The youth is the main target group of the International Theatre Festival Divadelná Nitra. This orientation is a logical result of the character and generation affinity of the theatre production presented at the festival in the long term, but it is also an evidence of an ambition of the Festival management to cultivate a relationship of young people towards the culture and art. For years the audiences of the festival performances, especially the most demanding productions, are significantly youth-filled because mainly they are those, who are addressed by the festival offer. Association had decided to deepen their interest in art and offers them the possibility of practical participation in preparation and implementation of the festival, but it also offers the opportunity through a long-term non-formal education to acquire knowledge about the practical functioning of cultural organization like the Divadelná Nitra Association.

 

Informal Education

One of the lines of the work with youth is an informal education. In the period from March to September in Divadelná Nitra Association takes place an intensive non-formal education for young people, especially for students of cooperating departments of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra: Department of Aesthetics, Department of Culturology, Department of Culture and Tourism Management, Department of Mass Media Communication and Advertising, Department of Journalism, Department of Translation Studies.

 

Practice at the Divadelná Nitra

At the individual programs, during the regular consultations with Association staff and by studying of its internal materials students expand their theoretical knowledge gained at school by a practical knowledge on the operation of the cultural organization. They get information from the field of culture, performing arts and cultural policy in domestic and international context, they are familiar with the methods of work in management, marketing, public relations, publicity, programming, theatrical aesthetic, theatrical criticism, cultural policy, translation and interpretation.

 

Volunteering

Non-formal education loosely follows another line of cooperation with youth, which consists in an effort of the Association to motivate positively and inspire young people to voluntary work. With this effort relates a promotion of the idea of volunteering as the value which is on the one side beneficial to the organization or community where volunteer operates, and on the other side volunteer work enriches and evolves social, ethical and cultural value himself. Annually, about 40 students of co-operating departments of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra are taken part in non-formal education programmes of the Association and in various voluntary activities throughout the year. At the time of the festival they will be added a further 40 young people. By the way, wide ranges of the festival activities help provide about 80 young volunteers.