Philip Arnoult, founder and director

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Philip Arnoult is widely recognized, nationally and internationally, not only for his efforts to nurture and present new theater and dance from throughout the world, but also for his commitment to long-term, international projects that put artists together to take the first steps toward collaborative projects. He founded The Baltimore Theatre Project in 1971, and served as its director for over two decades, presenting artists from the US and abroad, working on the cutting edge of both theater and dance forms. In 1990 he founded the Center for International Theatre Development (CITD), now with offices and projects in the US (Baltimore), East Africa (Nairobi), and Russia (Moscow). CITD developed the Eastern & Central European Exchange Initiative (1999-2004) linking young directors from Poland, Hungary, Romania and Russia with a select group of US partner theatres (Arena Stage, Washington DC: American Repertory Theatre/ART, Cambridge; New York Theatre Workshop; Alliance Theatre, Atlanta; Louisville Actors Theatre/Humana Festival; Sundance Theatre Lab; Portland Center Stage, Portland, Oregon; Berkeley Repertory Theatre; and LaJolla Playhouse). Two dozen major productions at the partner theatres resulted from the initial 5 years of the project. In 2005 CITD began a 4-year project, New Visions/New Voices: a Russian/US Initiative. Working with the original partner US theatres, this project still focuses on linking young directors (fully formed after the political changes in the late ‘80’s), as well as opening up a major new writing reality in Russia to English speaking professionals in both the US and the UK. CITD’s work in Eastern Europe has been generously supported by The Trust for Mutual Understanding, New York. Since 1998, Arnoult and CITD have developed a wide set of activities in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania), ranging from commissions, training opportunities, and mobility support, to a major 3-year project, DANCE TRAFFIC—a collaboration between contemporary choreographers in Russia and East Africa. Projects have also been developed with artists from Scotland and The Netherlands, as well as Russia and the United States. Arnoult and CITD continue to play a key role in the development of the GoDown Arts Center in Nairobi, a multi-discipline performing and visual arts center. Located in an industrial area of the capital, the GoDown has transformed over 30,000 sq meters into a vibrant Kenyan cultural destination. CITD’s work in East Africa is generously supported by the Ford Foundation’s offices in East Africa and Moscow. In recent years, Mr. Arnoult has also continued to pursue projects that link theater training with working theaters and theater professionals. At Towson University, he helped to develop the Department of Theater’s Graduate Program in Performance. He currently serves as consultant and Adjunct Professor, initiating TU participation in a wide spectrum of international projects. He was Adjunct Professor of Theatre at the University of Tennessee from 1990 thru 2000, designing and developing a long-term international program. He has also worked with both Antioch and Bennington Colleges. During the 90’s, he developed and directed the US/Netherlands Touring & Exchange Project, working with a diverse set of partner theatres in New York, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Atlanta. Dutch/Flemish director Ivo van Hove’s work at New York Theatre Workshop grew out of the project, as well as long-term projects at Seattle Children’s Theatre, Seven Stages in Atlanta, and the Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis. In 1997 he was appointed to the International Presenters Forum, created through an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts “to utilize the expertise, knowledge, and resources of key leadership in addressing the challenges facing US presenters of international work.” For 2 years (1996 and 1997) he worked with Stacy Klein and Double Edge Theatre to develop The Farm, a center for international collaboration and exchange in Ashfield, Massachusetts. From 1975 to 2002 he worked with the International Theatre Institute, serving on the US board of directors from 1982 to 2002, as well as President of the New Theatre Committee of the world-wide ITI. He was part of the US delegations to ITI World Congresses from 1979 though 2002. He was part of the negotiating team (with ITI US President Martha Coigney and board chair Edward Albee) that secured a home for ITI at Theatre Communications Group (TCG) in New York. Mr. Arnoult was instrumental in bringing the first international theater festival to Baltimore, co-directing The New Theatre Festival in 1976 and 1977, with Herbert Blau. He also co-directed the International Theatre Institute’s Theater of Nations – making its first appearance in the US – in Baltimore, 1986. He directed the 1990 Knoxville World Festival. He has served on the boards of numerous other festivals around the world, from the Olympic Festival in Los Angeles, to the Festival of the Americas in Canada, the Suitcase Festival in Bulgaria, the American Festival, London, and Festival Istrapolitana in Slovakia. He has lectured on new theater and new collaborations throughout the United States and abroad, and has delivered keynote addresses on these subjects at the Ditchley Foundation’s conference in Oxford, England, at the British-Israeli Theatre Association Conference in Tel Aviv, and for the Gulbenkian Foundation in Portugal. He has served on various policy and evaluation panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, and other state and regional agencies, as well as foundations and trusts in the US and abroad. He has given lectures and conducted workshops and seminars on international exchange and new theater in Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, France, Finland, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.

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