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by Mike Bindon, ISTA Executive Director
As we close out the 2024–2025 season, I want to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve achieved together – and to share the exciting journey ahead.
Over the past year, 2,500 students took part in ISTA festivals and TAPS events around the world – moments filled with creativity, collaboration, and connection. We also welcomed 182 educators to our IB DP training in theatre and film, continuing our commitment to outstanding professional development across the arts.
Alongside these achievements, we’ve introduced a number of important updates:
• New ISTA membership tiers to better meet your needs
• A new portal providing one central space to manage your ISTA account and access member resources
• Launch of the ISTA Hub – a dedicated space for our members to collaborate, share, and engage
• Greater automation of our financial systems, helping us operate more efficiently and reliably
This year marked the beginning of a new chapter for ISTA with the development of ISTA Encore, our on-demand learning platform. Over the past months, we’ve been busy filming and editing our first two courses, with Victorian Melodrama set to go live shortly and Commedia dell’Arte following soon after. And this is just the beginning — ISTA Encore will continue to grow, with new specialist courses on key theatre theorists, traditions, and approaches added regularly, creating a dynamic and expanding resource for arts teachers and students around the world.
We were also proud to publish the IB DP Student Film Handbook, our second major collaboration with the IB, reaffirming our mission to support learning across all the arts.
Looking ahead to 2025–2026, we’ve just released our suite of new events on our brand-new website, with more pages going live over the coming months as we fully transition from the old site.
New initiatives include:
• TAPS Ignite – our fresh approach to IB DP Theatre student training
• FRAME – our bold new film research and methods exploratorium
• Expanding Encore – more courses and deeper specialisation
• New collaborations with international arts organisations
• Engaging and innovative PD&L offerings
• More ways to collaborate with our members and continue to build, strengthen, and enrich our amazing community of educators, artists, and young people
We’re also delighted to be welcoming two new members to the ISTA team:
• Jodie Williams – Finance and Administration Manager
• Daniel Sierra – Creative Content and Web Manager
You can check out their bios here. The continued growth and strengthening of our team reflects our commitment to evolving with you and ensuring we continue to meet the needs of our amazing global community.
We’re also deeply grateful for your patience and support as we’ve introduced our new systems and processes this year. Your understanding throughout this period of change has been instrumental in helping us move forward with confidence and clarity.
Finally, a heartfelt thank you for all you bring to ISTA – as educators, artists, schools, and friends. Your energy, creativity, and commitment fuel everything we do. Here’s to another incredible year ahead.
Warm wishes,
Mike Bindon
Executive Director, ISTA
