Message From Our Leadership

After several difficult pandemic years, 2022 was a year of new beginnings — for the world at large and for EdTA. Public health restrictions faded. Schools shifted from emergency mode to recovery mode. Human connection and interaction ramped up again.

For EdTA and ETF, that human connection is core to our mission: Every International Thespian Society troupe, every JumpStart Theatre school, every EdTA event at the state and national level shapes the lives of students and teachers.

And in 2022, those mission activities came back in full force. EdTA returned to in-person events, welcoming 2,799 attendees to the International Thespian Festival in June and 297 educators to the Theatre Education Conference in September. Chapters hosted Thespian events across the country.

In those events and beyond, EdTA and ETF continued our work to infuse diversity, equity, inclusion, and access into everything we do — from event programming to professional learning resources to the pilot of ETF’s Pathway program.

Perhaps the most significant new beginning of 2022 was the transition in the organization’s leadership. Following a year-long national search, the EdTA board of directors hired experienced theatre educator, administrator, and advocate Dr. Jennifer Katona as executive director of the association and president of the foundation. Soon after, Sneja Tomassian joined as ETF’s Vice President, bringing decades of arts fundraising and charitable programming expertise to the foundation.

In this critical rebuilding moment, EdTA and ETF are well-poised to support our members and focus the organization on the future of theatre education. And we are grateful to you for your support in bringing our mission to life. Whether you maintained a troupe, volunteered for a chapter, or donated to our work, you are the catalyst for the impact EdTA makes every day. Thank you.