festival grew, gained new structures, reached a diverse public, that broke borders and rediscovered the city of Campinas through Art. 

This is a drama festival in kingdom of Bahrain.

Produced by Ottawa Fringe, our winter festival showcases the best original, contemporary theatre created by local, national and international artists.

Festival founders, The Great Canadian Theatre Company, originally hosted from 2011–2014. Now, undercurrents takes place in Ottawa’s downtown core at Arts Court. Since 2011, undercurrents has has hosted 16 world premieres and presented 6 productions as part of their under development program.

Opera Rara is a three-week festival, which is held during the carnival. It is a time historically associated with the highest number of opera premieres, as well as a period full of balls, play and an atmosphere of celebration. The Festival is primarily an extension of the programme with vocal recitals, performances originating not only from the Baroque, but also rooted in the 20th century, semi-operas and half-stage versions of performances.

For two months at the beginning of each year Bermuda becomes an international hub for cultural exchange and artistic growth. Performing artists from a range of disciplines come from around the globe to present a schedule of events designed to appeal to a wide and diverse audience.

The M1 Singapore Fringe Festival is an annual festival of theatre, dance, music, visual arts and mixed media created and presented by Singaporeans and international artists. Themed differently each year, the Fringe aims to bring the best of contemporary, cutting-edge and socially engaged works to the Singapore audience.

The M1 Singapore Fringe Festival is set to be a creative centre, with the twin purpose of innovation and discussion, a platform for meaningful and provocative art to engage our increasingly connected and complex world.

The M1 Singapore Fringe Festival is an annual festival of theatre, dance, music, visual arts and mixed media created and presented by Singaporeans and international artists. Themed differently each year, the Festival aims to bring the best of contemporary, cutting-edge and socially engaged works to the Singapore audience.The M1 Singapore Fringe Festival is set to be a creative centre, with the twin purpose of innovation and discussion, a platform for meaningful and provocative art to engage our increasingly connected and complex world.

PROTOTYPE is committed to surprising our audiences and confounding their expectations through content, form, and relevance. The festival gives voice to a diverse group of composers, librettists, performers and musicians across all genres, backgrounds, and cultures. In providing a recurring showcase of visionary opera-theatre and music-theatre pieces, the touring life of the work extends around the world. The festival also presents groundbreaking new works by international artists and has become a global reference of artistic excellence in the field of opera and music-theatre.

Tifli, meaning bachpan or childhood, is an international theatre festival for children organized by Assitej India. TYA stands for Theatre for Young Audiences.

Our annual celebration of theatre. First held in 1983, the Prithvi Theatre Festival has become an annual event in the Mumbai calendar. There is no one theme – the Festival simply seeks to explore and celebrate theatre in its diversity – local, national, international; old traditions, new forms, cross-currents – and to share theatre with our audiences.

This enterprise set the purpose of exposing Israeli drama and encouraging its staging in theatres throughout the world. Ever since the Institute’s establishment, Israeli plays are staged in major theatres around the world.

With the consent of the Prime Minister, the Vietnam Theater Artists Association will organize an International Festival of Experimental Theater held every 3 years.

FESTLIP is an artistic, face-to-face, interactive and virtual manifestation. Bound integrally and naked of any type of barriers, the societies that speak Portuguese show their face. 

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival invites audience and filmmakers to the large celebration of global independent cinema, showcasing the best films from all over the world, important guests and tributes, cinematic surprises, as well as a series of parallel events.

The Interferences International Theatre Festival organized by the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj is held biannualy, and aims at bringing together performances that come from different cultural backgrounds, but they are coherent from the point of view of their aesthetic endeavours. The Festival sets a high value on free, open discussions with the creators of those performances that bring the most exciting endeavours of contemporary theatre to the Cluj audience.

Cross-art, cross-impairment festival which takes place every November-December in East London. It brings together locally based, national and international Disabled artists and offers exhibitions, performances, screenings, events and other activities that are free and open to everyone. Includes a disability film festival.

nternational puppet theatre festival TIP-Fest brings the magic of puppetry and lights up dark autumn! Festival presents versatile program of new puppet theatre from Finland and all around! TIP-Fest is organised in the heart of puppet theatre capital in Turku by Aura of Puppets puppet theatre network.

The Loja International Performing Arts Festival is striving to become a point of reference for performing arts, both nationally and internationally. This event also serves to promote Ecuador’s national talent, making Ecuadorian artists relevant and providing a unique opportunity to display the importance of art and culture in Ecuador with a national and foreign audience that includes international festival organizers.

