The ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering and Bright Generations Festival (Marseilles, France)

There was a great delegation of 8 esteemed colleagues attending from Australia (from SA and WA) to take in the global community and the uniqueness of ASSITEJ International. The Artistic Gatherings are not arts markets, although people do sell work at them.  Their role is to connect ideas, people and practice. The remit is different from the usual arts festival – the curation of the program must take into consideration all continents in its selection, and so delegates are seeing work they will never have come across before.

The hosts (in this case ASSITEJ France and Theatre Massalia) are asked not to program works that have already been seen in ASSITEJ programs for the past three years. Focus is on strengthening the sector and allowing room for new voices. Connections are made here that lead to friendship, collaborations, long-lasting interest and also, to tours of work. People reported feeling replenished and filled as artists, impressed by the breadth of thinking and the work ASSITEJ is doing in research, sustainability, access, and including members more closely in the work of the association. Newcomers to ASSITEJ leave understanding more about what the benefits of being part of this generous, supportive global community are. 

Regional Cooperation program (RCP)

This program is new for ASSITEJ and is created as a response to the need for greater equity of opportunity in our global community, where the value of culture differs so wildly from continent to continent and country to country. The RCP offers funds for a minimum of three National Centres to work together to create a project that addresses a need in their region and was an open call to all ASSITEJ Members.

Two projects were granted 50,000 EUR each. In each of these countries, theatre and performance for children is either just beginning or very scarce. Wanderlust is a project between ASSITEJ Mongolia, Nepal and Indonesia with the creation of touring festivals of works to regional areas where children have little or no access to the arts created specifically for them. African Vogue is a project between ASSITEJ Senegal, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire with the development of a creative ‘cookbook’ for artists making work for and with children and young people and a touring model that begins in Senegal and ends at MASA, a major festival in Cote d’Ivoire.

Both of these projects were selected from a group of 7 projects from around the world, each demonstrating the depth of connection and awareness in each of the national centres involved. The two projects will commence in 2026 and end in 2028. These are supported through ASSITEJ’s Creating Cultural Equity project funded by Creative Europe

A wave of energy from Asia

Work for children, especially early years, is pouring out of Asia and there is the potential for real energy behind exchange and collaboration with artists from Australia. It is still an art form that is at the early stages of exploration and audience attention, and artists such as Double and Cross in Taiwan, Big Mouse in Macau, the artists and companies in Indonesia involved in Gulali Lab, are seeking connections and development opportunities.

CUTE Fest is the passion project of Si Kei Chan, a producer in Macau who envisioned a Baby Theatre Festival in 2017 and this year, after much hard work and fund raising, has succeeded in presenting it to packed audiences at the Macau Cultural Centre. Watch out for this little festival, the first ever baby theatre festival in Macau. It will create waves.

Gulali Festival is the new (and first) festival for children in Indonesia. With the increase of interest in theatre for children among artists around the archipelago, and the dedicated development of practice and possibility by the wonderful people in the Gulali Lab (initiated by Papermoon Puppet Theatre) the biennial Gulali festival is having its second in-real-life outing in October this year.

The ArtGround in Singapore supports artists in developing new works, and provides a creative space for children and their families from birth up.  Many Australian artists have strong connections here and have made collaborative projects.

Double and Cross (Taiwan) are performing in the Melbourne Fringe as part of Fringe Focus Taiwan October 17–19 at ArtPlay.

ASSITEJ actions in the next month

Executive Committee Vice President Seok-Hong Kim from Korea and EC member Shoaib Iqbal from New Zealand and Pakistan will attend the China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF) to expand connections for the ASSITEJ Members in the region. It would be good to hear back from attendees from Australia about the prospects for TYA sector engagement. 

The TYA event will be held on October 19. With a dual format of seminar and interactive events, the event aims to establish a hub for the children’s theatre industry in the Asia-Pacific region. Bringing together leading international children’s theatre companies and arts institutions, the program will showcase new works from around the world, promote co-productions and exchange, and build a global network for collaboration in children’s theatre. 

ASSITEJ International President, Sue Giles will attend the Babel end of project conference in Brussels in November before meeting the rest of the EC in Montreal for the new Children’s theatre festival La Meche Courte, a chance to advocate for connections between Australia and Canada as well as talk with presenters from the US and TYA/USA.