ISTA - International Schools Theatre Association

ISTA is a UK registered charity based in the South West of England. Further information about who we are and our governance arrangements can be found on the ‘Who Are We’ section of the website.

ISTA provides high quality experiences that develop creative learning and internationalism through theatre.

Our unique model brings together people from different countries in particular settings to experience and learn about theatre, culture and each other. This synthesis results in the exciting art and innovative practice that occurs at a range of international ISTA festivals and training events.

The organisation was established in 1979 in order to meet a growing need for international schools worldwide to share their work. The ISTA ensemble approach (young people working collaboratively through theatre) was developed as a method of fostering and celebrating internationalism through theatre. Since 1979 the organisation has seen huge growth and has developed from being an informal alliance of a few schools to a worldwide organisation. Our excellence has been recognised and can be demonstrated by our formal relationship with the International Baccalaureate. In recognition of the high quality of its work, ISTA is now the main provider of teacher training and events for young people participating in the IB Theatre programme at Diploma level.

Our current models of practice, resources and training opportunities have been informed from 30 years of experience and are unparalleled. No other organisation currently offers similar experiences for young people.

ISTA runs approximately 28 theatre events worldwide annually in partnership with schools and organisations. We currently have 143 member schools and 27 individual teacher members. In 2008/09 we worked with approximately 1900 young people between the ages of 10 and 18.

The artistic staff team for all events is drawn from a pool of 105 freelance theatre practitioners; staff are hired for their excellence in Drama/Theatre teaching, internationalism and working with young people.

Most ISTA events are hosted by International Schools (for more details, please see our 2009/10 Calendar of Events) and visiting participants are housed with families drawn from the host school community. In 2008/09, ISTA ‘hosted’ two festivals (Terezin Memorial, Czech Republic and The Eden Project, Cornwall) and students were accommodated in hostels/hotels approved by ISTA staff and chaperoned throughout by their accompanying teachers.

Throughout our website, you can see quotes from past students and teachers who have experienced the ISTA magic. Photographs of past ISTA events can be seen in the Photo Gallery and the student section of the website gives a link to an informal ISTA page on Facebook which has been created by past students.

Should you have queries regarding your child’s attendance at a particular event, please address these, in the first instance, to the accompanying teacher from your child’s own school. Enquiries of a more general nature regarding ISTA and its work can be made to enquiries@ista.co.uk.