FITA Chile, held in Santiago city, it is a pioneering event organized by ASSITEJ/Te Veo Chile, that will bring together more than 20 Ibero-American companies of dance, circus and theatre, focused for children and youth, and the participation of programmers and artists from around the world.

Festival/Tokyo (F/T) aspires to present the appeal of the performing arts as an international theatre and dance festival taking place in Tokyo, pioneering new possibilities by bringing together and intersecting diverse values across the conventional categories of nationality, generation, and genre.

SPIELART has been exploring and researching new trends and movements in the world of international theater since 1995, in order to present them to audiences in Munich every two years. The antennas are aimed at unusual forms of expression and aesthetics, current topics, strong personalities, and impressive productions. SPIELART, however, also always concentrates on posing questions about theater itself as an art form, and on consistently re-exploring or re-establishing theater with approaches from the fringes. Important accents of the festival’s platform are also its entrenchment in the city’s cultural life and the dialogue between the city’s artistic and institutional energies.

Swedstage is the opportunity to see and experience the very best of Swedish performing arts for children, youth and adults. During three days in Stockholm, we will present exclusively selected Swedish performances, able to tour and available for an international audience.

The Beijing Music Festival Arts Foundation shares information and works in close cooperation with world-leading music festivals, global organizations, international famous agents, and the greatest musicians and orchestras of China and in the rest of the world, and hence the promotion of the international cultural exchange and the development of China’s music undertaking.

The International Theatre Schools Festival ITSelF is a theatre biennial, organized by The Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, Poland. The main objective of ITSelF Festival is to promote theatre culture and young talents of the stage, share experiences, bring cultures closer by gathering artists together, as well as to present Poland as a country which supports culture and appreciates its influence on the development of the society.

The China Shanghai International Arts Festival is a major international cultural event hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China and hosted by the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. It is the only national-level comprehensive international art festival in China. Since 1999, the China Shanghai International Arts Festival has been guided by the concept of “innovative development” and has adhered to the road of brand development. It has become an important window for China’s foreign cultural exchanges and one of the most influential art festivals in the international art scene.

Website: http://www.artsbird.com/

Emphasizing on music, the character of the Festival expanded to include the fields of theatre, dance, film and visual arts. It became a platform of fruitful and constructive dialogue, a melting pot of ideas and a venue of leading cultural events.

The International Festival for children and youth Guaguas de Maiz or FITIJ Guaguas Maíz, is a permanent annual space that promotes the performing arts created and conceived by national and international professional companies, who dedicate their creative work for children and youth. In this space, a program is developed and built with around 50 events, including theatrical presentations, academic meetings, workshops, alternative events and training that involve different sectors (children, youth, family, performing arts professionals, professionals from other disciplines and educators) around the stage directed to children and youth.

Founded in 2009, Tempo Festival is the International Festival of Performing Arts of Rio de Janeiro. In each edition, curators Bia Junqueira, Cesar Augusto and Marcia Dias invest in “time of creation” in national and international processes, homes and co-productions, following the artistic development in all its stages: from thought to realization. It is always to focus on innovation of local and global scene, through a dialogue between the most different artistic manifestations, especially, of course, to the theater, performance and dance.

The International Festival of Londrina, the oldest theater festival in Latin America, opens its curtains and inaugurates the urgently needed show: the spectacle of diversity, of tolerance , of humanism.

A multidiscplinary contemporary international performing arts Festival based in the city of Badajoz, region of Extremadura, southern Spain.

Brimming with challenge and the poetics of the senses, the oldest and the most prominent theatre festival in Slovenia has always been the scene of exciting arguments, new insights and unexpected reversals. The festival consists of several thematic programs, including Slovenian theatre performances in competition program and international program. Prizes are given for best artistic achievements, the most prestigious prize is the Borštnik Ring, awarded by a special jury to a deserving Slovenian actor for his/her life’s work. The festival has recently evolved into an international event: international symposia, and foreign guests, producers and performances are obvious signs that it is confronting European and global theater scene. Since 1996, the year of its debut, its home institution has been the Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor. Its kaleidoscopic history has seen much turmoil and change. Starting as the Week of Slovenian Drama then transforming into a gathering of Slovenian theatres, it eventually established itself as the national theatre competition. It owes its name – notwithstanding the polemics surrounding it – to Ignacij Borštnik (1858-1919), an actor, a stage director and the founder of modern Slovenian theatre.

