Creative Drama Association

Organising educational activities concerning drama, festivals and workshops of children / youth theatre and poetry reading, publishing activities …

• the long-term course Drama education for contemporary school designed for teachers and educators of all levels of schools and educational institutions (kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, basic schools of arts, leisure time centres…), university students and other who may be interested (in collaboration with the Department of Drama in Education at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts, DAMU)
• the long-term course The Essentials of Children’s Theatre for leaders of children’s and secondary school theatre groups (in collaboration with NIPOS-ARTAMA)
• ongoing courses focusing on various aspects of drama in education – working with the story, structuring drama work, voice training, using fiction in drama work, workshops of dramaturgy, etc.
• occasional specialised courses (for head teachers, school inspectors, etc.)
• National workshop of school drama held in Jičín, Drama in School (annually in September or October)
• drama workshops led by international experts
• other festivals and workshops of children and young theatre and poetry reading, e.g. the autumn festival of children’s and secondary school theatre groups called Children-Drama-Theatre (Děti-Drama-Divadlo, in collaboration with the Dept of Drama in Education of DAMU) or Insights (Nahlížení, in collaboration with NIPOS-ARTAMA)
• Publishing of field literature, especially methodological books on drama in education (see the section Literature) xxx

CDA participates

• organising the Children’s Stage (Dětská scéna) national festival of children’s theatre, puppetry and poetry reading groups and the joint workshop of children’s poetry reading (annually in June)
• organising the Insights festival (Nahlížení, annually in October)
• organising the national workshop of complex aesthetic education Creation-Creativity-Play (Tvorba-tvořivost-hra, annually in October)
• Publishing the Creative Drama (Tvořivá dramatika) field journal and its text supplement Dětská scéna

• International non-governmental organisation IDEA (International Drama/Theatre and Education Association)
• Czech section of the international non-governmental organisation of amateur theatre AITA/IATA (International Amateur Theatre Association)

address: Blanická 4,  120 21  Praha 2
phone: +420 221 507 969
e-mail: std@drama.cz

VAT No.: 00537071

Registered by MV ČR dne 8. 5. 1990 č. VSP/1-150/90-R

Elected on 11 October 2015

Jaroslav Provazník
teacher at the Department of Drama in Education at DAMU, Praha, and chief editor of the Creative Drama journal

Jakub Hulák
professional in children’s theatre, poetry reading and drama education at NIPOS-ARTAMA, Praha

Hana Cisovská
teacher at the Department of Social Pedagogy, Pedagogical Faculty, University in Ostrava

Gabriela Zelená Sittová
PhD student at the Department of Drama in Education at DAMU, Praha, professional in drama education at NIPOS-ARTAMA

Pavel Vágai
drama teacher, High School of Pedagogy, Litoměřice

elected 11 October 2015

Vlasta Gregorová
vice-director of kindergarten in Horoměřice

Nina Petrasová
Official at the Education department of the Municipal Council in Prague 5

Antonín Vejtasa
economist, legal expert

Anyone interested in creative drama and its development can become a member of the Creative Drama Association. Membership is established after the coordination council has accepted a filled-in application and the applicant has paid the enrolment fee and the annual membership fee (see the CDA statutes).

Enrollment fee: 50 CZK
Annual membership fee: 200 CZK
Reduced annual fee: 100 CZK (retired persons, students, women on maternity leave and associate members)

• up-to-date information on all publications and events organised by or in collaboration with CDA
• priority placement in courses, workshops and seminars organised by or in collaboration with CDA
• substantial discounts in registration fees for events organised by or in collaboration with CDA
• regular information update on international events related to drama, especially events held by IDEA
• right to contribute to information materials and website of CDA
• right to elect and be elected into CDA bodies

Associate members

• receive information on events organised by or in collaboration with CDA
• receive information on international events related to drama, especially events held by IDEA
• can contribute to CDA information materials and website
• cannot however take advantage of discounts in registration fees for events organised by CDA

On 9 February 1990, the Coordination centre for drama in education at the Ministry of Culture (part of today’s ARTAMA) organised a meeting, summoning leaders of theatre, puppetry and poetry-reading groups as well as students and teachers from all over the Czechoslovak Republic. At this meeting, the fundamental programme text called Schola ludus was approved, summarising both the history and the current situation of the field of drama in the country, explaining what drama can offer to the educational system and the society as a whole and what conditions it needs to develop further. One of the practical outcomes was the decision to establish an organisation that would encompass all individuals interested in drama and its enhancement in schools and other relevant institutions.

A few months later, on 1 June 1990, the Creative drama association was founded. Ideas and concepts put together by several work groups were published at its founding plenary session: these covered several areas of interest such as teacher training, drama for pre-school and younger primary school children; drama for older primary and secondary school students (both as a subject and a method in other subjects); drama in after-school programmes and Basic schools of art; and drama for special needs students. Shortly after the founding session, a trial issue of the field journal Tvořivá dramatika (Creative drama) appeared, which has been published up to the present day.

On October 1990, the CDA organised the first drama workshop for university teachers called Creative play and communication and subsequently also for students of pedagogical faculties, which became an impulse for the gradual integration of drama into study programmes of some pedagogical faculties. In the early 1990s, after the former network of culture institutes which had organised children theatre festivals ceased to exist, the CDA helped the Centre of children’s activities at the Ministry of Culture renew the system of regional festivals of children’s theatre thanks to its rich nationwide network of collaborators.

Soon after its founding, the CDA established contact with international, mainly British experts in drama in education and started to invite them to lead workshops in the Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia). Since 1992, the CDA has invited many inspiring personalities including Jonothan Neelands, Judith Ackroyd, Warwick Dobson, Tony Goode, David Davis, Cecily O´Neill, Francis Prendiville, John Somers, Steve Birch, Allan Owens (the United Kingdom); Erich Hofbauer (Austria); Helmut Köpping (Germany) or Frank Katoola (Uganda). In the early 1990s the CDA addressed the Faculty of Theatre of the Prague Academy of Performing Arts with the concept of establishing a specialised university department focusing on drama in education. The Department of Drama in Education was established on 1 January 1992. In the mid 1990s the CDA started to organise national workshops of school drama, which have ever since been running every September in Jičín, hosting around a hundred teachers and students from all over the Czech Republic (and sometimes also other countries) every year.

After drama has been made part of school curriculum (literary and drama education as an optional subjects in higher primary classes, drama as a separate subject and a teaching method in some educational programmes), the CDA started to organise in-service teacher training courses on regular basis. These are led by experienced lecturers and take place in Prague or, in accord with current need and demand in regions, other Czech cities. In 1998 the CDA held a course on drama for school directors and in 2001-2002 a similar course for school inspectors.