kulturni zavod oder Cultural Institute Stage Ljubljana
NGO PLATFORM
FOR NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL
PERFORMING ARTS
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LATEST NEWS
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY MESSAGE 2026
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY MESSAGE 2026
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY MESSAGE 2026
Crystal PITE, Canada
MORE ABOUT - see below, or click the button
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY 29 April
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY MESSAGE 2026
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY MESSAGE 2026
Festival in Public Space
DANCE FOR ALL
April 29, 2026, 13h – 23h
On the occasion of International Dance Day 2026, Ljubljana will once again transform into an open dance venue.
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY 29 April
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY MESSAGE 2026
31 March 2026 56. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival Prešeren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
SLOVENIAN MESSAGE
FOR INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY 2026
In 2026, upon invitation from the Slovenian Centre ITI, the following organisations joined to create a shared national Message: the Slovenian ITI Centre, the Contemporary Dance Association of Slovenia, the Slovenian Ballet Artists Association, and the Public Fund for Cultural Activities, Re
SLOVENIAN MESSAGE
FOR INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY 2026
In 2026, upon invitation from the Slovenian Centre ITI, the following organisations joined to create a shared national Message: the Slovenian ITI Centre, the Contemporary Dance Association of Slovenia, the Slovenian Ballet Artists Association, and the Public Fund for Cultural Activities, Republic of Slovenia, and invited choreographer Mateja Bučar, recipient of the 2026 Prešeren Award for Life Achievements as a writer.
DANCE–GOVERNANCE–GRACE
Dance is not a mere abstraction of life; it is life itself. It is the sophisticated mechanism of nature and civilisation combined—a treasure chest of tools to enable, heal, and invent. On this World Dance Day, we recognise dance not just as a form of art and culture, but as a profound philosophy of the body and a vital strategy for survival.
At its core, dance is a fundamental inquiry into balance. It asks how two bodies, two states of being, or a multiplicity of cultures—perhaps all nations and even religions—can move together without colliding or destroying one another. It lingers in the fragile space between stability and fall, between the extremes of weight and articulation, in the unpredictability of turns.
To dance, namely, is to master the capacity to be oneself and "the other" simultaneously.
We recall the wit of Molière, who suggested that the tragic blunders of history arise merely from a lack of skill in dancing. If our leaders were obliged to study the discipline of the waltz, the tango, or any other culture-preserving dance, perhaps they would learn to lead with grace and dignity rather than pure force. And, as Confucius implied, the sword should not be granted to those who do not know how to dance.
Today, on World Dance Day, we make a bold demand: let leaders, strategists, economists, bankers, scientists, technologists, and many others study the knowledge of dance in all its forms and manifestations, and thus equipped, steer the world. We must once again learn the skills of “waltzes, tangos, or kolo”—their grace, dignity, attentiveness, and meaning—to restore the frayed bonds of humanity.
Every culture, state, or community in the world carries its own rhythms, songs, and dances of survival: the elegance of tango; the spiritual depth of Saman, Kathak, or Zikr; the precision of the pas de deux; the freedom of contemporary dance; the ecstatic force of shamanic dance; the pulse of breakdance—and much more. The challenge of our time is not just how one culture moves, but how to continually “waltz” with many cultures, states, and religions—and find rhythms and steps that respect the particular while harmonising the whole. The answer—still largely unnoticed—resides within dancing bodies and minds across the world.
On World Dance Day and beyond, we are called to reflect on the possibilities dance offers us—as art, as culture, and as a way of thinking and moving. Let us therefore treat every movement, direction, and decision in life as if it were on the verge of becoming a dance.
– Mateja Bučar
Photo credits: Jože Suhadolnik
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31 March 2026 56. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival Prešeren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
31 March 2026 56. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival Prešeren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
31 March 2026 56. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival Prešeren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
ARTISTIC FREEDOM ON THE LINE:
THEATRE IN POLITICALLY CHARGED CONTEXTS
Round table with international guests
Collaboration between:
Oder Cultural Institute Ljubljana,
Slovenian Centre of
The International Theatre Institute (SC ITI) and Prešeren Theatre Kranj
Partners: ACAR ITI
(Action Committee for Artists' Rights
ITI Worldwide)
Hungarian Cent
ARTISTIC FREEDOM ON THE LINE:
THEATRE IN POLITICALLY CHARGED CONTEXTS
Round table with international guests
Collaboration between:
Oder Cultural Institute Ljubljana,
Slovenian Centre of
The International Theatre Institute (SC ITI) and Prešeren Theatre Kranj
Partners: ACAR ITI
(Action Committee for Artists' Rights
ITI Worldwide)
Hungarian Centre ITI
Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen)
I Free Republic of Vienna
Prešeren Theatre Kranj and The Week of the Slovenian Drama Festival
are members of our Partner Network
MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAM
- see below, and visit the link
WORLD THEATRE DAY MESSAGE 2026
31 March 2026 56. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival Prešeren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
WORLD THEATRE DAY MESSAGE 2026
Willem DAFOE, USA
MORE ABOUT - see below, or click the button
THE sunflower project
A COLLABORATION BETWEEN ARTISTS FROM SOUTH AFRICA AND SLOVENIA
GLADYS AGULHAS and TATJANA AŽMAN
UBUNTU - I am because you are, and you are, because we are.
Across stages and distances, we meet again - through art, we remain connected.
In the core of any creative project, art is not ornament but action; it is where imagination meets care, dialogue flows, and friendship becomes practice. We know that without investment, sustainability, and care, there is no art. Art flourishes where artists are supported, where spaces endure, where communities are empowered, and where creation is nourished across time.
The Slovenian Centre ITI decided to reallocate financial resources to support the construction and creation of a dance studio by Gladys Agulhas, an artist, colleague, and author of the International Dance Day Message of 2008, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Our friendship is born of our respect for our diverse artistic skills, where values are nurtured and boiled over into the next generation, Gladyses' communities, her local and our global work, a foundation for all we imagine: more connections, bringing performing art to the people, sustainability locally, and growth internationally – always with the art at the centre.
In the spirit of sustainable international collaboration, a part of this dream is to launch the Sunflower Project—an artistic process in development, born of two arts practitioners and two countries who bonded through ITI Worldwide's mission, vision, and values. We named this togetherness and belonging Sunflower Project, because for us, it is a symbol rooted in “you and me”, with no fixed form; it grows between us as a quiet presence. We are the ground it rises from, the hands that tend it, the eyes that witness its turning. It moves like a thought we cannot hold; it plants seeds, focuses on the future and respects our past and experience.
