Solidarity
The post of Director of Solidarity was created at the IDEA 2004 World Congress in Ottawa, Canada to ensure in particular the participation of practitioners and young people from poor and ’developing nations’. The first Director of Solidarity, Asa Peterson, brings considerable experience to this post following her work as Solidarity Officer for the IDEA 2001 World Congress and many years of collaboration within East Africa.
The aims of the Solidarity Fund
To enable as many practitioners, researchers and young people as possible to attend the IDEA World Congress which is held one every three years in a different country, alternating between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. By supporting participants who otherwise could not come due to financial constraints, we hope to ensure and strengthen the intercultural exchange of the Congress and to continue to build a genuinely inclusive and democratic world association.
The next Congress will take place in Belém, Brasil around the theme Viva a diversidade viva! Embracing the arts of transformation!
Solidarity stands out in IDEA as a priority practice to develop inter-regional exchanges and collaborations between its members. It has been used to guarantee the participation of practitioners from regions, countries and communities without financial resources to create genuinely inclusive and global world congresses. However, it is always a challenge for solidarity organizers to reach the ideal target (10% of congress participants) and guarantee that their beneficiaries can participate in the entire congress, enriching it with their cultures and practices. It is also always a challenge to transform solidarity support into a pedagogical value that permeates the whole congress.
Consistent with the actual policy that placed intercultural projects at the heart of IDEA in 2004, the organizers of IDEA 2010 wish to integrate collaborative projects into the conception of solidarity as a motor of the actual world congress. IDEA 2010’s International Solidarity Campaign will recognise all the participants of Solidarity Projects and those who donate and receive solidarity funding as Solidarity Actors committed to the construction of IDEA and the fulfillment of its mission. Read more in eligibility and criteria .
Any drama/theatre organization (or arts education) which is interested in proposing a solidarity project and is not yet a member of IDEA, can simultaneously apply to become a member; as soon as the membership application has been accepted, the solidarity project application will become valid. Any individual, group network or organization associated with an Ordinary or Associate Member of IDEA is considered an IDEA member. New projects or projects in progress can also be submitted, providing they have begun before 10th February, 2009.