HowlRound and the Global Theater Initiative Announce The World Theatre Map

HowlRound, a knowledge commons by and for the theatre community, announces the launch of The World Theatre Map in collaboration with the Global Theater Initiative, a partnership between Theatre Communications Group and the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics. The World Theatre Map is a user-generated directory and real-time map of the global theatre community. The World Theatre Map aims to make the entire theatre field visible to itself by providing a collectively-owned, people-powered infrastructure to connect isolated theatremakers to vital information resources, knowledge, and each other. It's a digital commons, free and open to all.

Users can, at no cost, create a profile for themselves and/or others which becomes part of the searchable World Theatre Map directory. Users may add information about plays, productions, artists, and the World Theatre Map will stitch together disparate events to form the production history of a play through time and space. The directory is also searchable-for users to search, discover, and connect to other theatremakers, organizations, artists, plays, events, and commons interest areas. And finally, the World Theatre Map also lists all of the directory's events happening each day, around the world.

The World Theatre Map is a digital tool for all theatremakers-playwrights, producers, directors, designers, performers, programmers, theatre companies large and small, service organizations, and theatre institutions around the world. From now through June 30, 2017, The World Theatre Map is in a public beta period to collect user feedback from the field to define what the second version should feature in July, 2017. The World Theatre Map builds upon the learning and contains all of the data from the previous project of HowlRound, The New Play Map. The current site is in both English at www.worldtheatremap.org and Spanish at www.mapamunditeatro.org. The hope is that version 2 will expand into even more languages.

Theatre Communications Group Executive Director Teresa Eyring shares: "For years, there have been efforts to develop an online resource to identify and connect theatre artists and productions across the globe. We applaud HowlRound for creating this resource, and we are honored to collaborate with them by bringing our decades of international programs and relationships to the map. Partnership and collaboration are more essential today than ever, as we work to celebrate an inclusive global theatre ecology and its contribution to international peace and greater mutual understanding."

"We are proud and honored to be affiliated with the World Theatre Map," shares Derek Goldman, Founding Director of the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, "and to be working to share this extraordinary and unprecedented platform with theatre artists throughout the world. It's hard to imagine a more vital moment to be fostering a way for the global theatre community to make connections, build relationships and share resources, information, and stories across borders, and to find strength and inspiration from one another."

"In a historic moment of global interconnectedness," shares HowlRound Director P. Carl, "we're excited to launch this map that brings together theatremakers from all parts of the world. The World Theatre Map is a place to find where our work and our values intersect. We're thrilled to deepen and expand our potential for impact through partnering with the Global Theatre Initiative."

About the Global Theater Initiative (GTI)
The Global Theater Initiative is a partnership between Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics. By combining the unique reach of TCG's international programming with the Lab's distinctive experience in humanizing global politics through the power of performance, GTI strengthens, nurtures, and promotes global citizenship and international collaboration in the US professional and educational theatre field.

About HowlRound
HowlRound, a knowledge commons by and for the theatre community, located in the Office of the Arts at Emerson College, designs and develops online communication platforms and in person gatherings that promote access, participation, organizational collaboration, field wide research, and new teaching practices to illuminate the breadth, diversity, and impact of a commons based approach to theatre practice.
www.HowlRound.com

About Emerson College
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, opposite the historic Boston Common and in the heart of the city's Theatre District, Emerson College educates individuals who will solve problems and change the world through engaged leadership in the liberal arts, communication, and the arts. The College has approximately 3,500 undergraduates and 670 graduate students from across the United States and 50 countries. Supported by state-of-the-art facilities and a renowned faculty, students participate in more than 90 student organizations and performance groups. Emerson is known for its experiential learning programs at Emerson Los Angeles, located in Hollywood, and at its beautifully restored 14th-century castle in the Netherlands. Additionally, there are opportunities to study in Washington, DC, London, China, the Czech Republic, Spain, Austria, Greece, France, Ireland, Mexico, Cuba, England, and South Africa. The College has an active network of 37,000 alumni. For more information, visit emerson.edu.

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