The Welt-Kindertheater-Fest (World Festival of Children's Theatre) bills itself as the first international children's theater festival featuring exclusively performances by children. The first festival took place in Lingen (Ems), Germany in 1990. Since then, it has been staged on a bi-annual basis, the location alternating between its "home town" Lingen (Ems), and various cities around the world. History In 1981, Norbert Radermacher, created a programme for children's theatre at the theatre education centre TPZ Lingen. Two years later, the TPZ organized a small local event called Kinder spielen und tanzen für Kinder (Children play and dance for children). Several years later, Radermacher – by then the director of the TPZ – developed the idea of creating an international theatre festival for children, similar to the World Theatre Festival for adults. The first Welt-Kindertheater-Fest was developed and staged in Lingen in 1990, with cooperation from the "International Amateur Theatre Association" (IATA / AITA), the Children and Youth Theatre Centre of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the International Children Theatre Corporation (ICTC). Since then, the festival has been held every two years, its location alternating between Lingen and various cities around the world. The only exception was the year 2012: the festival was supposed to take place in Sydney, Australia, but it was cancelled by the organiser. Locations 1990 - Lingen (Ems) / Germany 1992 - Antalya / Turkey 1994 - Lingen (Ems) / Germany 1996 - Copenhagen / Denmark 1998 - Lingen (Ems) / Germany 2000 - Toyama / Japan 2002 - Lingen (Ems) / Germany 2004 - Havana / Cuba 2006 - Lingen (Ems) / Germany 2008 - Moscow / Russia 2010 - Lingen (Ems) / Germany (2012 - Sydney / Australia (cancelled)) 2014 - Lingen (Ems) / Germany 2016 - Stratford (Ontario) / Canada 2018 - Lingen (Ems) / Germany 2020 – Toyama / Japan (announced) 2022 - Lingen (Ems) / Germany (announced) External links Official website of the event in Lingen (Ems) / Germany Theatre festivals in Germany