So, ‘Escena Erasmus’ of Universitat de València adds this award to its list of triumphs, having been recognized in previous years with the Charlemagne European Youth Prize 2011, Youth Talent Award 2018 and European Honourable Mention for the Promotion of Heritage through Arts 2018 of PEARLE Live Performance Europe, for promoting the European identity through drama.

The European drama project ‘Escena Erasmus’, created and directed by Teatre CRIT theatre company and promoted by Universitat de València, is a firm commitment to the dissemination of culture, international mobility, rural development and integration, through the Vice-Principals for Culture and Sports, and for International Relations and Cooperation, leaded by Antonio Ariño and Carles Padilla, respectively. Also, it has the support of the General Foundation of Universitat de València.

“It’s a great satisfaction for the Universitat de València that a consolidated project as ‘Escena Erasmus’ and so many times internationally awarded, has been awarded at home. For that reason, we celebrate that, in its tenth anniversary, the Valencian drama sector has recognized the promotion of an emblematic work that, from the beginning, has deal with the construction of Europe through the performing arts until forming an European drama network”, pointed out the Vice-Principal Antonio Ariño.

On his behalf, the Vice-Principal Carles Padilla also celebrated the Valencian recognition to a project that makes aware “the strong mobility and globalization policy of Universitat de València, achieving the third position in Europe for receiving incoming students”. In fact, the Universitat has already got the honorary recognition to the best Erasmus Institution in 2013. And added: “The next step is the integration of the ‘Escena Erasmus’ project in the consortium of European universities recently created”.

“The single, true Europe is that has been building the Erasmus Programme, a struggle against clichés and a proof of that can been carried out commitments through another countries”, claimed this summer, on the occasion of the commemoration of 10 years of ‘Escena Erasmus’, Antoni Tordera, one of the parents of the drama project with CRIT theatre company.

Josep Valero, Anna María and Daniel Tormo match with these words. They are co-directors of ‘Escena Erasmus’ projects, for whom the award of the Valencian performing arts businessmen "is the recognition of their colleagues in the profession, who have known how to value a stable, sustainable project with a great future projection, and who have always counted on Valencian performing arts professionals in their productions".

With the AVETID Awards, the Valencian performing arts sector has distinguished "the dedication of people and entities in the world of performing arts, transmitting an optimistic message, highlighting, rewarding and recognising the effort of those who work to keep the Valencian scene with dignity, with enthusiasm and, in short, alive". La Finestra Nou Circ, Cabanyal Íntim, Betlem de Tirisiti, Albena Teatre, La Caixeta, the Valencian actress Mamen García with the Honor Prize, the former councillor Consol Castillo, the critic and academician Nel Diago and the Estimat Prize for Gabriel Fariza, who recently passed away, have also been awarded.

‘Escena Erasmus’ networked

Since its beginning, the university company has taken drama to more than 230 villages throughout Spain; and has already settled in the European cities of Padua and Cagliari (Italy), Marburg (Germany), Lodz (Poland) and will soon sign new agreements with Sofia (Bulgaria), the Public University of Navarre and Pablo de Olavide University of Seville, through the European theatre network Erasmus Europe on Scene Network, coordinated by the University of Valencia, which was consolidated with an Erasmus+ project from 2016 to 2018 and which, as a novelty, included the incorporation of refugees in its productions.