We wish all a fresh and inspiring start with hope our communities will focus on memorable and empowering actions, friendship and collaboration, deepen our connections and open new growth opportunities, reminding us that spaces for creation do not require grand gestures, and that the gifts to us and future generations are a shared legacy we can always build together.
Gladys and Tatjana, December 2025
THE GUEST HOUSE
A PLATFORM FOR CURRENT INTERNATIONAL TOPICS
The Guest House is a platform where we discuss current international topics through the arts, creation, resilience, and humanity, and a venue for hosting creators from diverse communities with real-life experiences. A platform that creates an open space for debate and exchange enables respectful dialogue and broadens perspectives on the artist's roots, work, and struggles.
OUR HOST,
THE PRESEREN THEATRE KRANJ AND
THE WEEK OF SLOVENIAN THEATRE FESTIVAL,
IS A MEMBER OF OUR PARTNER NETWORK
MORE ABOUT THE GUEST HOUSE EVENTS
31 March 2026
56. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival
Preseren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
ARTISTIC FREEDOM ON THE LINE:
THEATRE IN POLITICALLY CHARGED CONTEXTS
Round table with international guests
The Guest House, a platform for contemporary international topics, will be dedicated to an in-depth discussion of how the current governing politics sh
31 March 2026
56. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival
Preseren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
ARTISTIC FREEDOM ON THE LINE:
THEATRE IN POLITICALLY CHARGED CONTEXTS
Round table with international guests
The Guest House, a platform for contemporary international topics, will be dedicated to an in-depth discussion of how the current governing politics shapes artistic creativity – from censorship, self-censorship, and employment pressures to funding limitations and interference with artistic programmes. With guests from the region, we will be comparing experiences from Serbia (ne:Bitef), Slovakia, and Hungary, and opening a broader contemplation of the freedom of artistic expression in Europe as embodied by the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) I The Free Republic of Vienna. Drawing on concrete examples and the experiences of artists in this region, we will consider how to preserve artistic integrity and resilience amid cultural and political challenges.
What, then, creates space for politically engaged, thematically relevant and independent creativity, what is, in essence, a dialogue between artists, audience and the general public, and what are the frames of the communal production field in which the art not only presents itself but actively co-creates the public sphere?
Moderator: Tatjana Ažman, head of the Slovenian Centre ITI and Director of the Cultural Institute Oder/Stage, Ljubljana and the ACAR ITI coordinator
Guests: to be announced
The event will be held in English.
Collaboration between: Oder Cultural Institute Ljubljana, Slovenian Centre of
The International Theatre Institute (SC ITI) and Prešeren Theatre Kranj
Partners: ACAR ITI (Action Committee for Artists' Rights, ITI Worldwide), Hungarian Centre ITI, Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen)IFree Republic of Vienna
2 April 2025
55. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival
Preseren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
SUSTAINABLE THEATRE
Round table
(Zoom Event, on-site and Online)
Our starting point of the event entitled SUSTAINABLE THEATRE – A Challenge of
Our Time, inspired by the book "Sustainable Theatre: Theory, Context, and Practice" by Iphigenia Taxopoulou, a leadin
2 April 2025
55. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival
Preseren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
SUSTAINABLE THEATRE
Round table
(Zoom Event, on-site and Online)
Our starting point of the event entitled SUSTAINABLE THEATRE – A Challenge of
Our Time, inspired by the book "Sustainable Theatre: Theory, Context, and Practice" by Iphigenia Taxopoulou, a leading expert in culture and environmental sustainability, has been in development for over three decades and is currently a foundational work. The author has approached her research from numerous angles, exploring essential topics such as international perspectives, the climate and environmental impacts on cultural policy, true artistic leadership, organisational ethics, infrastructure, activities, and individual and institutional practices of sustainable creation, education, touring, and international collaboration. She also sheds light on how the climate crisis affects narrative—both on stage and more broadly.
What is the role of art at a time when numerous concepts, including creativity itself, are confronting the climate and environmental crisis, the collapse of values, wars, and political upheavals? Why should we even care about the role of the artist and art in the context of global environmental and political changes that increasingly impact the lives of each of us? What is the right balance, what are the biases, and how significant is the challenge of the concept of sustainability? We will pose these and many other questions to seek answers, open up thinking, and support the practice of sustainability in theatre within our cultural space.
Guests
Iphigenia Taxopoulou (Greece), founder and General Secretary of the European theatre network mitos21, associate at Julie's Bicycle (UK), sustainability consultant, lecturer, and educator; Lučka Kajfež Bogataj, renowned Slovenian climatologist, full professor at the Faculty of Biotechnology, Head of the Chair for Agrometeorology, and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Geneva, Laura Sedgwick (UK), producer at Theatre Green Book and Production Associate with independent producers Smith & Brant Theatricals
Adam Bureš (Czech Republic), sustainability expert at the Czech National Theatre in Prague, lecturer at the Prague Theatre Academy, and member of the sustainability forum within the Opera Europa network; Mike Van Graan (South Africa), playwright and producer in the field of social justice
Tamara Bračič Vidmar (Slovenia), Producer, Head of Public Relations, and Head of Greenstage Project for Slovenian activities
Moderator: Tatjana Ažman, dramaturge, head of the Slovenian Centre ITI and Director of the Cultural Institute Oder/Stage, Ljubljana
Collaboration between: Slovenian Centre ITI, Cultural Institute Stage Ljubljana, and the Week of Slovenian Drama Festival Kranj
4 April 2024
54. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival
Preseren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
SALT OF THE EARTH
Panel (on - site)
This time, the Round Table, titled Salt of the Earth, will present stories and experiences from the Middle East, underscoring the importance of the arts.
Our guests at the venue were
Ofira Henig and Ramzi Maqdisi.
The talk hos
4 April 2024
54. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival
Preseren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
SALT OF THE EARTH
Panel (on - site)
This time, the Round Table, titled Salt of the Earth, will present stories and experiences from the Middle East, underscoring the importance of the arts.
Our guests at the venue were
Ofira Henig and Ramzi Maqdisi.
The talk host was Tatjana Ažman.
