The “Schule braucht Theater” (School Needs Theatre) initiative was launched by the German-language School Board in collaboration with the South Tyrolean Theatre Association (STV) and the German-language Department of Culture.

Beatrix Christanell, a colleague from the German-language School Board, and I shared the conviction that theatre is essential in schools. Together, we continued to explore ways to provide theatre pedagogy across the entire Autonomous Province of Bolzano—similar to the existing model supported by the Theatraki association in the city of Bolzano.

The project was initially sparked in 2016 by the draft of the national education reform La buona scuola, which aimed to give theatre a special place within schools (though the proposal was later revised).

Political leaders nonetheless assured us of their support, enabling interested schools across the province to benefit from structured theatre education programs.

Registration takes place via a digital platform open from September 1st to 30th. Each district has access to a list of theatre educators available to lead individual workshops. After the registration period closes, a committee reviews all requests and assigns projects to schools using transparent criteria—ensuring a fair distribution across school levels and districts.

The initiative is now evolving under the newly established Theatre Pedagogy Platform (2018), guided by the Theatre Pedagogy Center in Brixen.