Announcing the 7th ASSITEJ Asia Meet and first ever performing arts festival “TAMASHA” for young audiences from 7th to 9th April, 2017 - Alhamra Arts Council, Lahore

LAHORE, 3^rd April, 2017: ASSITEJ Pakistan announce the first ever Tamasha Festival 2017 – Performing Arts Festival which is a 3-day festival presenting theater performances for young, training workshops from upcoming directors, master workshops from international trainers for local artists and discussion sessions for general public.

The program will include the 7^th Annual Asia Meet which will happen on Thursday 6^th April where not only people related to theatre are participating but also delegates from five different countries including Germany, Australia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and UAE will be joining in to work towards forming collaborative possibilities for the future of performing arts in Pakistan. The unique aspect of this festival is that it targets young audiences which have never happened in the history of Lahore’s arts and culture festivals.

This will be followed by a 3 day festival which kicks off on Friday, 7^th April 2017 and will continue till Sunday, 9^th April 2017 at the Alhamra Mall Road in Lahore, Pakistan.

Tamasha festival will present 8 major theatre plays, 21 performances by school groups and 10 interactive workshops for children, families and educators including different storytelling, theatrical, musical and dance performances along with some amazing schooltamashas (performances) by renowned theatre groups/organizations all designed keeping in mind the young audiences.  Other than the performances, there will be informative and innovative workshops on how to incorporate performing arts and theatre in education. Renowned theatre, music and dance professionals from the performing arts and literature will be joining us in panel talks sharing their experiences, views and aspirations which will be a great learning experience for youth.

The concept behind the name of the festival was to represent something energetic and engaging for the audience as it targets the youth who is the future of our country and if given the right platform can do wonders for our country. The idea of the festival was to create a dialogue bringing people together at a platform where they can share ideas, developing the youth so they can take similar sorts of initiatives in the future meanwhile promoting the theatre and performing arts in Lahore which was fading away.

The Festival Director ShoaibIqbal said; “Young people like to be told stories, stories that make a real impact on their lives and stories that they can pass on and talk about to their peers. Such stories are told through the intelligent, entertaining and diverse theatre performances that Festivals offers from around the world, opening a window to develop their global perspectives. We are proud that we have been able to engage both local and international creative professionals and we are looking to create a significant place in the cultural life of youth and children in Pakistan, becoming a unique cultural experience through performing arts.  We hope to have more support from our audiences and communities in contributing to the artistic and cultural life for children and youth in Pakistan.”

The opening ceremony of the festival is being held on Friday, 7^th April 2017 at the Alhamra, Mall Road, Lahore.  The event will be attended by special guests and people from the theatre and performing arts such as BaelaRazaJamil, BinaJawaad and Minister of Information, Culture and Youth Affairs Mr. MianMujtabaShuja Ur Rehman as honorable chief guest.

Tamasha festival is organized by ASSITEJ (Pakistan), it is a chapter of ASSITEJ International, which unites theatres, organizations and individuals throughout the world who make theatre for children and young people.

The official members of ASSITEJ Pakistan are The Little Art, ChotaMota Theatre, Maas Foundation and Independent Theatre Pakistan.

The Festival program is available now on the websites: http://assitejpakistan.org and www.thelittleart.org.