Collaboration between: Slovenian Centre ITI, Cultural Institute Stage Ljubljana, and the Week of Slovenian Drama Festival Kranj
4 April 2023
53. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival Prešeren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
THE VOICE OF THE NEW BELARUS
Round table (Zoom Event, on-site and Online, Streamed Online)
Parallel to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the systematic repression of democratic processes has been happening in Belarus for years. These processes, among other thing
4 April 2023
53. Week of Slovenian Drama Festival Prešeren Theatre Kranj, Slovenia
THE VOICE OF THE NEW BELARUS
Round table (Zoom Event, on-site and Online, Streamed Online)
Parallel to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the systematic repression of democratic processes has been happening in Belarus for years. These processes, among other things, weaken and destroy the working conditions of many artists and intellectuals, who have been leaving the country to build new lives for themselves, hoping they will one day be able to return home. Many truths remain hidden until we start talking about them, writing them down, or documenting them in another way. Such knowledge must circulate in the art world so that it connects and empowers us to implement human rights. One of the projects that have been created with the intent to speak up is Insulted. Belarus. The American John Freedman and his wife, Russian actress and director Oksana Mysina, created the Worldwide Readings Project. They shot the documentary Voices of the New Belarus, based on Andrei Kureichik's eponymous play, and prepared a shorter version, Love is Stronger than Fear, which, at the time of the event, won the Grand Prix at the 14th Atlantis International Internet Short Film Festival in New York. The event took place in person in Kranj and on Zoom. With it, we wish to open the space to theatre colleagues who, through their work, are keeping their culture and language alive, albeit no longer at home, and to support their future efforts. Program:
- Insulted. The Belarus Worldwide Readings A project was presented by John Freedman, a writer and translator who has worked in Moscow since 1988 and was a theatre critic for the Moscow Times between 1992 and 2015.
- Presentation of the film Love Is Stronger Than Fear - the short version of the film Voices of the New Belarus by Oksana Mysina and John Freedman.
- Nadzeya Luchanok's introduction and a statement dialogue about her father, who has been imprisoned in Belarus since 2021.
Playwright and screenwriter Andrei Kureichik, author of the play Voices of the New Belarus, revealed his experience collaborating with Oksana and John, as well as his work and activities in the US.
- FOCUS BELARUS PLAYWRITING - Contemporary Belarusian author Diana Balyko was on-site. A dialogue with her about her present living and working situation, a presentation of her work, and a focused future.
Collaboration between
Oder/Stage – Cultural Institute for Performing Arts / SC ITI, People's Embassies of Belarus in Ljubljana, the Association of the Belarusian Diaspora in Slovenia, and The Week of Slovenian Drama Festival in Kranj, Slovenia
ECHOES FROM THE EDGE - OPENING PROJECT WITH RAMZI
ECHOES FROM THE EDGE
A Virtual Dialogue Space
An Opening Project
HERE, EVEN LOVE CANNOT MOVE FREELY, BECAUSE IT IS DIVIDED
BY MAPS AND ROADS
FULL OF CHECKPOINTS
An interview with Ramzi Maqdisi
Radio Slovenia's program
Oder/Stage on ARS, in collaboration with the Slovenian Centre ITI, prepared a one-hour program dedicated to Palestinian artists
ECHOES FROM THE EDGE
A Virtual Dialogue Space
An Opening Project
HERE, EVEN LOVE CANNOT MOVE FREELY, BECAUSE IT IS DIVIDED
BY MAPS AND ROADS
FULL OF CHECKPOINTS
An interview with Ramzi Maqdisi
Radio Slovenia's program
Oder/Stage on ARS, in collaboration with the Slovenian Centre ITI, prepared a one-hour program dedicated to Palestinian artists, featuring an interview with Ramzi Maqdisi.
He spoke about the situation from the perspective of creators at risk, his artistic work, and his struggle. Additionally, a letter from Mohammed Sha'Sha'a, an ITI member who is in Gaza, was read.
The Slovenian Centre ITI extends its gratitude to the authors, Petra Tanko and Gorazd Rečnik, for their meaningful contributions to making this happen. We also express our appreciation to our Palestinian colleagues for sharing their on-the-ground testimonies with us.
You can find the program in Slovenian on the podcast link below
Photo Credit: R. Maqdisi
Extracts from the interview with Ramzi Maqdisi, a Palestinian actor and director living between Jerusalem and Barcelona.
HERE, EVEN LOVE CANNOT MOVE FREELY,
BECAUSE IT IS DIVIDED BY MAPS AND ROADS FULL OF CHECKPOINTS
If you meet someone you love from the West Bank, you think about it ten times before being together. Moving around is almost
Extracts from the interview with Ramzi Maqdisi, a Palestinian actor and director living between Jerusalem and Barcelona.
HERE, EVEN LOVE CANNOT MOVE FREELY,
BECAUSE IT IS DIVIDED BY MAPS AND ROADS FULL OF CHECKPOINTS
If you meet someone you love from the West Bank, you think about it ten times before being together. Moving around is almost impossible. Even love cannot circulate here, because the map is divided, full of checkpoints and obstacles. When you start to ask yourself: Why should I love someone from another place if it’s impossible to see them? — I think that’s the worst level of life we can face. I would love to write a love story, just like anyone else. No soldiers, no checkpoints, no suffering. Just a story of two people who love each other, whether they succeed or fail. That’s my dream.
MY ARTISTIC WORK
I work in cinema and theatre, and I perform in Europe, Palestine, and other locations.
To fight against this stealing, groping machine, we thought we had to make The Land’s Heart is Greater than its Map. The piece was born out of our need to resist in a different way. Protesting in the street is limited and risky, so we bring the narrative and this type of protest onto the stage. It is a way to tell our story, to show what is happening, and to affirm our right to exist. With The Land’s Heart is Greater than its Map, we wanted to expose the attempt to erase us — to say that the land holds our memory, and that our lives are bigger than the maps drawn to control us. The show is built on testimonies, on memory, on the land itself as a witness.
For me, art is not a luxury. In this crisis, art is a necessity. It is part of the struggle. It gives us a voice when we are otherwise silenced, and it creates a space where people can listen, reflect, and connect with what is happening.
Text from the performance
»Did you know that some parts of a city will always remain invisible? Unless you're looking through the right lens or unless you have the right guide.
I want to become that guide for you. I'm here to show you around a faraway city whilst you stand in another.
My city. A bit strange, I know, but what if we went on a little adventure together today? To dismantle the familiar to make space for revelation. Allow yourself to travel in time and space so that what is distant can come near.
Close your eyes for a few moments. Please allow me to take you beyond what the accepted stories and myths have prepared for you. Allow me to take you to the only city that exists twice, once on Earth and once in heaven. To the city I was born and raised in, whose name cannot be spoken.
