One of the most important projects of the Csiky Gergely Hungarian State Theatre, the Euroregional Theatre Festival in Timisoara - TESZT, has been organized annually since 2008. The event is international and is meant to promote the knowledge of multiculturalism and to inform the public about the latest theatre of dramaturgy in the region. The Festival works as a platform for cultural exchanges and also as an invitation to dialogue with the artists and other specialists in the area.
Due to its special position, Timișoara is located at the crossroads of several different cultures. From a geographical point of view, it’s close both to Budapest and Belgrade, but besides these two multicultural capitals, Timisoara is located near Arad, Novi Sad, Subotica and Szeged, all of them cities known for their special, cultivated values. Despite the geographical or cultural proximity, the theatres in these cities are in contact with each other only on a minimal basis. The psychological borders of the frontiers block the informational flow between them.
We started off TESZT aiming to transform the theatre once a year into a platform for celebrating meetings between all those who are part of this region’s theatre life. We consider that, years later, the festival has become one of the most important cultural events of the region, while the program consists of theatre performances, as well as concerts, exhibitions and other auxiliary events. The past few years proved that this meeting works as a great forum for everybody who is willing to think together about regional theatrical efforts. We believe that, because it is at the meeting point of the Romanian, Hungarian and Serbian border, TESZT could also be a meeting place for cultures, and that by fulfilling this role, it helps bringing regional creators closer. The goal of the festival is to introduce the cultures of different nations to each other and create the grounds for the presentation of their own values and all the new ones which were born during the gathering of these countries. We think it’s important that TESZT can be not only a cultural but also an artistic meeting point for different art forms, a place for experiments and research, for dialogue between the public and artists, where the young generation is treated as partner. We find it essential to stimulate, encourage and educate the young. Based on our past experiences, we consider that the rethinking and delineation of our main goals is quite necessary in the process of enlarging the program of the festival.