Idoya Otegui Martínez

RITTO - TOPIC - UNIMA

Programmers and managers

the Basque Country

• He works at the Centre of Attraction and Tourism of San Sebastian where he participates in the organisation of numerous cultural events such as: Fashion Festival (1984-1985-1986), Jazz Festival, Film Festival, Antiques Fairs, etc.  
• 1989 - Founding member of the San Sebastian Congress Bureau, forming part of the first Advisory Committee as spokesperson for the professional organisers.
• 1985-1991 - Worked at IVNP, later renamed Educational Services and Projects SAL, where he was in charge of Congresses and Events Organisation. 
• 1991-1992 - Director of the cultural magazine "Euskadi Kulturala".

CIT

• 1978 - She starts her involvement in the CIT as a volunteer choir accompanist, the following year she introduces the hostesses in the Contest and starts to take care of the Public Relations and Protocol of the Tolosa Choir Contest, tasks that she carries out until the year 2020.

(Note: for 25 years he has been working on a voluntary basis for the ILC).

• Contracted by CIT for Titirijai since 2003.
• Member of the Board of Directors of the ILC
• Member of the Executive Committee of the Tolosa Choral Competition (until 2020).
• 2000 - 2022 - Co-director (since 2012 sole director) of the Tolosa International Puppet Festival founded in 1983.
• 2006 - Co-director of the UNIMA World Festival of the World Council of UNIMA held in Toulouse
• 2008 - Co-Commissioner of the exhibition "Ventana al Títere Ibérico" (Window to Iberian Puppetry) which was exhibited in New Delhi - India by SEACEX.
• 2009 - Co-founder of TOPIC, Tolosa Puppetry International Centre.
• 2009 - 2022 - Co-director of TOPIC, (solo director since 2012) of the Tolosa International Puppetry Centre.
• 2010 - 2011 - Co-Commissioner of the exhibition "Ventana al Títere Ibérico" (Window to the Iberian Puppet) which was exhibited in Seoul - Korea.
• 2014 - Curator of the exhibition "Puppets a world of excitement.... not only for children" at the European Parliament in Brussels.
• 2016 - Director of the World Puppet Festival organised within the framework of the UNIMA World Congress and Donosti European Cultural Capital, held in Tolosa and Donosti.

UNIMA

• Member since 1986.
• 1992-1996 General Secretary of UNIMA Federation Spain
• 2000-2004; 2004-2008 and 2008-2012 UNIMA International Councillor elected by Congress. 
• 1998-2014 President of the UNIMA International Elections Committee since 1998. 
• Member of the Finance Commission of UNIMA International until 2012.
• Member of the Publications and Communication Commission until 2012.
• 2008-2015 President of UNIMA Federation Spain 
• Organising the UNIMA World Congress and Festival 2016
• 2016-2021 In June 2016, elected as the first woman General Secretary of UNIMA International in the 87-year history of the association.
• 2021 April elected member of the Executive Committee and Chairperson of the Commission for Heritage, Museums and Documentation Centres

He has participated as a speaker at, among others: 

• 2012 - VII Meeting on Contemporary Art and Museography organised by ICOM Spain 
• 2013 - International Children's Arts and Education - in Kaohsiung (Taiwan) 
• 2013 - The Best in Heritage Days in Dubrovnik (Croatia)
• 2017 - Restoration and conservation of puppetry heritage: from the ephemeral to the enduring in Granada organised by the University of Granada.
• 2018 - Pop Up Puppets - "The World of Puppetry in the 21st Century" - Stockholm (Sweden).
• 2019 - Round Table "The challenges of Contemporary Puppetry" Montreal (Canada) 
• 2019 - Round Table "90 years of UNIMA, past, present and future" Charleville-Mézières (France).
• 2019 - Round Table "Puppetry of the XXI century: provocations and frontiers" Moscow (Russia).
• 2019 - "TOPIC not just a Museum" London (Great Britain).
• 2020 - Conference - Workshop on International Museums and Festivals in the framework of MASA - (Performing Arts Market of Africa) - Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) 8 March
• 2020 - "Chat on the Sofa with Idoya Otegui" - ICOM Italy - online - May 15
• 2020 - Symposium About Puppet Museums "The TOPIC experience" in the frame of the Arrivano del Mare Festival - Ravenna (Italy) - Arrivano del Mare - s 25 May - Online participation.
• 2020 - Colloquium "La Creazione artistica allá prova" organised by UNIMA Italy - Rome (Italy) - 28 May. Online participation.
• 2020 Brussels (Belgium) Participation in European Heritage Label meetings 
• 2020 - I International Congress of Galician Theatre - "Puppet and Object Theatre in the 21st Century" - Santiago de Compostela - 20th to 26th October.
• 2020-2021 - ResiliArt - Presentation of 15 online Round Tables on the situation generated by COVID19 in the Puppetry Art in the different continents. These Round Tables were promoted by Unesco and organised by UNIMA International. The last one co-organised with UNESCO will take place on 20 March 2021.
• 2020 - Symposium "Filling the Void" Round Table on "The Pandemic and the Future of Figure Theatre Platforms" - organised by Festival If Barcelona - 12 December 
• 2023 - Incontro "I Burattini Italiani patrimonio immaterial e dell'umanita? Organised by UNIMA Italy and the Festival Arrivano del Mare - 20th of May 

