Mission:

The Education commission exists to facilitate international dialogue in the field of scenography, design  for performance and theatre  technology education and  to  foster quality, innovation and mobility.

Who are we:

Members of the commission are set, costume, lighting designers and theatre technicians who are also dedicated teachers with strong interest in internationalism in design education. Each OISTAT National Centre has it’s official delegate to the commission. When the official delegate is not able to attend, the center can send an alternate delegate. Associate OISTAT members can also have their representative to the commission. Individual members and guests  are also welcome to participate in our activities.

How do we work:

We meet once yearly by invitations of  design and technology schools and OISTAT Centres . At our meetings we exchange teaching approaches and ideas, we share about achievements and challenges. The schedules of our meetings consist of :

·         business sessions – in these sessions we discuss our organization  and projects.

·         open sessions - In conjunction with our meetings we provide seminars and workshops, programs of lectures and presentations on topics of interest for our hosts.  These forums are open to wide audience of students and teachers and offer wonderful opportunities for broadening professional boundaries by learning from others’ experience and ways of thinking and doing. These forums are intended not only to inform, but also to interrogate established views and practices and to inspire innovation and experiment. Our meetings provide a forum to our hosts to showcase their educational programs internationally and establish contacts with schools from around the world.  Our meetings have  set the beginnings of many international cooperation projects as  well as long lasting professional contacts and friendships. Several Erasmus exchange program networks, that function successfully more than 6  years already,  have been initiated at the meetings of the Education Commission.

·         visits to schools and open discussions with students and educators

·         cultural side- program – theatre shows, theatre backstage tours, visits to museums and historic sites

Some of our recent meetings include:

2004 - Istanbul, Turkey. Meeting, hosted by the Turkish Association of Scenographers and Mimar Sinan University.

2005 – London and Nottingham. The meeting was hosted by the Central Saint Martin College of Art and design, The Central Scholl for Speech and Drama, The London College of Fashion, The Nottingham Trend University.

2006 – Yokohama, a meeting held in conjunction with the World Light Fare and hosted by the WLF and OISTAT Centre – Japan.

2007 – Vancouver, Canada. Meeting held in conjunction with the annual conference of CITT and hosted by CITT (The Canadian Institute for Theatre Technology)/ICTS OISTAT Centre and the University of British Columbia.CTTI and the University of British Columbia.

2008 – Helsinki, Joint meeting with the History and Theory Commission, hosted by the Finnish OISTAT Centre and The Theatre Academy of Finland / The Department of Lighting and Sound Design/ in co-operation with the University of Art and Design Helsinki/ School of Scenography, The Research Institute of University of Art and Design Helsinki.

2009 – Moscow. The meeting was  hosted by the Union of Russian Theatre Artists and the Studio School at the Moscow Art Theatre (MHAT)

2010 – Our next meeting will be in China, by invitation of Central School for Drama – Beijing.

Projects

Scenofest at the Prague International Quadrennial of Scenography was initiated by the Education Commission in 2003. Scenofest 2003 was visited by over  thousand students, educators and professionals from all over the world.

Following the success of Scenofest ’03  and in collaboration with the Theatre Institut in Prague, OISTAT Education Commission organized  Scenofest ‘07. The  program offered lectures by some of the most prominent contemporary theatre artists, workshops in all areas of theatre performance design, theatre technology and new media,  and over 50 students’ performances. The program attracted over 7000 students and practitioners from across the world. Application to exhibits and workshops exceeded 3500 registered participants.

Marina Raytchinova

Commission Chair