ThoughtGallery.org > The Shiraz Arts Festival: A Global Vision Revisited

The Shiraz Arts Festival: A Global Vision Revisited

From 1967 to 1977, the Shiraz Arts Festival in Iran was an important international arts festival, hosting a dizzying array of artists, from the avant-garde to the traditional. The eclectic mix included western artists such as Peter Brook, Robert Wilson, Cathy Berberian and Merce Cunningham. Asian and African performances included Ravi Shankar, Indian Kathakali, the Senegalese National Ballet, and Balinese Music and Dance. The festival also hosted Iranian contemporary theater, directed by Farrokh Ghaffari and Arby Ovanessian, and traditional Persian arts including the Ta’zieh (Persian passion play) and renowned singers Mohammad-Reza Shajarian and Parissa, to name a few. The Shiraz Arts Festival was famed for cross-pollinating Iran and the rest of the world through a program that created an artistic canvas for work that ranged from the most contemporary to the most traditional. It positioned Iran as a global leader in the arts during that time period.

This symposium will provide a forum to explore the festival in greater depth. Speakers will include artists who participated in the festival such as Arby Ovanessian, Mohammad Ghaffari, William Beeman and Peter Chelkowski, among others. The day-long program will feature lectures, panel discussions and film footage from the festival. It will offer a much-needed reconsideration of the legacy of the festival, as both an incubator of creativity and a stimulus of unrest within Iran.

Speakers will include:

Arby Ovanessian is an Armenian theatre and film director. His play, “A Deep, Vast and New Exploration of the Fossils of the Twenty Fifth Geological Period,” written by Abbas Nalbandian, broke commonly held conventions of Iranian theatre, and won the National Television and Shiraz Arts Festival awards.

Mohammad Ghaffari received his theater training at the School for Dramatic Arts in Tehran and was active as a professional actor on the Iranian National Stage. In 1971 he joined Peter Brook and his international research center to perform at the Festival of Arts in Shiraz. From 1974-1978 he was associated with the Festival of Arts in Shiraz, where he produced a wide range of traditional theater forms; these included the epic drama of Ta’ziyeh and the comic improvisatory Ru-hozi.

William Beeman is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota. His scholarly interests include cross-cultural comparison of theatrical and performance genres, and he is a specialist on Iran. He helped to organize the traditional arts workshop as part of the Shiraz festival. His latest publication is Iranian Performance Traditions.











When: Sat., Oct. 5, 2013 at 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Where: Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Ave.
212-288-6400
Price: $22
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From 1967 to 1977, the Shiraz Arts Festival in Iran was an important international arts festival, hosting a dizzying array of artists, from the avant-garde to the traditional. The eclectic mix included western artists such as Peter Brook, Robert Wilson, Cathy Berberian and Merce Cunningham. Asian and African performances included Ravi Shankar, Indian Kathakali, the Senegalese National Ballet, and Balinese Music and Dance. The festival also hosted Iranian contemporary theater, directed by Farrokh Ghaffari and Arby Ovanessian, and traditional Persian arts including the Ta’zieh (Persian passion play) and renowned singers Mohammad-Reza Shajarian and Parissa, to name a few. The Shiraz Arts Festival was famed for cross-pollinating Iran and the rest of the world through a program that created an artistic canvas for work that ranged from the most contemporary to the most traditional. It positioned Iran as a global leader in the arts during that time period.

This symposium will provide a forum to explore the festival in greater depth. Speakers will include artists who participated in the festival such as Arby Ovanessian, Mohammad Ghaffari, William Beeman and Peter Chelkowski, among others. The day-long program will feature lectures, panel discussions and film footage from the festival. It will offer a much-needed reconsideration of the legacy of the festival, as both an incubator of creativity and a stimulus of unrest within Iran.

Speakers will include:

Arby Ovanessian is an Armenian theatre and film director. His play, “A Deep, Vast and New Exploration of the Fossils of the Twenty Fifth Geological Period,” written by Abbas Nalbandian, broke commonly held conventions of Iranian theatre, and won the National Television and Shiraz Arts Festival awards.

Mohammad Ghaffari received his theater training at the School for Dramatic Arts in Tehran and was active as a professional actor on the Iranian National Stage. In 1971 he joined Peter Brook and his international research center to perform at the Festival of Arts in Shiraz. From 1974-1978 he was associated with the Festival of Arts in Shiraz, where he produced a wide range of traditional theater forms; these included the epic drama of Ta’ziyeh and the comic improvisatory Ru-hozi.

William Beeman is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota. His scholarly interests include cross-cultural comparison of theatrical and performance genres, and he is a specialist on Iran. He helped to organize the traditional arts workshop as part of the Shiraz festival. His latest publication is Iranian Performance Traditions.

Buy tickets/get more info now