Festival, turning it into the Thespian Festival, as it is still called today. The Thespian Festival also began an annual schedule for the first time. The Society offered its first set of summertime retreats for high school theatre directors in 1986, an activity that would eventually grow into a professional association called the Theatre Education Association. In 1989 the ITS board established the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA), meant to oversee both the Thespian Society and the Theatre Education Association, and launched Teaching Theatre, a quarterly journal for theatre educators. The Theatre Education Association was eventually absorbed completely into the EdTA and thus its title is no longer used. 1990 marks the birth of the Junior Thespians branch of ITS, extending the reach of the society to middle school theatre students. The EdTA helped to write the theatre section of the National Standards for Arts Education, the first set of guidelines for the arts education field, in 1994. By 2012, International Thespian Society had formed a strong bond with the charity organization Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and raised more than $1 million for their benefit. 2015 marked the EdTA's launch of JumpStart Theatre, which brings sustainable musical theatre programs to underserved middle schools where there currently are none, and the creation of an ITS branch in China. Thespian Chapters Chapters are created in order to support the mission of the International Thespian Society. They are led by a chapter director who is supported and assisted by a chapter board. As of 2022, there are 47 active chapters: Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Delaware, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, California, Hawaii, the Western Pacific Islands, British Columbia, and China. Thespian Induction and Promotion The International Thespian Society allows for the induction of high school and middle school students attending ITS affiliated schools, based on the quality and quantity of work in all realms of theatre. Points can be earned from participation in productions (either on stage or backstage), Thespian Festivals, seeing other theatre's productions, and holding an officer position in a Thespian troupe. Induction ceremonies vary from troupe to troupe, but most are run by the troupe's officers and director. They include, at the