Cádiz, the oldest city in Western Europe, located in the south of Spain, is a seafaring city straddling the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Since its foundation by the Phoenicians, many civilizations inhabited Cádiz. True to its Americanist tradition, for more than thirty years, Cádiz has been celebrating and organizing the Ibero-American Festival of Cádiz. The FIT of Cádiz started in 1986 as a platform for the dissemination and consolidation of the Ibero-American Performing Arts. The Ibero-American Festival of Theater of Cádiz is a multidisciplinary festival whose main objective is to show the current moment of theater, dance and other scenic expressions of the Ibero-American framework. The FIT of Cádiz is also a cultural meeting: it also provides a space for the interaction of Ibero-American performing arts professionals through the organization of Research Encounters, Thematic Meetings, Project Presentations, Publications and Editions of Performing Arts, Workshops, Forums, among other activities. Throughout these years, the most prestigious groups, authors, directors of scene and personalities of the Ibero-American theatrical medium have gone through it. The Ibero-American Festival of Theater of Cádiz is the ideal forum for the reflection and analysis of the expressive and theoretical tools of the Ibero-American theatrical profession.

The Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF) is Korea’s largest international performing arts festival with the largest scale and history in Korea. It is co-hosted by the Korea Arts Management Support Center and the Korean Culture and Arts Committee sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism .

Melbourne International Arts Festival is one of Australia’s leading international arts festivals and has an outstanding reputation for presenting unique international and Australian events in the fields of dance, theatre, music, visual arts, multimedia, free and outdoor events over 17 days each October.

Dance Umbrella is London’s international dance festival, celebrating contemporary choreography across the capital. Our mission is to celebrate contemporary choreography. We do so enthusiastically and collaboratively through an annual, international London festival, through year-round creative learning opportunities for all ages, and by developing choreographic talent. Our aim is to entice audiences, nurture artists, innovate practice, and stimulate interest in the power of the body in motion.

SOLO, the international festival of monodrama performances, is an unequalled event. Since its creation in 2008, the Festival has seen solo performances by Robert Wilson, Romeo Castellucci, Wajdi Mouawad, Theodoros Terzopoulos. Jan Fabre, Daniele Finzi Pasca, Denis Lavant, Pippo Delbono, Angélica Liddell, Redjep Mitrovitsa, Paolo Musio, Fabrizio Gifuni, Danio Manfredini and others. These performances by world theatre stars guaranteed the Festival its unique place among the most important theatre events in Russia and abroad.

For over 50 years Dimitria Festival continues to represent the most modern trends in all artistic forms and to utilise the heritage of Thessaloniki and Greece. Through new artistic landscapes of sound, image, and experience, operatic elements are combined with puppetry, technology becomes a crucial part of the performing arts, the performative practices of theatre and dance meet performance art, Greek musicians meet international musicians.

The International Theater Festival MESS has been innovative from its very beginnings, prepared in all the previous leadership through its history, even in unbelievable circumstances, in Sarajevo creating a cultural refuge for all generations, risking and investing in the bravest and most interesting art projects. That is exactly why the International Theater Festival MESS is one of the leading festivals of this part of Europe.

TBILISI INTERNATIONAL is founded by Tbilisi Municipality, by initiative of Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava in 2009. Charm of one of the oldest cities in the world – Tbilisi – its atmosphere and diversity , its culture and life, its vitality is something, that could create unforgettable experience and inspiration for all participants.The Festival runs every year and is one of the major events in International life of Georgia. But not only – it is becoming one of the main performing arts events in Caucasia, attracting attention of the most well-known, creative, provocative and innovative theater productions from the world, a meeting point of Europe and Asia, of many countries and places in one of the most beautiful, warm, unique theatrical and cultural TBILISI, the capital of Georgia.

Festival Aims
•To present a Show Case of the Czech theatre
•To introduce the most outstanding and remarkable foreign productions together with a digest of the Czech ones, within a broad thematic and style scale of the scenes (drama, music, dance, puppet or street theatre).
•To collate Czech professional drama art with top productions from abroad, namely from European countries, to draw Czech both theatrical and spectator audience nearer to modern trends of European and world theatre, and thus to contribute to our integration into European structures.
•To create a space for meeting people of theatre among themselves.

