Yvette Hardie, President of ASSITEJ, was invited to attend the 22nd UNIMA World Congress and World Puppetry Festival in San Sebastián and Tolosa from 28 May to 5 June 2016. At this historic meeting, she had the opportunity to discuss ideas with UNIMA leaders and members, and on the fourth day of the Congress, re-elected UNIMA President Dadi Pudumjee was able to make a public announcement that they would find ways to work together more collaboratively at the international partnership level. There is also a commitment to developing the details of this collaboration in UNIMA’s next term and to finding ways to better complement and support one another, based on shared values.
The wording of the commitment reads: We commit, in principle and in practice, to collaboration and cooperation among our associations on matters of mutual interest, where appropriate. We do this in order to uphold theater and the arts as a universal expression of humanity fundamental to human, social, and cultural development, and as a bridge-builder for mutual understanding and tolerance, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The ITI (International Theatre Institute) and IATA (International Amateur Theatre Association) AITA/Association have already committed to this collaboration, and ASSITEJ is in discussion with IDEA (International Drama/Theatre & Education Association), IATC (International Association of Theatre Critics) and OISTAT (International Organisation of Theatre Set Designers, Architects and Technicians) to collaborate as well.
We believe that at this moment, it is tremendously important to work together, joining forces and strengthening the work of promoting the arts in the lives of every human being through the use of our collective voice.
One of the concrete ideas under discussion is the creation of a performing arts week, incorporating the yearly and universally celebrated period of March 20-27, which would include World Theatre Day for Children and Young People (ASSITEJ – March 20), World Puppetry Day (UNIMA – March 21), and World Theatre Day (ITI and AITA/IATA – March 27) so that these distinct individual celebrations would not be lost, but could provide a huge boost to what we can contribute to the notion of the performing arts as central to our birthright as human beings.
ASSITEJ thanks Dadi Pudumjee (President of UNIMA) and Idoya Otegui Martínez (recently elected Secretary General of UNIMA), as well as the outgoing Secretary General, Jacques Trudeau, for their interest in continuing this collaboration.
