Statement of APB Member School Directors’ Conference 2012

TNUA, Taipei, Taiwan, Sept. 1, 2012

 

At our annual meeting of the Asia Pacific Bureau for Theatre Schools, UNESCO Chair-ITI, in Aug-Sept 2012 at the Taipei National University of the Arts, directors of member schools from Australia, Brunei, China, Korea, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, expressed their deep appreciation of the vision, hard work, and dedication of Professor Corneliu Dumitriu in establishing the first stage of the Asia Pacific Bureau of UNESCO Chair-ITI during his terms as the Chair-holder.

Since establishment in 2008 this Bureau has held annual events, including five member school directors’ meetings and four student theatre festivals: 2008, 2009 and 2010 in Shanghai, 2011 and early 2012 in New Delhi, and now in Taipei. The APB is growing from strength to strength, attracting more members.

We will continue to build upon Prof. Dumitriu’s foundation: we will seek a new structure with direct links with UNESCO ITI and further develop our membership and activities to the mutual benefit of our member schools, our staff and our students. Our focus remains upon the vocational training of performers and theatre-makers, and the sharing of both traditional and contemporary methodologies and pedagogy.

We have decided that our next member school directors’ meeting, together with another student theatre festival, will be held on Sept. 1-6, 2013, in Quy Nhon, South Central Vietnam under the direction of APB member school, My Phat National Center for Professional Training in Performance. We also plan, tentatively, to hold the 2014 APB event at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, the 2015 event at the Korea National University of Arts. The specific schedules are to be determined at our next meeting in Sept. 2013. Where convenient we will welcome guests to our APB events.

To the delegates and participants of the World Festival of Theatre Schools and the World Conference of Theatre School Directors in Romania, we apologize that most of our member schools cannot afford to travel to Europe to your gathering. But we do have representatives in attendance and we wish to keep links to your global organizations. We wish you success in your meetings.