The Sibiu International Theatre Festival is the third largest performing arts festival in Europe, which has been supported by local people, under the initiative of festival director, Constantin Chiriac. Since the city has a deeply-rooted theater culture and history, the theater festival introduces high quality performing art companies invited from all over the world in the local theaters, such as Radu Stanca National Theater. The theater festival is held annually for ten days from the end of May to the beginning of June, and the city of Sibiu is filled with love and passion for theatre and performing arts.
We expect this program give volunteers a chance to consider the role that the performing arts play in contemporary Japanese society, through helping run the theater festival as a member of the local staff, meeting with host family and local volunteers, and working together with the performing arts companies gathered from around the world, as well as close ties between the festival and citizens. We also hope that they will turn the experience to advantage in a wide range of activity in culture and the arts.
This year was the fifth since Sibiu's turn as European Capital of Culture in 2007 that the EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee has furnished volunteers to the festival. Today, our past participants developed their activities in various ways in the Japanese theaters, theater companies or as artists and so on. Moreover, one of the past participants visited Sibiu this year and assist festival voluntary without passing through our program. Still today, the volunteers take advantage of their experience of this program in many situations.

• Date: 16 May - 16 Jun. 2011