Before I continue, allow me to ask you one thing. Please do not leave my city like the other travellers before you, without having really discovered it. «
THE STATE OF ARTISTIC WORK IN PALESTINE
Creating theatre in Palestine is very difficult. You cannot go anywhere without crossing checkpoints. A large part of the Palestinian society, for whom we do our work, cannot reach Jerusalem because of the separation wall. We always have to find solutions to move around to show a piece of theatre.
In the cinema, when we want to shoot on the streets of Jerusalem, we can never send the original script. We have to lie and invent a story that makes them feel it is acceptable. Producing art in Palestine is not easy at all. Even with access to European funding, there are restrictions. You are allowed to say some things and not others. They want to focus on specific topics, which may not be the ones we want to address.
When we developed "The Land’s Heart Is Greater Than Its Map," we decided we would never perform it in Germany. We feel unwelcome at the institutions, so we don’t go there.
RADIO
When I was a boy, I used to walk in Jerusalem with my father. He would stop and tell us about the places that used to be before 1948, before the occupation. One day, he showed us the building where the Palestinian National Radio used to be.
When I was 17, I bought a second-hand transmitter and installed it in my parents’ house in the Christian Quarter of the Old City. After three days, the Israeli army arrested me, and I was put in jail. When I was released at 19, I finished high school and returned to the radio. I ran it from 1999 until 2005.
In 2000, during the second intifada, the Israeli army attacked the radio and destroyed everything. I rebuilt it. Later, because it was too risky to stay in Jerusalem, I moved to Ramallah. In 2002, during the invasion of the West Bank, the Israeli army bombed the radio again. Three of my friends were killed.
PRISON
The first time I was arrested, at 17, I didn’t understand why. I was just a boy with a transmitter. All I wanted to do was speak about Palestinian radio. I didn’t want to attack anyone. But that was forbidden. I was accused of terrorism for simply having a transmitter.
I spent two to three months in solitary confinement. Time becomes liquid. You don’t know, you don’t have a clock, and no one tells you anything. You are just kept inside a dark room with very little light.
Later, when we made a film about prison, it was necessary but painful. We had to recreate the prison in our imagination because, when we were moved inside, we were blindfolded and could not see. We tried to reconstruct it from memory: how many steps down, how many steps up, left or right.
Describing this was a horrible experience, but it was necessary because we have to speak about these stories.
FREEDOM THEATRE
I knew the founder of the Freedom Theatre, Juliano Mer-Khamis, who was killed in 2011 in Jenin. Juliano’s idea was to open the refugee camp — a result of the occupation in 1948 — and bring art and theatre to the camp, to take people out of the horrible situation of living concentrated in such a small space since 1948. He wanted to bring institutions there and create art.
I believe that idea killed him, because Israel did not want that to happen in the refugee camp. To confirm this, Jenin refugee camp, where the Freedom Theatre was located, has been half-destroyed by Israel since the start of the genocide. People have been displaced from it. This action confirms for me that the Freedom Theatre project was intended to be erased. I hope they can keep going, though I don’t know how, with all the obstacles.
Talk hosts: Petra Tanko and Gorazd Rečnik
COMMENTARIES
The Land’s Heart is Greater Than Its Map (Shubbak Festival, Barbican 2021) is an immersive theatrical experience in which audiences explore a cityscape wearing headphones, hearing testimonies that trace history, memory, and lived experience under occupation. The Land’s Heart Is Greater than Its Map examines themes of displacement and questions who has the right to claim a place's history. The production transforms the city into a stage, blending performance, storytelling, and spatial awareness to give audiences a deeply personal encounter with life in Palestine. The work is both protest and preservation — a way to assert memory and presence in the face of erasure. Ghost Hunting(2017), directed by Raed Andoni, is a documentary where former Palestinian prisoners—including actor and director Ramzi Maqdisi—reconstruct their experiences of incarceration in Israel’s Al-Moskobiya detention centre. Together, they rebuild the prison from memory and re-enact interrogations and daily humiliations, exposing both the physical and psychological scars of imprisonment.
Blending documentary and performance, the film captures trauma, disorientation, and dehumanisation while also affirming resilience and the struggle to reclaim identity. It won the Best Documentary Award at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival and was Palestine’s official entry to the 91st Academy Awards. Through memory and imagination, Ghost Hunting transforms spaces of oppression into a collective act of testimony and artistic resistance.
The Freedom Theatre, founded in 2006 in Jenin by Juliano Mer-Khamis, has long been a vital space for artistic expression, youth education, and community resilience in Palestine. Rooted in the refugee camp, its mission extends beyond performance to challenge structural violence, nurture critical thinking, and preserve Palestinian cultural memory.
Despite years of threats, attacks, and the assassination of its founder, the theatre remains a beacon of cultural resistance. Even after its offices were destroyed during a December 2023 Israeli military operation and key staff, including Artistic Director Ahmed Tobasi, were detained, the theatre adapted by working from temporary spaces and forging local collaborations. In June 2025, it relaunched activities in a provisional venue, demonstrating its determination to endure.
That same year, the theatre elected its 10th Board of Directors, reaffirming its commitment to community empowerment. Its workshops, acting training, and multimedia projects continue to equip youth with the tools to navigate life under occupation and share their stories creatively.
Internationally, the Freedom Theatre amplifies the voices of Palestinians. In September 2025, it toured Portugal with 15 – 16-year-olds… Stories of Children Who Never Grow Up, a production based on the lived experiences of Jenin’s children. Led by Chairperson Abdulrahman Zubeidi, Director Mahmoud Abu Aita, and young performers, the play transformed collective trauma into a powerful form of artistic resistance.
Through persistence and creativity, the Freedom Theatre stands as a testament to the enduring power of art to resist oppression, sustain memory, and inspire hope.
WORLD THEATRE DAY - 27 MARCH
WORLD THEATRE DAY MESSAGE 2026
WORLD THEATRE DAY MESSAGE 2025
WORLD THEATRE DAY MESSAGE 2025
Willem DAFOE, USA
I am an actor principally known as a film actor. But my roots are deeply in the theatre. I was a member of the Wooster Group from 1977-2003, creating and performing original pieces at The Performing Garage in NYC and touring throughout the world. I have also worked with Richard Foreman, Robert Wilson and Romeo Castellucci
Willem DAFOE, USA
I am an actor principally known as a film actor. But my roots are deeply in the theatre. I was a member of the Wooster Group from 1977-2003, creating and performing original pieces at The Performing Garage in NYC and touring throughout the world. I have also worked with Richard Foreman, Robert Wilson and Romeo Castellucci. Now, I am the Artistic Director of The Venice Theatre Biennale. This appointment, the events in the world, and my desire to return to theatre work have strongly formed my belief in the unique positive power and importance of the theatre.
