A European Romania in New York opening event

Mary Ann DeVlieg, Secretary General of IETM, Europe's largest network of contemporary performing arts, discusses with American and Romanian guests the background and present challenges of artistic networking and cross-border mobility in the context of the enlargement of the European Union, as well as the new importance of cultural exchange in the context of globalization.

Respondents: Saviana Stanescu, playwright, artistic director of the New Drama Support Program, and Randy Gener, Senior editor of the American Theatre magazine.

The event offers an unique opportunity for performing arts professionals interested in international exchange to learn about the largest network of contemporary performing arts in Europe, which comprises at present approximately 450 member-organizations (about 2000 active individuals) from 45 countries. IETM is a very diverse international network which welcomes festivals, theatres and arts centres, performing companies, independent producers, programmers and curators, service organizations, and public authorities. Artistic disciplines include theatre, dance, new music-theatre, new media and new technology, interdisciplinary arts, and all the contemporary experimentations involving visual and performance art. For the first time ever IETM’s main meeting will take place outside Europe, in North America this year, in Montreal, from 30 May to 3 June.


Secretary General of the Informal European Theater Meeting (IETM) since 1994, Mary Ann DeVlieg has contributed to unite people in the contemporary performing arts who believe that art and artists should cross borders in order to enrich the experience for both public and creators. Her work led to her winning in 2006 the European Union's “Individual Award” for European Workers’ Mobility.

Under the broad frame of ”A European Romania in New York”, our events in 2007 will represent multiple facets of Romania as a European cultural presence in the Unites States and will include performances by Romanian artists of solid international reputation, focus on the city of Sibiu - the 2007 European cultural capital, joint projects with other European cultural centres in New York, and lectures by foreign guests about the cultural role Romania can play as a fresh member of the European Union.

(Image: Mary Ann DeVlieg collecting the award from Nikolaus van der Pas, European Commission Director General for the Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities)