The context for the 2012 Conference:

We are experiencing in a global scale the culmination of a bleak reality in every aspect of our lives. Lives and dreams falter and topple every day in our country, as well. In the name of an exit from the "crisis", decisions are made in our stead and with our glaring absence; rights that have been vested in the past centuries are disregarded and violated on a daily basis. The citizen finds themselves in the "eye of the Storm", hostage to the choices of the ones in global power. Education and culture, democracy, dialogue, communication, the relation to the "other", the relationship with the past and artistic expression are steadily and inexorably degraded.

However, in the same time and in an international and local level, the financial crisis is transforming into an "hour of judgement" for the democratic conscience. Voices of protest are rising, cores of resistance are born, bonds of solidarity are forming with the aim to overthrow the barbarity that reigns and fight for a more liberated society.

Theatre/Drama in education in its various facets - as an artform, as a learning tool and as a medium for social action - seeks the truth, brings to life memories of humanity's struggles and pursuits, sheds light and analyzes the present and envisions the future. The daily work of the educator, the artist, the facilitator, the arts person can become a source for inspiration but also a means for societal change, aiming to a world of dignity and social justice.

Aim of the 2012 Conference is for it to become a milieu for fruitful endeavor and reflection and to conclude with propositions for the role theatre and performative arts can play in education, mainly for the creation of multiple bonds of solidarity, which shall contribute to facing the present, as well as cultivating a collective vision for a dignified life everywhere and for everyone.