February 9, 2015

Lyman Hall, Becker Library

Growing Smart, Smart Growing: Community Development, Education, and Cultural Management in the Theatre Festival Model

A public lecture by Constantin Chiriac, Director of the Sibiu International Theatre Festival (Romania), followed by a conversation with the audience.

Constantin Chiriac is a distinguished Romanian theatre and film actor, director of the National Theatre in the city of Sibiu, and founder and director of the Sibiu International Theatre Festival.

Since its founding in 1994, following the fall of the communist regime in Romania, the Sibiu Festival has sustained a creative dialogue at an international level, establishing itself as the “the third most important performing arts festival” in Europe, according to the European Commission. The Festival has been a key force in the development of the city of Sibiu as a cultural and artistic center over the past two decades, playing a major role in the selection of Sibiu as a European Capital of Culture in 2007. Since then, Constantin Chiriac has served several times on the European Capital of Culture Selection Committee of the European Union.

In addition to heading the Sibiu Festival, Constantin Chiriac is committed to the reinvigoration of Romanian higher arts education in his capacity as Professor of Theatre Arts at the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu. Recently, he spearheaded the development of a new section of the Sibiu Festival devoted to the promotion of educational exchanges between performing arts students from universities worldwide.

In 2014, the Romanian government appointed Constantin Chriac Ambassador of Romanian Tourism.

Sponsored by the Departments of Theatre Arts & Performance Studies and Slavic Studies and made possible in part by a grant from the Brown University Creative Arts Council