Dear Friends,
The EC Board of ASSITEJ has recently met in Montevideo/Uruguay. What a strong experience to meet artists from that region! We were deeply impressed by the hospitality of our hosts, by the theatre performances, by the city.
By the way: We are preparing the Artistic Gathering in Kristiansand, 2.-7.9.2019! Welcome to Norway! We want to have an intense exchange about the reality of our work in the field of TYA. We will talk about the issues, noted in Beijing when we were dreaming about what TYA can and should be and creating our TYA Manifesto (click here to read the Manifesto). We will – with different creative methods – have a look at:
Respect – How do we respect children? How are we respected in our work in our societies? How do we respect each other as artists with different ideas and backgrounds?
Accessibility – Are we really accessible to every child? What is missing? What do we need to do to provide accessibility?
Inclusivity – Are we really inclusive? What does that mean?
Innovation – Theaters are mirrors of the time we are living in. What does that means in terms of aesthetics, forms, ideas, disciplines and content?
Exploration – What opportunities can we create to promote curiosity and inspiration?
Freedom – What does freedom mean? What keeps us away from free expression?
Advocacy – How do we address the gatekeepers? Who is listening to us? Who does not?
We need your perspective on these topics. We would love to share our “reality-checks”, confront the present with both the angels and devils of our daily work! Let’s meet and talk! And let us start to prepare the ASSITEJ World Congress 2020 in Tokyo, when we collect concrete, powerful and intelligent examples and ideas for developing TYA in order to be prepared to step onwards towards the UNKNOWN! ASSITEJ is always about empowerment! So come together!
All the best,
Stefan Fischer-Fels