Since 1972, the Festival d’Automne à Paris has been accompanying artists by producing and presenting their work. Multi-disciplinary, international and nomadic, it continues to do so in a spirit of faithfulness, openness, and discovery.

Crossing the Line is an international arts festival for New York City produced by the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) in partnership with leading cultural institutions. France has a long history of supporting national and international cultural practices, welcoming and nurturing new ideas and influential perspectives from around the world. FIAF, as the leading French cultural institution in the US, critically maintains that practice through the Crossing the Line Festival, presenting leading-edge artists from France and the US alongside their peers from around the world. 

A weekend of unpublished ten minute plays submitted in competition by playwrights from the United States, Britain, Australia, and South America. Performed as staged readings by an established group of actors from and around Topanga Canyon, Greater Los Angeles. Free admission to the public. Topanga Actors Company was established in 2015 with the mission of bringing contemporary theater work to local audiences.

Dublin Fringe Festival is a platform for the best new, emerging Irish arts companies and a showcase for the finest international contemporary performing arts. For artists, Fringe facilitates opportunities to innovate, to cross boundaries and strengthen the conditions in which they work. For audiences, Fringe is the place to discover meaningful, exciting and unforgettable cultural experiences.

Website: www.fringefest.com/

Festival Reviews and Reports:

2019

Dublin Fringe Festival 2019: Women In Flux

A festival organized by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, which is non-competitive and aims to create a state of communication and dialogue between different peoples and groups from the theater and to perform, in addition to introducing the public in Egypt and the Arab region to the latest trends in the theater scene, and to provide a window from which the playwrights around the world on the latest developments in the theater scene in Egypt and the Arab countries.

Drama Festival is here to promote young film talents in their early days, as well as to encourage short film production as an independent category that involves creators of all ages, and it will always be here to promote and support it.

Renamed from MonoFest to MedreseFest – only with monodrama pieces.

We want to provide arts education for the development of our society through enriching children and the youth by giving them a platform to develop and express themselves through arts and culture and ensuring that arts can be an opportunity for job creation.

Cape Town Fringe is a live multi-arts festival and an annual celebration of local and international creativity, the festival encourages experimentation, collaboration and innovation. 

The Festival has always been produced from the collective to the collective, seeking to value the professionals of the performing arts, joining pleasure, reflection and provocation, and bringing the public closer to the artists. The strong vocation of the city for group theater and artistic experimentation was reflected in the constitution of the FIT in a multiplicity of scenic poetics that recognize the richness of difference and help in the realization of an urgent desire to relate to the other.

International festival committed to making diversity visible. ÍDEM brings together spectators and artists in an effort to develop empathy for our surroundings and contribute to our understanding of today’s world, in order to help to transform the way we look at things and to “resist the false appearances of illusory evidence”.

With multidisciplinary programming that combines theater, dance, visual arts, performance, music, film and literature, actoral, an international festival, gives to see and hear the diversity and vitality of contemporary creation. Each autumn for three weeks, more than two hundred French and international artists join Marseille to perform.

Kulttuurimylly Festival is the first ever international street theatre and puppetry festival in Eastern Helsinki, Finland. This festival will bring a bright beam of Cuban sunshine to the north as our dear friends and internationally acclaimed artists, puppet master and street theatre wizard Adan Rodriquez & extraordinary musician and magical theatre composer Raul Valdes with their team of street theatre artists from Cuba will join us. The festival programme will include Street Theatre & Puppetry Carnival, Cuban Puppetry and Street Theatre Master Class for professional artists, Art in Suburbs Seminar and other performances, workshops and special events.

The Festival unites all tendencies of the artistic and theatrical progress. It is shaping a positive image of the city and of the whole country on the international theatrical arena. It also stimulates the development of the theatre in the region. The Festival helps the city to attract tourists to the city and to expose the best pieces of world culture to the audience of our country.

An international event bringing together theatre companies and dance groups from Turkey and abroad with the audience, The Istanbul Theatre Festival was first held in 1989. Once every year, the festival hosts carefully selected companies and artists that open up new horizons for both the audience and the art world by bringing national and international, classical and contemporary renditions to the stage through its unique lens.

The International Festival Divadelna Nitra is the largest theatre festival in Slovakia. It is also one of the most important international activities in the cultural area in Slovakia. Divadelna Nitra is a recognised activity in the European context. It is organised every year towards the end of September since 1992. It is a selective, but non-competitive parade of the top European production focused on mainly the drama/play, susceptible to dance, music, puppet theatre and also the visual theatre. It selects the non-traditional, innovative and inspirational scenic theatre, it informs about the new tendencies and about the new names of the artists. It consists of the rich accompanying and working programme, it offers space to other types of art and to the representation of regional cultural activities.

