5 th ATHENS INTERNATIONAL THEATRE/DRAMA & PERFORMING ARTS EDUCATION CONFERENCE
Regional Conference in Partnership with
International Drama / Theatre & Education Association – IDEA 

Theatre/Drama and Education: Creating New Roles for the 21st century

17-18-19 March 2006, Athens, Greece

Pre- and After Conference events 11-23 March 2006

Conference 2006 aims, content and rational

This Conference intends to contribute to the creative debate between educationalists, academics, university students, artists and policy makers over the possibilities and applications of theatre and the performing arts in schools and in within other educational contexts.

 We live in a world which changes rapidly, and is defined by information and by the power of the media; the new generations grow up in a damaged environment, characterized by Globalization, where the social differences are becoming bigger and bigger and the peaceful coexistence of peoples is often disrupted by wars, fanaticism and racism.

What is the role of the arts -performing arts especially- within education? What is –or can be- their role in the lives of the youth, who have to grow up and live in such a world?

 The 2006 Athens Conference aim is to search for potential meeting points for Theatre/Performing Arts, Education (formal or informal) and Society. Some of the questions to be posed and examined during the Conference include:

• In what ways are the arts and education influenced by the current intense, sometimes even violent, social changes? Are there any new forms of art that can be created, in order to follow today’s needs?
• How do young people perceive themselves and the “other” within today’s world?
• How can we provoke an opening of the school to society? How could we create a new cultural education and an updated code of ethics within schools?
• What is the role of educationalists as artists, and that of artists as educationalists, in teaching through the arts?

The 2006 Athens Conference will address these important issues through a variety of channels and outlets:

• Theatre teaching (as an art form)
• Theatre/Drama as an educational means and teaching tool (D.I.E.)
• Theatre/Drama as Social Intervention
• Community Theatre
• Theatre for Development
• Theatre-in-Education (T.I.E.)
• Playing-Through-Theatre methods
• Dramatherapy – Psychodrama
• Puppetry and Shadow Theatre
• Music Education
• Dance and Movement
• Audiovisual Education (Photography, Video, Cinema, Media, etc)
• Other fields of research or practice in theatre/drama and performance arts in education

For whom: This conference is open to educationalists of all levels and all fields, to university students and graduates of pedagogical and theatre departments, and to artists who work in educational contexts (formal or informal). The Conference is also open to anyone who wishes to contribute to the creative debate over the teaching, practice or the meeting points of the performing arts in all forms of education.

Conference 2006 includes:

• Invited Keynote speakers,
• Paper-Presentations (in parallel sessions),
• Practical Workshops,
• Open classes (selected),
• Artistic events
• Pre-and After Conference Events in several cities 

Conference languages: English-Greek