In Prague, Between Puppeteers, creating a Union

Last summer I had the honor to take part in an international jury at Prague. At the end of the festival, its director, Todor Ristic, came with a proposal to found a … theatre association. We, the artists of twelve countries were then summoned in the office of the future association.
I was obviously delighted by the idea, because I think that these unions always prove to have benefits. Similar associations already exist on the globe (UNIMA, ASSITEJ) but they lack the limit in building up noble friendships: the destabilizing & disjointing institutions seem to always show up as being in excess.
So, recently, we were all invited at the first WAP (World Association of Puppeteers) congress. We met, we have seen each other after some time, we drank champagne and we immediately plunged into business. We discussed about the association’s status, the reason from which it was born and why we made it our option. I looked for viable solutions in order to bring in front the importance of the puppeteering schools in our countries and around the world.
The editing of a trimestrial professional magazine was immediately established. There were many important ideas concerning collective performances, work-shops, festivals and courses with professors from different countries. Also discussions about puppet exhibitions and DVDs took place including a specialized international library, the spreading of the texts dedicated to the children (mentioning that nowadays there is nothing but an excess of world wide dramatizing and a crisis concerning the third millennium themes). We shared email and addresses in order to ease the communication.
In my opinion, the were too many discussions on the subject of diplomacy and overprotection, about UNIMA: not to repeat what UNIMA does, not to offend UNIMA by the forming of WAP, to bare in mind that most of us are also members of UNIMA… Well, I say that we all joined WAP just because UNIMA ended up as a multi/honorary organization with an enclosed circuit.
In those four days many projects were set in motion and inevitably during those lenghtened discussions there were small contradictions. As a matter of fact, theatre also means conflict and not only dialogue, right ?!... The second evening, I gladly took part in a puppet opera show - Don Giovanni - of the hosting theatre ; bare in mind that this performance reaches its 10th anniversary in March ( over 2.500 performances). And many more to go !

The second day, after running through a serious body search, we were received by the Chief of the Czech Cultural Parliamentary Commission; we each introduced ourselves and motivated our presence there, looking to highlight the initiative of Todor Ristic. After getting back to the headquarters, we each signed a petition in which we requested the support of our non-profit organization by the Government, The Parliament and The Czech Ministry of Culture. Who were the ones who signed ? Behold : Behrouz Gharibpour ( Iran ), Miryam Reategui (Peru), Iuri Tairov (Ukraine), Valid Dakroub (Liban), Sten Wallin ( Sweden), Valeri Bugaev (Russia), Valid Badr (Egypt), Gabriel Apostol (Romania), Sid Ahmed Meddah (Algeria), Ronny Aellbreht (Belgium), Robert Waltr (Slovenia), Jerry Bickel (USA) and last on the list, the author of these modest lines. The Czech representatives (Ristic and Petrovic) didn't sign, because their actions related to this project were very familiar to the local authorities.
I brought back in my country a few adhesion petitions and blank member id cards because until our future meeting in June I’m planning to set up a promising subsidiary.
I’m also attaching a photo that was taken (of most of the participants ) at the conference, in the hall of the Parliament; the most renowned tapestry can be seen behind us, very old indeed, a landscape of Prague.

( this text is a translation from the original text in Romanian which can be found HERE )