At the humble beginning of my time with The Wooster Group, the NY-based theatre company, we would often get very little public at some of our performances. Often the rule was if there were more performers than public we could choose to cancel. But we never did. Many of the company were not trained in the theatre but were people of different disciplines that came together to make theatre- so “the show must go on” was not really our mantra, however we felt an obligation to keep our meeting with the public.
We would also often rehearse during the day and, in the evening, show the material as a work in progress. We would sometimes spend years on a show while sustaining ourselves with touring of older performances. Working years on a piece would often become tedious for me, and I found rehearsals somewhat trying, but these works-in-progress showings were always exciting- even if the tiny public was a damning judgment of the level of interest in what we were doing. It just made me realize how, no matter how few people, the audience as witnesses gave the theatre its meaning and life.
Like the sign in the gambling hall says, “YOU MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN.” Shared experience in real time of an act of creation, that may be scored and designed but is always different, is certainly the obvious strength of the theatre. Socially, politically, theatre has never been so important and vital to our understanding of ourselves and the world.
The “elephant in the room” is new technologies and social networking. which promises connection but seems to have fragmented and isolated people from one another. I use my computer daily, even if I have no social media. I have even googled myself as an actor and have also consulted AI for information. But you have to be blind not to recognize that human contact risks being replaced by relationships with devices. While some technology can serve us well, the problem of not knowing who’s on the other end of the communication circle runs deep and contributes to a crisis of truth and reality. While the internet can raise questions, it very seldom captures the sense of wonder that theatre creates. A wonder based on attention, engagement and a spontaneous community of those present in a circle of action and response.
As an actor and theatre maker, I remain a believer in the power of theatre. In a world that seems to get more divisive, controlling and violent, our challenge as theatre makers is to avoid the corruption of theatre solely as a commercial enterprise dedicated to the entertainment by distraction or as the dry institutional preserver of traditions, but rather to foster its strength to connect people, communities, cultures and above all to question where we are going…...
Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to imagine what we aspire to.
We are social animals and are designed biologically for engagement with the world. Every sense organ is a gateway for encounter, and through this meeting, we achieve a greater definition of who we are. Through storytelling, aesthetics, language, movement, and scenography, theatre, as a total art form, can make us see what was, what is, and what our world could be.
Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe, Artistic Director of the Theatre Department at La Biennale di Venezia was among the founding members of The Wooster Group. Based at The Performing Garage in New York (1977-2004) they developed a distinctive approach to avant-garde theatre. He then went on to collaborate with Bob Wilson, Marina Abramovic, Richard Foreman and Romeo Castellucci. In the early 1980s, he also began working in cinema and since earned international acclaim for his versatility across both independent and mainstream films. He has received four Academy Award nominations and was awarded the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival in 2018. His commitment to theatre continues to shape his artistic vision and performance practice.
Photo: ©Brad Trent
WORLD THEATRE DAY MESSAGE 2025
WORLD THEATRE DAY MESSAGE 2025
WORLD THEATRE DAY MESSAGE 2025
Theodoros TERZOPOULOS, Greece
Can theatre hear the SOS call that our times are sending out, in a world of impoverished citizens, locked in cells of virtual reality, entrenched in their suffocating privacy? In a world of robotised existences within a totalitarian system of control and repression across the spectrum of life?
Is theatre conc
Theodoros TERZOPOULOS, Greece
Can theatre hear the SOS call that our times are sending out, in a world of impoverished citizens, locked in cells of virtual reality, entrenched in their suffocating privacy? In a world of robotised existences within a totalitarian system of control and repression across the spectrum of life?
Is theatre concerned about ecological destruction, global warming, massive biodiversity loss, ocean pollution, melting ice caps, increasing forest fires and extreme weather events? Can theatre become an active part of the ecosystem? Theatre has been watching the human impact on the planet for many years, but it is finding it difficult to deal with this problem.
Is theatre worried about the human condition as it is being shaped in the 21st century, where the citizen is manipulated by political and economic interests, media networks and opinion-forming companies? Where social media, as much as they facilitate it, are the great alibi for communication, because they provide the necessary safe distance from the Other? A pervasive sense of fear of the Other, the different, the Stranger, dominates our thoughts and actions.
Can theatre function as a workshop for the coexistence of differences without taking into account the bleeding trauma?
The bleeding trauma invites us to reconstruct the Myth. And in the words of Heiner Müller, “Myth is an aggregate, a machine to which always new and different machines can be connected. It transports the energy until the growing velocity will explode the cultural field,” and I would add the field of barbarity.
Can theatre spotlights shed light on social trauma and stop misleadingly shedding light on itself?
Questions that do not allow definitive answers, because theatre exists and endures thanks to unanswered questions.
Questions triggered by Dionysus, passing through his birthplace, the orchestra of the ancient theatre, and continuing his silent refugee journey through landscapes of war, today, on World Theatre Day.
Let us look into the eyes of Dionysus, the ecstatic god of theatre and Myth who unites the past, the present and the future, the child of two births, by Zeus and Semele, expresser of fluid identities, female and male, angry and kind, divine and animal, on the verge between madness and reason, order and chaos, an acrobat on the borderline between life and death. Dionysus poses a fundamental ontological question: “What is it all about?” A question that drives the creator towards an ever-deeper investigation into the root of myth and the multiple dimensions of the human enigma.
We need new narrative ways aimed at cultivating memory and shaping a new moral and political responsibility to emerge from the multiform dictatorship of the present-day Middle Ages.
Theodoros Terzopoulos
Theatre Director, Educator, Author, Founder and Artistic Director of the Attis Theatre Company, Inspirator of Theatre Olympics and Chairman of the International Committee of Theatre Olympics
translated from the original Greek: Yiola Klitou / Cyprus Centre of I.T.I.
