International Federation for Theatre Research

International Federation for Theatre Research, founded in July 1955 at a meeting in London attended by delegates from 22 countries at the invitation of the English Society for Theatre Research. The Federation, which now has 34 member countries, is devoted to the promotion of international liaison between organizations and individuals devoted to theatre research. Its constitution was drafted at a meeting in Paris in 1956 and accepted at a world conference in Venice in 1957. In association with Oxford University Press it publishes three times a year a journal, Theatre Research International, with résumés in French of the articles, which are in English. Membership is open to institutions engaged in theatre research and there is also a category of individual members. Meetings of its committee are held annually in various European and North American cities and are usually accompanied by a symposium at which experts are invited to speak on a subject chosen by the host country. Every four years a world conference open to the general public is held, the proceedings of which are published in volume form. A close relationship is maintained with its branch organization the International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts. The Federation has established an International Institute for Theatre Research in the Casa Goldoni in Venice, where international summer courses are held, and a Universities Commission especially charged with research within universities and the promotion of the teaching of Theatre Studies throughout the world. The Federation hosts the periodic Edward Gordon Craig Memorial Lecture.