Between the 19th and the 21st of March representatives of 8 countries, and with the participation of delegates from the Argentine Chancellery, the OLA Technical Forum was held at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina: For the first time in history, Technical Directors of the theatres members of OLA Network met around a table to talk about technical issues and to know the reality of each one of them. The objective: to make easier the circulation of productions between countries, to share good practices and to alleviate existing asymmetries between theatres.
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María Victoria Alcaraz, President of OLA and Director of Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires, together with Sergio Baur, Special Representative for Cultural Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of Argentina, welcomed the guests and started the conversation. Sergio Baur stressed the importance of raising the problems the performing art sector face when circulating productions to their governments, placing the issue in the cultural policies table. He asked the Forum to create a formal request for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina, and replicate this in each country.
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During the three days of the meeting the conversations focused on their experiences when it came to bringing or taking productions out and included reports made by each representative on their customs, export and import policies.
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This collection of real and updated information, allowed to identify the main points that hinder the circulation and commercialization of productions between countries, which will allow the creation of a  guidelines for the future export and import of production standarizing the process.

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In terms of technological innovation, the digital platform Escena was presented to the technical committee. Escena promotes classic productions that have already been premiered, encouraging circulation among theaters and generating a secondary market.
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The main agreements made during the forum were:

• To held a 2nd Technical Forum in March 2019, venue to be defined.
• The execution of technical internships in theatres of OLA Network.
• Specific training courses for technicians.
• The creation of a Production manual for the better circulation of productions, which will include basic concepts, minimum requirements and how to pack and inventory -among others.
• To draft a petition for the chancelleries of the OLA countries to help solving the problems in matters of visa of artists and regulations.
• The creation of a commission for the preparation of the ATA and VISAS notebook study.
• The realization of the first DEMO of the inventory management platform MADA, with the Auditorio de Tenerife.