The city of Havana, Cuba will host the twenty-first edition of ASSITEJ World Congress 2024, from May 24 to June 1.
Themed Voices Of A New World, the festival focuses on the fact that people should begin to think of the world and art as the union of different, nuanced voices. It is based on the observation that children and youth of the world today are increasingly demanding for more spaces to express themselves poetically, and make he art they practice, a tool for real transformation.
Cuban Theatre for Young Audience and the ministry of culture believe that it is up to artists to hear the emerging voices and give them the space they need, and to empower their points of views through performances, dialogues, panels and interdisciplinary encounters.
Interested participants can apply for the festival via three routes: submissions of Professional Exchange Programme Sessions, Conference Papers, and Productions/Performances.
Participants can submit proposals for professional programme sessions such as workshops, roundtables, meetings, film screenings, exhibitions, social events, and other formats related to performing arts for young audiences, with the sessions to be held either virtually or physically or both.
Applicants interested in research and writing can submit Conference Papers on the festival’s theme Voices of a New World: Legacy and Innovation in TYA. The papers may take a variety of perspectives such as history and cultural contents, intangible cultural heritage, decolonization, media, aesthetics and artwork, social interventions through art, sustainability, race and ethnicity, accessibility, ability as well as social and economic conditions.
Productions and Performances for, with and by children and young people from all performing art genres and artistic expressions are welcome. Although special focus will be given to performances that emphasised participation, breadth of art form and a celebration of community impact.
“The festival of the World Congress is an opportunity to invite practitioners who work in public space, in non-traditional forms, in participation, in immersive and sensory installations. Online productions are also encouraged to apply.
“We must think of our geographies, physical and theatrical, as full of love and hope with our arms open to the Caribbean Sea, we await the arrival of companies and artists from different parts of the world. Languages will not be a barrier, neither will accents; only unity and the desire to be better in ourselves and with the planet that gives us a home.”