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY - 29 APRIL
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY MESSAGE 2026
Crystal PITE, Canada
Humans move - our arms reach out, our knees collapse, our heads nod, our chests cave in, our backs arch, we jump, we shrug, we clench our fists, we pick each other up and push each other away. This is language as much as it is action. This is what the body has to say about need, defeat, courage, despair, desire, joy, a
Crystal PITE, Canada
Humans move - our arms reach out, our knees collapse, our heads nod, our chests cave in, our backs arch, we jump, we shrug, we clench our fists, we pick each other up and push each other away. This is language as much as it is action. This is what the body has to say about need, defeat, courage, despair, desire, joy, ambivalence, frustration, love. These images flash with meaning in the mind because we have felt these things so purely in the body - we have been moved. We are dancers, all of us. Life moves us; life dances us. Ephemeral as breath, concrete as bone, a dance is made of us. We sculpt space. We write with our bodies in a wordless language that is deeply understood. We grace the space within and around us when we dance. Like life, a dance creates and destroys itself in every moment. Like love, it is beyond reason. I like to think of the body as a location; a place where being is held and shaped. When we dance, we are profoundly engaged in being there. I’m writing this in early 2026, when there seems to be no end to the oppression, upheaval and suffering in our world. Daily, as we witness the horror of what humans are capable of doing to each other and the machinery of power that funds and fuels unspeakable violence to people and planet, dance feels like a facile, useless response. It’s hard to imagine what a dance artist can do in a world that so badly needs radical change and healing. And yet - art, like hope, is a form of love. Defiantly generative in the face of desecration, art is a solvent for the calcifying mind and a balm to heal it. Art is a vessel to hold us while we grapple with questions - together - in a way that is different from news, different from documentary and education, different from opinion and social media, different from activism and protest, but not incompatible. Through creativity, we accumulate resistance and hope through small acts of courage, curiosity, kindness and collaboration. In dance, and in dance-making, we find proof that humanity is more than our latest heartbreaking global failure. But dance needs no justification, no explanation. It’s made of us yet owes us nothing. It only needs to inhabit a willing body. From that location, it can translate the ineffable; acting as an intermediary between us and the unknown. We are moved by these vanishing traces of beauty in the present moment. And as we embody both the dance and its disappearance, we are reminded of our impermanence. At the same time, if we are paying attention, dance will give us an occasional glimpse of the soul.
Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite is a former company member of Ballet British Columbia and William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt. In a choreographic career spanning 35 years, Pite has created more than sixty works for companies such as The Royal Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, The Paris Opera Ballet, and The National Ballet of Canada. She is known for works that courageously address themes such as trauma, addiction, conflict, consciousness and mortality; her bold and original vision has earned her international acclaim and inspired an entire generation of dance artists. She is an Associate Artist at three institutions: Nederlands Dans Theater, Sadler’s Wells (London) and Canada’s National Arts Centre. She has an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University, is a Member of the Order of Canada and holds the honour of Officier de l’Ordre of Arts et des Lettres from France. In 2002, she formed Kidd Pivot in Vancouver, a company that strives to distill and translate universal questions into artworks that connect us to essential parts of humanity. World-renowned for radical hybrids of dance and theatre, Kidd Pivot tours internationally with critically-acclaimed works such as Betroffenheit, Revisor, and Assembly Hall (co-created with Jonathon Young), The Tempest Replica, Dark Matters, Lost Action, and The You Show. Pite’s many awards include the 2022 Governor General of Canada’s Performing Arts Award, the 2011 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award and the Canada Council’s 2012 Jacqueline Lemieux Prize. In 2017, she received the Benois de la Danse for her creation The Seasons’ Canon at the Paris Opera Ballet. In 2018, she received the Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal. She is the recipient of five Sir Laurence Olivier awards for creations with Kidd Pivot and The Royal Ballet.
Photo Credit Rolex byAnoush Abrar
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY MESSAGE 2025
Mikhail BARYSHNIKOV, Latvia/USA
It’s often said that dance can express the unspeakable. Joy, grief, and despair become visible, embodied expressions of our shared fragility. In this, dance can awaken empathy, inspire kindness, and spark a desire to heal rather than harm.
Especially now—as hundreds of thousands endure war, navigate politica
Mikhail BARYSHNIKOV, Latvia/USA
It’s often said that dance can express the unspeakable. Joy, grief, and despair become visible, embodied expressions of our shared fragility. In this, dance can awaken empathy, inspire kindness, and spark a desire to heal rather than harm.
Especially now—as hundreds of thousands endure war, navigate political upheaval, and rise in protest against injustice—honest reflection is vital. It’s a heavy burden to place on the body, on dance, on art. Yet art is still the best way to give form to the unspoken, and we can begin by asking ourselves: Where is my truth? How do I honour myself and my community? Whom do I answer to?
event archive
PAST ACTIVITIES
2017 - 2022
31 March 2022
52. WEEK OF SLOVENIAN DRAMA FESTIVAL Preseren Theatre Kranj, Slovenija
READING CANKAR
Round table
(Zoom Event, Streamed Online)
Ivan Cankar, the "undiscovered Central European Ibsen," was promoted abroad in English translation. Round table, streamed online.
With: Jure Gantar
PAST ACTIVITIES
2017 - 2022
31 March 2022
52. WEEK OF SLOVENIAN DRAMA FESTIVAL Preseren Theatre Kranj, Slovenija
READING CANKAR
Round table
(Zoom Event, Streamed Online)
Ivan Cankar, the "undiscovered Central European Ibsen," was promoted abroad in English translation. Round table, streamed online.
With: Jure Gantar (Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada), Andreja Kovač (artistic director, Crane Creations Theatre Company, Mississauga, Canada), Vijay Padaki (Bangalore Little Theatre Foundation, Bangalore, India), and Kay Brattan (artistic director, Little Lion Theatre, London, UK). Moderator: Tatjana Ažman (Slovenian Centre ITI); coordinator: Rok Andres
Collaboration between the Slovenian Centre ITI, the International Playwrights’ Forum ITI, Crane Creations Theatre Company (Canada), and the Week of Slovenian Drama Festival. Supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.
MORE ON:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmOF19gu9fc
11 November 2021
51. WEEK OF SLOVENIAN DRAMA FESTIVAL Preseren Theatre Kranj, Slovenija
CREATORS OF CHANGE:
Women Playwrights During the COVID-19
A discussion in an open dialogue about the new contexts women artists worldwide create daily.
With: Simona Hamer (Slovenia),
August Melody Andong (President of Women Playwrights International, Philippines), Rosemary Johns (Vice-President of Women Playwrights International, Australia),
Ximena Carrera (Chile),
Dessa Quesada-Palm (Philippines),
Melodie Reynolds-Diarra (Australia),
Elnaz Sheshgelani (Iran / Australia)
Moderator: Tatjana Ažman (SC ITI);
coordinator: Rok Andres (SC ITI)
Round table, Zoom Event, Streamed Online. Collaboration between the
Slovenian Centre ITI,
International Playwrights’ Forum ITI,
WPI (Women Playwrights International), and the Week of Slovenian Drama Festival. Supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.
