Sibiu International Theatre Festival

The Sibiu International Theatre Festival is the most important annual festival of performing
arts in Romania. The programme brings participants from 70 countries into Sibiu, and it has 350
events taking place in 66 areas, and caters for 62,000 spectators day for a total of approximately
600,000 spectators. The festival lasts for ten days, and is attended by famous groups in the
performing arts, Romanian and foreign filmmakers, critics, local and foreign cultural
tourism operators. Tens of thousands of people from the town itself, the local region and abroad
meet in Sibiu to celebrate a cultural event aimed at promoting globally recognised standards over
its ten days of performances and artistic creativity.

History
The festival unofficially its first edition in 1993 under the guidance of the initiative and guidance of
the romanian actor Constantin Chiriac and with the support of various other actors and from
foreign actors and acting professors from internationally acclaimed theater schools. Although the
first edition of the festival was unprepared financially, the performances of the guests ensured the
festival's continuity.
The first official edition took place in 1994 and the number of participating countries increased,
now having participants from 8 countries. The number of spectators also increased.
The year 2007 marks an exceptional year for the festival, when Sibiu became the Cultural Capital
of Europe along with Luxembourg. This edition brought to Sibiu more than 2,500 guests from 70
countries.
From 2008 to 2013 the festival defined its maturity, becoming one of the most important places of
theater and performing arts excellence.
Slogans
From 1995 onward, each edition of the festival is held under a slogan:
 1995 - Tolerance  2010 - Questions
 1996 - Violence  2011 - Community
 1997 - Cultural Identity  2012 - Crisis. Culture makes a difference
 1998 - Links  2013 - Dialogue
 1999 - Creativity  2014 - Uniqueness in diversity
 2000 - Alternative  2015 - Growing Smart - Smart Growing
 2001 - Challenges
 2002 - Bridges
 2003 - Tomorrow
 2004 - Legacies
 2005 - Signs
 2006 - Together ?!
 2007 - Next
 2008 - Energy
 2009 - Innovations