With their eyes on culture and with the primary aim of attracting the public, particularly young people, to cultural events, the University of Cyprus and the Cyprus Theatre Organisation have joined forces with the signing of a memorandum of cooperation on Friday, 24 February 2017.

The main aim of the agreement is to promote the region’s artistic and cultural development, to achieve concrete results as concerns projecting culture, to bolster education and research, as well as to create cultural establishments. The agreement was signed by the Rector, Professor Constantinos Christofides and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of THOC, Dr Yiannis Toumazis.

Within the framework of the henceforth institutionalized cooperation, the two organisations will jointly organise, among other, training and educational seminars and lectures, as well as theatre, music and dance performances

THOC Chairman: We want to inspire young people so that they will embrace quality theatre and learn through their contact with classic and modern works.

As Dr Toumazis said: “The University community and particularly its students is a very special group of people who genuinely thirst for knowledge and exploration. As THOC we will reach out to this group to develop joint programmes, exchange views with the faculty, welcome students to our venues.”

Rector: We, at the University of Cyprus, want to turn our gaze to culture

In his address, the Rector of the University of Cyprus noted that the all-important cultural dimension is, regrettably, ignored. He added that cultural activities indisputably contribute to the informal education of the young, supporting their integration into groups and by extension into society as a whole, favour the cultivation of a culture of acceptance, creative thinking and constant questioning and clearly reinforce their in-built tendency for creativity and cultural thought and expression.

 “Many young people today have never been to the theatre,” Mr Christofides added. “At least, not after their childhood, and not of their own initiative. They have never watched an enactment of the dialogues and texts they learned inside out at school.”

Within this context, the Rector added, “we want to turn our gaze to culture, to find ways to accustom our children, so that they influence their relatives and friends to come back to the theatre with enthusiasm and curiosity. To watch theatre performances. To converse with people of the arts in lectures and presentations. To hum in music performances and be enthralled by the movement of the dancers.”

The next steps

The immediate next steps of the two Organisations as concerns their cooperation reflects the benefits this partnership will bring to Cypriot society. The theatre performance “Contract writer” a work by Nicos Vassiliades, a post World War ll writer from Thesaloniki’s literary scene known for his translations and poems will be staged on 30 and 31 March, directed by Yiorgos Karamichou and starring Iro Mane. The performance will be staged at THOC’s central stage and is of particular social interest with implications even for contemporary society and the place of women.

This will be followed by the dramatisation of the children’s book of the University of Cyprus by the writer Demetris Baslam entitled “Sofia: A bee that liked to read.” It is an entertaining and educational puppet theatre performance with original live music which will tour all the Primary schools of Cyprus, wherever they may be located. The aim is to cultivate a culture of investigation and exploration of knowledge from a school age as well as the understanding of terms such as innovation, research and the sciences.

Beyond the cooperation on various activities, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of THOC, Dr Toumazis made special reference to the prospect of using the knowledge and expertise of the faculty in the procedures and mechanisms of drawing up policy proposals for young people and the cultural and other development of the town.”There is a lot we can do together,” he stressed with reference to this promising cooperation between THOC and the University.

 “I am genuinely optimistic that together we will achieve a great deal,” the Rector concluded, underlining that Nicosia is the town with the most cultural activity in the country. “Actions in the other towns will be boosted and further developed through the establishment of a state School of Fine Arts at the most comprehensive best equipped and most committed to excellence university of the country – the University of Cyprus,” the Rector said concluding that such a School would clearly be the main link between the Cyprus Theatre Organisation and the University of Cyprus.