Greece’s foremost cultural festival and one of the oldest performing arts festivals in Europe (1955), the Athens & Epidaurus Festival annually presents numerous theatre, dance, and music artists, acclaimed in Greece and worldwide, attracting large audiences from around the world.

Theaterfestival Basel presents an international, biennial festival program featuring a range of genres and forms: from city projects to renowned dance and theatre productions, performances, nouveau cirque and installations.

Cena Contemporánea  is the most important stage of Brasilia, with 30 companies per year and an audience of 60,000 people. The festival is celebrated for 13 days with a programme of theater, dance, music, visual arts, workshops, video screenings and discussions, covering a dozen areas of great variety.

One of the most vital and dynamic cultural events in Warsaw. Jazz, pop, cabaret revues, theatre, literature, visual arts, history and tradition of Jews, Poland, Warsaw. A wide-ranging offer for children and families.

An international opera and ballet festival in Aspendos.

nternational Theatre Festival Retroperspektywy is the only festival in Poland that rejects the division of genres and currents and does not grade the artists as professionals and amateurs, presenting at the same time the most interesting theatre phenomena which define cultural identity of a modern man. In the events offered such identity is determined by the modern language of art that follows its own ways and search for the references to tradition. Here every year there meet prominent musicians, dancers and masters of word.

We come to the Contemporary Scene, the largest international festival of performing arts in the Midwest and the fifth largest in the country. Always attentive to the commitments to protect individual rights and freedoms, the Festival presents reflective tone, even in arid times for the maintenance of rights that should be innate to society.

Under the umbrella term DanceAble, Holland Dance Festival aims to put inclusive dance in the Netherlands firmly on the map, reduce barriers and remove prejudices. The festival features workshops, performances and a symposium, featuring both local and international integrated dance companies and experts.

The International Theater Festival of Manizales is a cultural festival that takes place annually in the city of the open doors, located in the region of the Coffee Region of Colombia. 

Puppet Theater Festival of Tehran Mobarak is the first international theater festival in Iran, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. 

Kyoto Experiment: Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival is a theater and dance event held every autumn since 2010 at theaters in Kyoto. It features a wide-ranging lineup of radical artists from Japan and around the world, presenting theater and dance as well as visual art, music, design, and architecture.

Tampere Theatre Festival is the oldest and the largest professional theatre festival in the Nordic countries, serving as a display window for the most interesting and up-to-the-minute productions in Finnish theatre, and attracting leading international guests from all corners of the globe. Annually in the beginning of August the city of Tampere becomes Finland’s theatre capital as local and international performing arts troupes take over the city’s stages and squares.

The festival programme includes new drama, modernised classics, dance theatre, contemporary circus and street theatre.

Founded in 1980 as an annual international meeting of independent theatre groups, the Zürcher Theater Spektakel quickly evolved into a cultural event of international appeal. Today it ranks among the most important European festivals for the contemporary performing arts. This success story has been based on consistent and artistically outstanding programming, a unique atmosphere, the large number of engaged and open-minded spectators. These ingredients have made the Theater Spektakel a popular venue for both renowned and upcoming theatre and dance companies from all over the world.

We believe that THEALTER, which has received the EFFE Label of the European Festivals Association for the second time, continues to be a festival which can cherish its traditions and achievements as well as succeed in renewing itself so that it can always offer more to its audience and the theatre community. During these 9 days, we offer about 60 events at 11 venues, including 5 premieres, 7 Hungarian premieres, open-air performances, a show for children, and Q and A’s with artists, so hopefully everyone will find something to their liking. We are certain that our programme series will again be full of surprises and unforgettable moments.

Manchester International Festival (MIF) is the world’s first festival of original, new work and special events. We bring together artists from different art forms and backgrounds to create dynamic, innovative and forward-thinking new work, which we stage in a rich tapestry of venues across Greater Manchester – from theatres, galleries and concert halls to railway depots, churches and car parks. We work closely with venues, festivals and other cultural organisations around the world, whose financial and creative input helps to make many of our projects possible and guarantees that they have a life after each Festival has ended.

The multidisciplinary Galway International Arts Festival takes place each July in Galway, Ireland and covers a range of art forms. In 2018, The Guardian named the festival as one of the Top 5 Summer Festivals in Europe.

