Romania - Global Contemporary Performance: Sibiu International Theatre Festival
THTR 440A | 3 credits
This course is led by Patrick Rizzotti & Leora Morris, Faculty of Arts
- Course dates: June 18 – July 2, 2024
- Travel dates: June 17 – July 3, 2024
- Format: In-person*
- *This seminar includes pre-trip Zoom sessions in months of May-June
- Location(s) visited: Sibiu, Romania
- Approximate program fee: $3000-3500 (Go Global fee, Tuition, flights, and food are not included)
- Funding available (click through to learn more about each award)
- ARA (qualifying Arts students only)
- Go Global Award (non-ARA qualifying students)
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Information Session Recording Passcode .%QYRtJ5 |
We will prepare for and attend the 10-day FITS (Festival International Theatre Sibiu) in Sibiu, Romania. While there, students will have a chance to immerse themselves in an international performing arts festival where they will see, study, and discuss specific performance works created by artists from around the world. For ten days each June, the small Romanian town of Sibiu hosts the world’s 3rd largest performance festival, FITS (Festival International Theatre Sibiu), featuring roughly 500 works of theatre, dance, circus, opera, and music from 70 countries. Many of the works at FITS profoundly influence and transform the landscape of contemporary performance - and many of these artists never tour their work to Vancouver (or even North America!). This course will place students in a direct, live encounter with artworks from around the world in one ten-day sprint. In addition to analyzing the work onstage, students will be encouraged to consider how the context of creation (including the artist’s biography, and the political, social, and artistic landscapes of their place of origin) informs the artwork, and how the international festival context impacts the student’s experience and evaluation of the piece. This collision of artistic work from around the world will broaden students’ experience of contemporary performance and allow them to see their own personal practices and/or performance conventions more clearly and in context.
See the 2023 program’s instragram account @goglobalromania
General Global Seminar requirements
To participate in a Global Seminar, students must:
- Be in good-standing in their faculty (as defined by home faculty)
- In the year leading up to the Global Seminar, have full-time student status (as defined by home faculty)
- Have completed 2nd year requirements before the start of the program (i.e., eligible for 3rd or 4th year standing)
- Have at least a 70% academic average in your last full-time academic session before applying
- Maintain a 70% academic average leading up to the program
- Meet any program specific requirements listed below including pre-requisites before participating
Program specific requirements
Students with third-year standing or above (or with permission of instructors) in any program at UBC are eligible to apply. We strongly encourage students from the following departments and disciplines to submit:
- Theatre (BA and BFA/MFA in Acting, Design/Production)
- Film (BA and BFA)
- Visual Art (BFA/BA)
- Creative Writing (BA and BFA)
- Media Studies (BMS)
- Modern European Studies (BA)
- Music - specifically opera (BMus)
Final selection will be done by the lead faculty program directors. Spots in the program may be limited.
Students who wish to participate in the summer after graduating may be eligible on a case-by-case basis.
After 4-5 zoom sessions, students will convene in Sibiu, Romania in mid-June, where they will continue to participate in 3-4 hours of teaching and attend performances daily. Teaching sessions will involve analysis and discussion of the previous evening’s performance and group presentations about the artist whose work we will be seeing that day. There may also be opportunities to engage with workshops with guest artists, guest speakers, panel discussions, etc. While students will be required to see 8-12 common productions, they will also have the time and opportunity to see many other independent performances if they would like to.
Shared hotel rooms, 2 students to a room.
Approximate fees: $3000-$3500*
*The final fee depends on the number of students in the seminar. All Global Seminars only run if there is a minimum number of students enrolled.
Program fees include:
- Accommodation
- Program- related travel in-country; (e.g. buses)
- Excursions and entrance fees
- Some group meals
- On-site guest lectures
Not Included:
- Go Global Fee
- Flights
- UBC tuition for credits
- Visa/country entrance fees
- Health or travel insurance
- Most meals
- Personal spending money*
* Some examples of personal costs included: mobile communication, personal transportation that is not related to the learning outcomes of the program, additional meals that are not already identified as part of the Program Fee, immunizations, Visas, etc.
This seminar is an Arts Research Abroad (ARA) course. ARA courses will provide an award which will cover up to 50% of the program fee and flights for eligible students. In cases of demonstrated financial need (determined by Enrolment Services), ARA may fund up to 100% of the program fee and flights.
All eligible Arts students selected for this program will be automatically considered for the award. No additional award application is required.
Eligibility for Arts Research Abroad (ARA) funding:
- Undergraduate Faculty of Arts students (students from other faculties are not eligible for ARA funding, but may still participate in the program)
- Selected for this program
- Students who have loans and non-repayable bursaries may qualify for 100% ARA funding
For example, assuming a $3500 program fee:
- Students who qualify for 50% ARA funding will have the program fee reduced from $3500 to $1750. In addition, you will receive an award equal to 50% of the estimated flight cost, or $1000, whichever is higher.
- Students who qualify for 100% ARA funding will not be charged the program fee, and will receive an award equal to the estimated cost of the return flight between Vancouver and the program location.
Typically, students will need to pay for the flight first and will receive the award early in the summer term.
Selected students who are not eligible for ARA will be charged the full program fee and receive a $1000 Go Global Award.