MORE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmOs0PTBxlo&t=371s
4 February 2020
Cankarjev dom Ljubljana
OLYMPUS FESTIVAL
Dr Constantina Ziropoulou, Professor of Theatre Studies, member of the
IPF was invited to give a lecture outlining modern directing approaches to Ancient Greek theatre, viewed within the framework of current cultural and economic developments in Greece, and to present significant landmarks in the history of the revival of ancient Greek theatre to the present day.
The initiative of Staša Mihelčič.
Collaboration between Cankarjev Dom Ljubljana, SC ITI, and IPF ITI
19 – 21 October 2019
Maribor Theatre Festival
4th ITI EUROPEAN REGIONAL COUNCIL
The Maribor Theatre Festival was presented to an open audience, followed by a meeting of the European Centre's representatives. It was co-organised by SC ITI (Staša Mihelčič, Rok Andres, and Tatjana Ažman), European Regional Centre ITI (Fabio Toledi), ITI Worldwide (Tobias Biancone, Chen Zhongwen), and Maribor Theatre Festival.
14 – 16 December 2018
Slovenian National Theatre Drama Ljubljana
MASTERCLASS FOR ACTORS
By Apostolos Apostolides (Cyprus)
A complete 3-day program for 25 participants.
Co-organised by SC ITI, Slovenian Association of Dramatic Artists, and Slovenian National Theatre Drama Ljubljana.
15 – 29 October 2018
Maribor Theatre Festival
NEAP YOUNG EMERGING ARTISTS EXCHANGE PROGRAM
The Maribor Theatre Festival hosted a Masterclass facilitated by a student from
The Accademia Teatro Dimitri.
Collaboration between the Slovenian Centre ITI and the Swiss Centre ITI.
23 October 2018
Maribor Theatre Festival
THE CHALLENGES OF ARTISTIC FREEDOM
Symposium and Round Table
Prominent specialists and guests discussed current themes in evaluating and treating artistic (or the artist’s) freedom, with a primary focus on various forms of violation, (self-)censorship, and restrictions on activity, creation, and expression. Guest participants Dr Darko Lukić – keynote speaker (Croatia); Dr Thomas Engel (German Centre ITI and founding member of the ITI ACAR); Dr Thomas Irmer (German Centre ITI, member of the ITI ACAR); Dr Srirak Plipat (executive director of Freemuse); Tomasz Kireńczuk (Poland), chaired by Tatjana Ažman and Rok Andres (SC ITI).
Co-organised by the Slovene Centre ITI, the German Centre ITI, the ITI ACAR, and the Maribor Theatre Festival.
6 December 2017
Lili Novy Hall - Cankarjev dom
BODY LANGUAGE:
PANTOMIME - ANDRÉS VALDÉS,
THE PRIZE WINNER AND HIS STORIES
The World Mime Organisation awarded mime and teacher Andrés Valdés for an outstanding contribution to the art of pantomime, followed by a reflection on Cuban poetry, interpreted by a Mexican actor, writer, and director, Carlos Pascual, and a talk with the artists conducted by the dramaturge Staša Mihelčič. SC ITI
Co-organised by World Mime Organisation, Association of Dramatic Artists of Slovenia, in cooperation with Cankarjev dom Ljubljana.
14 – 23 July 2017
ITI WORLD CONGRESS
Segovia, Spain
Congress program
of the Slovenian delegation
Guest performance Madam Bovary, directed by Yulia Roschina, Slovenian National Theatre Nova Gorica; Guest performance Gathering of the Birds, directed by
Nina Rajić Kranjac, Academy for Radio, Film, Television and Radio Ljubljana; Participation of the Slovenian member of the UNITWIN, Aleš Valič; Young practitioner representative Lea Kukovičič; Workshop by Alida Bevk;
New Honourable member of the ITI,
Henrik Neubauer.
PAST ACTIVITIES
2010 - 2017
-under construction
INTERNATIONAL
ZOOM EVENTS
2020 - 2022
4 JULY 2020
World Mime Chat No 3
LADIES OF THE STAGE -
PRIDE, PREJUDICE & CORONA
Women artists from around the globe participated in the series of online discussions led by the World Mime Organisation.
August 202O - Online
15th SAINT MUSE THEATRE AWARDS
SC ITI member Tatjana Ažman
was a guest juror for the
INTERNATIONAL
ZOOM EVENTS
2020 - 2022
4 JULY 2020
World Mime Chat No 3
LADIES OF THE STAGE -
PRIDE, PREJUDICE & CORONA
Women artists from around the globe participated in the series of online discussions led by the World Mime Organisation.
August 202O - Online
15th SAINT MUSE THEATRE AWARDS
SC ITI member Tatjana Ažman
was a guest juror for the online festival edition, category Music Theatre.
20 November 2020
NEAP FEST BRASIL ONLINE 2020
GLOBALIZATION:
WHAT ARE THE POSSIBILITIES
FOR A DIALOGUE WITH THE ART
Zoom Talk Slovenia - Brasil
The second edition happened between November 13 - 28, virtually: the NEAP FEST gathered artists, theatre companies, and festival producers from different countries and continents from home.
9 December 2020
IAPAR INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
PERFORMING ART IS CAPITAL
Zoom Masterclass
The Masterclass theme was finding relevance in art today as one of the most critical challenges. What exactly are transformation and connectivity?
And what are our opportunities?
Conducted by Tatjana Ažman SC ITI.
14 September 2021
3rd Mitambo International
Theatre Festival Online
THE SHOW MUST BE ONLINE: #STAY@HOME,
PANDEMIC PROOFING INNOVATIONS
20 December 202O
MIME ART & EDUCATION FACING CHALLENGES OF TODAY
An online Event was organised by the National Academy for Theatre and Film "Krastyo Sarafov" (NATFA) in Sofia to celebrate 30 years of mime education
at the NATFA.
Supported by the WMO and ITI-WMO Physical Theatre Working Group.
THINKING AND RETHINKING BALLET
In 2021, the Slovenian Ballet Artists' Association and the Slovenian Centre ITI launched a web page section and streamed talks on YouTube with guests from around the World. This exceptional ongoing cooperation between the two organisations fosters dialogue between art and society, drawing on their diversity and international reach.
Supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.
CLICK on the photo to watch the interviews...