He has directed the following courses:

• 2012 - "Children's Literature and Puppets" at the Summer Courses of the University of the Basque Country, taught by Fernando Marías and José Antonio López Rodorín.
• 2013 - "Puppets and Therapy: the Puppet and the object, medium and mediator" of the Summer Courses of the University of the Basque Country, taught by René Baker.
• 2014 - "Puppetry and Literacy" at the Summer Courses of the University of the Basque Country taught by René Baker. 
• 2015 - "The Puppet and its Powers" of the Summer Courses of the University of the Basque Country taught by Francisco Cornejo.
• 2019 - Director of the Conference "Sana, Sana. I Jornadas del Títere: Herramienta Social para la Salud y la Educación" held in Madrid in collaboration with the Centro Dramático Nacional with the support of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture. 

OTHERS

• 2018 - 2021 - Member of the European Heritage Label Expert Panel appointed by the European Parliament.
• 2010 to 2016 - Member of the Consejo Estatal de las Artes Escénicas y la Música for UNIMA Federación España. 
• 2011, 2014, 2018 member of the jury of the National Prizes for Children and Youth awarded by the Ministry of Culture. 
• 2019 Member of the Committee of Experts that make up the Performing Arts Committee of the AECID.
• Jury in numerous International Puppet Theatre Festivals.
• 2013-2021 designs and selects the puppet programme of the Centro Dramático Nacional.
• 2021-2023 Member appointed by the Ministry to the Consejo Estatal de las Artes Escénicas y la Música; Member appointed by INAEM to the Comisión Ejecutiva del Consejo; Member appointed by INAEM to the Consejo Artístico de Teatro. 
• Member of the Museum Advisory Committee of the Centre of Puppetry Arts in Atlanta (USA).
• 2016-2021 In her capacity as General Secretary of UNIMA - member of the Board of Directors of the Institute Internationale de la Marionnette de Charleville Mézières (France).
• 2014-2015 she was appointed Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences by the University of Deusto. 
• 2015-2019 Member of the Tourism Board of the Province of Gipuzkoa representing Museums, Festivals and Events. 
• Member of the Tolosaldea Tourism Board. Until 2022
• Member of the Urban Economy Board, Toulouse. Until 2022
• Promoter in Tolosa of the creation of AVIAMA
• 2018 Appointed "Qualified Member" (advisor) of AVIAMA
• Promoter of twinning between Charleville-Mézières and Toulouse
• 2020 - Promoter and creator of the Diversity Gala, with the aim of giving visibility to people with different abilities and their great talents.
• Ideologist, founder and president of RITTO - Network of International Autumn Puppet and Object Theatre Festivals.
• Promoter and creator of the European Network of Puppet Museums: Musée de l'Ardenne, Museu de la Marioneta de Lisboa, Musée Gadagne, Puppet Museum de Ljubljana, Museo dei Burattini de Bergamo and TOPIC.

PARTNERSHIPS

TOPIC under the direction of Idoya Otegui established the following collaborations:

• With the Etxepare Institute
• With the Association of the Deaf and Dumb Gainditzen of Tolosa
• With the Tolosa Music School
• With Tolosa&Co Traders Association of Tolosa
• With the San Sebastian International Film Festival 
• With the Chillida Leku Museum in Hernani
• With the San Sebastian Aquarium
• With the Oiasso Museum in Irun
• With the Bilbao Puppet Festival
• With the Puppet Festival of Sestao
• With the Government of Navarre and the Historical Archive of Navarre
• With the Teatralia Festival in Madrid
• With the Centro Dramático Nacional de Madrid
• With AECID
• With the Fernán Gómez Theatre of Madrid
• With the Espace Jéliote (Centre National de la Marionnette) of Oloron (France)
• With the Puppet School ANIMATERIA (Italy) 
• With the Escola Professional de Artes Performativas JOBRA de Branca (Portugal)
• With the locality of Novi Ligure (Italy)
• With the Museo Vivo del Títere de Maldonado (Uruguay)
• With La Fontana Puppet Theatre (Portugal)