Kalamata International Dance Festival features leading Greek and international artists will be showing their work to art lovers from all over the world.

Rick Rika Festa (official name: International Children’s and Youth Theater Festival Okinawa) is an international performing arts festival for families that is held in Okinawa every summer since 2005.

Through excellent international drama performances and communications, children’s drama seminars and various drama activities, China Children’s Theatre Festival has become an important window to display domestic and foreign drama achievements; provided a great platform to promote the developments and communications, as well as a new bridge to gather strength and supports.

The curators thought this festival and that the political character of this space intends to establish itself, not through a directing of the gaze to works created or necessarily oriented toward the political question directly, but, rather, through a look at culture, and above all the radical, urgent and pulsating aspect of art, as something in itself political.

Website: https://www.fitriopreto.com.br/2019/

Festival Reviews and Reports:

2016

On Festivals: Curatorial Thought In Process

The International Festival of University Theater in Blumenau is one of the most important events of teaching, research and extension of the calendar of the Brazilian and South American university theater, either for its bold nature or for its permanence and regularity.

8th, 9th and 10th July 1999: the first edition of Crater Surfaces, the first festival devoted to street arts in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. Denis Lafaurie, the director of Crater, the national scene in Alès, where to go to take your place. Moreover, he wanted to prove that the role of the actor on the streets is just as significant as their role in the theater room. During the first few years, an annual theme was chosen: ‘mechanical structures,’ ‘family meeting,’ ‘movement,’ ‘a strange atmosphere,’ ‘and’ back to the place. ‘ Since 2010, the festival has become international and has made its name as “Alès international outdoor festival”.

LIFT has been at the forefront of ground-breaking international theatre since 1981, making and supporting radically open work that disrupts convention, has the power to unite strangers, celebrates our shared humanity and explores the political and social urgencies of our times.

For 22 years, the Festival has delighted audiences with an outstanding mix of entertaining and inspiring programs. Internationally acclaimed dance, an eclectic array of world-class musicians, breathtaking circus, ground-breaking theatre and engaging speakers define the Festival as our region’s premier arts and culture destination. The June Festival boasts over 170 events and at least 85% are totally free. Year-round programs include special town-hall events, a fellowship program for youth, planning and implementing mini-festivals in inner-city neighborhoods, and our Visionary Leadership Award. Each year we welcome artists and speakers from all over the world – Angelique Kidjo, Bristol Old Vic, Handspring Puppet Company, Rosanne Cash, Little Richard,The National Theatre of Scotland, Yo-Yo Ma, Druid Theatre, Kronos Quartet, Spike Lee, and Salman Rushdie have all shared their talents and ideas. New Haven’s walkable historic downtown core and warm June weather forms the perfect backdrop for this highly accessible, international event.

The Cradle of Creativity comprised a Festival, a Conference and a World Congress, all dedicated to theatre for young audiences. 

The Liège Festival is a biennale that brings together more than 15,000 spectators at each of its editions and has today acquired, through its collaborations with numerous operators around the world, a reputation that goes far beyond our borders.

It offers an often singular program of theater, dance and music from around the world and is a real moment of discovery of different cultures, a real window widely open to the world.

HKAF launched in 1973 and is a major international arts festival committed to enriching the cultural life of the city by presenting leading local and international artists in all genres of the performing arts as well as a diverse range of educational events in February and March each year.

During 1407 festival days, Sarajevo Winter has 4,327 programmes with more than 3.560.000 visitors and 44,100 participants. Festival “Sarajevo Winter” keeps rolling during all upcoming years, without a break and it has become a symbol of life, freedom, creativity and became a meeting point of diverse and different cultures and civilizations of the world.

Materia Prima presents surprising and revealing performances, in which the theatre combines with a new circus and dance theatre, dance intermingles with multimedia, as well as forms of puppet theatre, masks and shadows, where actors’ acting often contradicts the principles of physics and where the imagination has no limits. The Festival program consists of attractive, phenomenal performances and perfectly performed performances.

For three wild weeks in January, One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo, Calgary’s International Festival of the Arts, is where the action is. It’s a chance to watch touring performances from across Canada, acclaimed international shows, and new and experimental work from artists here in Calgary. The programming is bold, cutting-edge, funny, frank, and full of heart. There’s theatre, dance, music, film, free lunchtime concerts, late-night cabarets, and so much more.