ECE - European Centre of Amateur Theatre

European Centre of AITA/IATA Universitätsplatz 5-6 D-49808 Lingen (Ems) Germany Phone-No.: ++49-591-9166 3-18 Fax-No.: ++49-591-9166 3-19 Director: Norbert Radermacher Administrator: Anneliese Hanelt The office is opened from Monday to Thursday from 9.00 to 12.00 a.m.

		AITA/IATA is the world body of amateur theatre with members in 80 countries on five continents. AITA/IATA is a non-governmental member of UNESCO. The European Centre (ECE) of AITA/IATA has been established to unite an effective, European network of amateur theatre. It does not infringe the autonomy or identity of regions, national amateur theatre centres, institutions, initiatives or groups, but serves to strengthen and support them.. The Centre is conducted in German, English, French and Spanish.
		The European Centre is financed by the Town of Lingen (Ems) and moreover, projects are also financed by the region Emsland, the federal country of Lower Saxony, ministries of the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union.

The most important tasks of the European Centre are the information of all National Amateur Theatre Centres of AITA/IATA in Europe,

the cooperation between the individual amateur theatre associations and amateur theatre groups and the organization of European projects and events. A European network is being established by:

developing and improving communication and cooperation amongst European Amateur Theatre and supporting transnational and national European projects
developing increased cooperation and exchange of information between the three European Regional Committees of AITA/IATA, CEC, CIFTA and NEATA, as well as other European regions and /or countries
promoting and supporting European Youth Exchange through theatre festivals and camps, workshops, encounters and school theatre programmes
assisting with the planning and organizing of European, regional, and national projects of Amateur Theatre, drama teaching and education
organizing conferences to further international development and exchange in all fields of drama and making the results available to a broader public
publishing regularly news/information on Festivals, Workshops, etc.

In order to achieve these targets, the European Centre Européen built up in 1993 a data base and archives of the European Amateur Theatre to disseminate information on events, training, groups and individual artists. Moreover, AITA/IATA´s address book 1994 was based upon this data base. A systematology of the data base was developed which is available at the European Centre Européen.

In the beginning of January 1997 the European Centre Européen was connected to the Internet. This has facilitated and improved the communication within AITA/IATA and contributes essentially to the network of amateur theatre.