About the conference

In May 2006, in Manila, the Philippines, the IV World Conference of Theatre School Directors decided and the World Congress of the International Theatre Institute ratified through a Resolution (that is annexed to this letter) that the activity of the UNESCO Chair of the International Theatre Institute be decentralized. In this respect, a regional institutional body has been created to represent the Asia-Pacific region the Regional Bureau of the UNESCO Chair-ITI, based in Shanghai. The purpose of this institutional body of the UNESCO Chair-ITI is to promote an ACADEMIC MOBILITY Programme among the theatre schools in this geographical region, Programme that is centred on the following three main directions: INFORMATION MOBILITY, STUDENT MOBILITY and TEACHING STAFF MOBILITY.

This newly created regional institutional body sets out to promote cooperation projects in the field of scientific information exchange, pedagogy of theatre, professional advancement and so forth. The regional activity of this organism will be organized according to the following five dominant projects:

1.An annual Regional CONFERENCE of theatre school Directors in the Asia-Pacific region.
2.An annual FESTIVAL for theatre schools in the Asia-Pacific region.
3.A PEDAGOGY OF THEATRE ON DVD PROGRAMME for student-actors and various textbooks and COURSES for both theoretical and practical disciplines, for students of theatre in the Asia-Pacific region.
4.Scientific RESEARCH PROGRAMMES on various artistic and cultural phenomena typical to the Asia-Pacific region. (e.g. Peking Opera, traditional Japanese theatre, ancient Indian drama, etc.).
5.The creation of DIGITAL LIBRARIES in each member school of the Regional Bureau which would facilitate a rapid and comprehensive academic documentation and would at the same time constitute a joint cultural asset of the theatre schools in the Asia-Pacific region.