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The 2008 meeting of the Education Commission was held in Helsinki 5-9 June in conjunction with the annual meeting of the History and Theory Commission. The event was 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, Finnish Theatre Museum, The Union of Finnish Scenographers.
For the first time, the OISTAT Education Commission had delegates from Uganda- Mr. Augustine Bazzale and from Kuwait- Mr. Abdullah AlGhaith.
The keynote speech by Serge Von Arx is available online.
Click to Download: Researched Scenography
The open session presented by Host Country: Education – Practice – Research provided a broad picture of the education in theatre design and technology in Finland. Eight presenters – educators from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, The Theatre Academy in Helsinki and the University of Tampere shared with the OISTAT delegates from the two commissions their teaching methods in the various aspects of design for performing arts.
The open EduCom session of presentations explored the everlasting question “Visions or Skills – Which Comes First?” in the light of the teaching practice of schools from Sweden, Australia, Hong Kong, Uganda, Finland, the Netherlands. The session was attended by Finish educators and students. The delegates of the History and Theory Commission joined for this session too.
The two commissions joint conference ReSEARCH: Designing Performance – Performing Design created an academic forum for sharing ideas and expanding the definitions of what constitutes research in performing arts practice. Nine presenters from five countries shared with the international audience their approaches and investigated the seemingly incompatible models in research between those of theoretical scholarship (the academy) and dramatic practice (conservatoire).
In addition to the business and the open sessions, the hosts of the meeting provided a very rich and exciting program of side events. The meeting in Helsinki was a great success.
The next EduCom meeting will be in Moscow, April 23 – 27 2009 and will be hosted by the Russian Theatre Artists Union. The main theme for discussion will be “Author’s Approach in Teaching Theatre Design and Technology”.
The meeting for 2010 will be held in Beijing, China, by invitation of the Central School of Drama, Beijing.