News

Call for papers on ‘International theatre festivals and audience development’

16 October 2008

The 13th International Symposium of Theatre Critics and Scholars on "International theatre festivals and audience development", organised by the Sterijino Pozorje, Novi Sad, Serbia, in association with the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) and the European Festival Research Project (EFRP) will take place in Novi Sad, Serbia, from 28-31 May 2009. This symposium will investigate how theatre both nurtures new audiences and develops the cultural capital/knowledge of their existing audiences. More than just a marketing operation, the topic includes programming concepts, communication strategies and educational aspects of those festivals that reach out to different constituencies and build an audience that may also be of benefit to regularly producing cultural institutions. An underlying assumption is that these festivals embody the main challenges and contradictions in cultural production and distribution today. They have an experimental potential, a special position that enables them to invent and test practices that can later be absorbed by the cultural organisations that produce and present year around. Not all festivals reach out consciously and successfully to new audiences and this symposium will therefore aim to focus on ideas, strategies and practices that are remarkable, successful and inspiring for other festival professionals. Interested colleagues (critics, researchers, festival professionals) are requested to send an outline of their paper (200 words, in English or French) - to draganklaic@gmail.com, and ivan.medenica@gmail.com - by 1 December 2008. Authors will be notified of acceptance by 15 December. The authors of proposals that are accepted will be asked to send their full paper of 2000-4000 words in English or French by 1 March 2009. The symposium will take place in the framework of the 54th Sterijino Pozorje Festival and its programme of national and international productions. To read the Call for Papers in full including more information, please click here. European Festival Research Project (EFRP) is an international, interdisciplinary consortium, which is focused on the dynamics of artistic festivals in contemporary life. One of its principal aims is to understand the underlying causes of the current proliferation of festivals and its resource implications and diagnostic perspectives. EFRP focuses on those festivals that are driven by a firm artistic vision, involving international programming and which benefit from substantial support from public authorities. The consortium instigates research papers, studies, publications and debates and articulates tentative conclusions, trends, forecasts and recommendations for festival operators, public authorities (as subsidy givers) and potential sponsors. All research outcomes are being made accessible in a public depository at the web site of the European Festivals Association (http://www.efa-aef.org/efahome/efrp.cfm). Periodically EFRP organizes intensive research workshops on specific topics where the results of research are presented and discussed. Such workshops have taken place in Nitra (2005), Leicester and Le Mans (2006), Barcelona (2007) and Helsinki (2008). Further workshops are being planned for Moscow (autumn 2008) and for 2009-2010. An edited book on festival politics, programming, impacts and governance will be produced by the consortium and associated researchers in 2009/10. Contact: Dušana Todorović Symposium Secretary Sterijino Pozorje International department Tel: +381 21 451 273 e-mail: international@pozorje.org.rs