International Theater Festival Okinawa for Young Audiences first took place in 1994, organised jointly across several towns within the middle of Okinawa, as the very first international performing arts festival for families in Asia. After several smaller events, it restarted in 2005 at Okinawa City with the nickname ‘Kijimuna Festa’. It was the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa and the festival declared that it is ‘a festival which seeks for peace with children’. Since then the festival has taken place every year and 2019 marks its 16th edition. In 2014, the 10th anniversary since the restart, the festival moved its home from Okinawa City to Naha City and changed its nickname to ricca ricca*festa.

The festival’s mission is to share emotional experiences with families and friends, to act towards a peaceful world by accepting differences and interacting, also to be a hub of TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) in Asia, and to cultivate creative activities by participating in the festival. The festival presents high-quality productions for children and young people from all over the world, and also actively organises symposiums, workshops, networking programmes as well as international co-productions.

Recently the recognition and interest in TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) have been growing more and more in many regions in Asia. More arts organisations are starting activities for children and young people and new TYA festivals are launching.
In Asian regions, especially in Southeast Asia, where the economics have been developing rapidly the role of TYA is anticipated in order for children to nurture sensitivities and creative minds even in a tough time, and such movements can be seen already. Since 2016, ricca ricca*festa has been working to establish and expand the network with TYA professionals in Southeast Asia as ‘Asian TYA Network Programme’. During the festival period, various discussion and exchange programmes have been organised and several research trips were executed in Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Myanmar.
This programme has aimed to deepen the understanding about the current situation and issues of TYA in Southeast Asia and to explore the possibilities for future cooperation, and over the two years it managed to connect many TYA practitioners in the regions and encouraged self-motivating exchanges. Now we have an open, practical network which is connected not by institutions but by individuals. During the process we have found out there are so much to learn for TYA practitioners in Japan as well as other regions, and the interest of the international TYA community to the network is getting evident.
ricca ricca*festa aims to keep this network active and continue to work for the development and cooperation of the TYA in Asia. Please visit Asian TYA Network Website for more details.