Events Photo Gallery
acar - ITI Action committee for artist rights
The Slovenian Centre ITI coordinates ACAR
Motion from the working group for Actions against Violation of Human Rights
of Theatre People
Adapted unanimously by the 33rd ITI World Congress 2011:
Considering that
• Up to now, 117 nations have signed the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression
• The Convention defines cultural dive
Motion from the working group for Actions against Violation of Human Rights
of Theatre People
Adapted unanimously by the 33rd ITI World Congress 2011:
Considering that
• Up to now, 117 nations have signed the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression
• The Convention defines cultural diversity as the first guiding principle that cultural diversity can be protected and promoted only if human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of expression, information and communication, as well as the ability of individuals to choose cultural expressions, are guaranteed. No one may invoke the provisions of this Convention in order to infringe human rights and fundamental freedoms as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or guaranteed by international law, or to limit the scope thereof.
• The Convention also asks for active implementation through the participation of civil society (Article 11)
The Working Group for Actions against Violation of the Human Rights of Theatre People appeals to the 33rd ITI World Congress of the ITI to increase the emphasis on this issue.
Cases of violation of the rights of theatre artists and the right to free artistic expression can be collected, proved, analysed, and made public.
Additionally, the human rights issue and the right to free artistic expression need to be addressed on a formal political level.
ITI, like other NGOs, should raise its voice by making official statements to political authorities. These statements should be prepared on the basis of the working group's experience and research, with broad participation from national centres, and in connection with other international networks and activities.
Actions should be taken on different levels:
• in making cases public by informing the national centres and via other media;
• with official statements by the committee, and
• with official statements by the President, the Vice Presidents, the General Secretary or the ITI Ambassadors.
Therefore, the working group asks the 33rd ITI World Congress to give the existing working group for Actions against Violation of the Human Rights of Theatre People the formal status of an ITI Committee, named thereafter the ITI Action Committee for Artists' Rights, and to encourage the national centres and the Executive Council to support the work of this committee.
Motion submitted by ITI Germany, supported by ITI centres of Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Finland, Israel, Ivory Coast, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, USA, Slovenia and Sweden.
SECTION OF THIS PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION ...
RAISE THE CURTAIN FOR GAZA
The International Theatre Institute (ITI) is not just an organisation—we are a global network, united by the conviction that the performing arts are powerful forces for peace, dialogue, and the defence of human dignity.
We stand with communities across languages, borders, and traditions by offering what heals, empowers, raises awareness,
The International Theatre Institute (ITI) is not just an organisation—we are a global network, united by the conviction that the performing arts are powerful forces for peace, dialogue, and the defence of human dignity.
We stand with communities across languages, borders, and traditions by offering what heals, empowers, raises awareness, and connects, both in times of peace and in times of conflict.
Today, we raise our collective voice in unwavering solidarity with our colleague artists in Gaza, the West Bank, and all the Middle East who face the consequences of war in the region and whose cultural spaces lie in ruins. Even now—amid the devastation of their lands and countries, which have been transformed into battlefields—artists, educators, and cultural workers continue to be present. Not to escape reality, but to survive it, together with their people and for their people. Not for applause, but to bear witness.
Every performance becomes an act of memory, defiance, and dignity.
These are not luxuries—they are lifelines.
In the words of exhausted, wounded and displaced artists in Gaza who work in bombed-out theatres, shelters, and refugee camps, where the humanitarian catastrophe has reached unimaginable depths right now, by the sentence to slow death by starvation, performance is not optional. It is a necessity.
Their voices persist—refusing erasure. Refusing silence.
Their art is not a cry for attention—it is a declaration: We are still here.
We carry this truth with us.
Arts and culture are humanity's beginning and soul.
They safeguard memory, forge solidarity, and offer hope and a vision for the future.
Stages at the time of conflict become more than platforms—they are sanctuaries, bridges and ceremonial spaces.
For theatre artists, a curtain is never just fabric. When raised, it invites presence and awareness. When lowered, it signals pause—but never surrender.
And when torn apart, it compels us to lift it again.
So let us raise the curtain—for Gaza.
For the children whose first stories are written in fear, hunger, starvation and loss, yet who still find ways to dream.
For the artists, teachers, and cultural workers who continue to create in the face of destruction and conflict.
For the memories they preserve, the identities they affirm, and the futures they dare to imagine.
For the protection of all human lives and a path toward lasting peace and coexistence.
For guaranteed safe access to all humanitarian and cultural resources.
For the defence of every person's dignity and fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression.
Artistic expression is inseparable from the right to life—it is essential to our humanity. As stated in the founding documents of ITI and ACAR (Action Committee for Artists' Rights), the right to artistic expression is an international imperative.
We reaffirm our enduring commitment to peace, cultural freedom, mutual understanding, and the safety of all artists at risk. We stand with them as fellow human beings. We believe in them and their contributions to creating a bright future for their people and communities.
We urge our performing arts global community to create artistic spaces for dialogue on peace in the region and beyond.
SIGNED BY:
Ramendu Majumdar, ITI Honorary President, Bangladesh
Ann Mari Engel, ITI Honorary Member, Sweden
Raija Sinnikka Rantala, ITI Honorary Member, Finland
Georgette Gebara, ITI Honorary Member, IDD Message Author, Lebanon
Guy Coolen, Vice President, ITI Belgium
Jeff Fagundes, EC Member, ITI Brazil
Roberto Cayuquero, EC Member, ITI Chile
Tatjana Ažman, ACAR, ITI Slovenia
Thomas Engel, ACAR, Germany
Atsushi Kakumoto, ACAR, ITI Japan
Adam Berzsenyi Belaagh, ACAR, ITI Hungary
Ulricha Johnson, ACAR, ITI Sweden
Anina Jendreyko, ACAR, ITI Switzerland
Antonia Fernandez, ITI Cuba
Linea Starra, Tinfo, Finland
Ara Kim, ITI Korea
Vijay Padaki, ITI India
Boloroo Nayanbaatar, ITI Mongolia
Jakob Ribič, ITI Slovenia
Cheikh Okbaoui, ITI Algeria
Khalid Al Rowaiei, ITI Bahrein
Sawsan Darwaza, ITI Jordan
ABOUT ITI WORLDWIDE
We are a proud member of the largest international organisation for the performing arts.
ITI was created on the initiative of the first UNESCO Director General, Sir Julian Huxley, and the playwright and novelist, JB Priestly, in 1948, just after the Second World War. This was the beginning of the Cold War when the Iron Curtain divided East and West. The founders of ITI aimed to build a cultural organisation for the performing arts aligned with UNESCO’s goals on culture, education, the arts, mutual understanding and peace. It should focus its endeavours on improving the status of all members of the performing arts professions. They envisaged an organisation that created platforms for international exchange and engagement in performing arts education for beginners and professionals alike, and that used the performing arts for mutual understanding and peace.