ISPA’s 2026 New York Congress – Resilience: A Global Dialogue was held at The Times Center from 13 to 15 January 2026, bringing together more than 550 delegates from 55 regions for a dynamic exchange of ideas, experiences and strategies for navigating an increasingly complex global landscape.
The congress launched with a provocation from Edinburgh International Festival Director, Nicola Benedetti, who emphasised the importance of a global perspective. This set the tone for three days of connection, dialogue and inspiration.
The programme featured 40 speakers across five main sessions and two breakout sessions. The Pitch New Works session showcased 10 projects from around the world and was also broadcast live, reaching an online audience from multiple regions. This extended the session’s impact beyond the room and reinforced ISPA’s commitment to amplifying new artistic voices and ideas on a global scale.
Discussions explored cross-sector collaborations, advocacy and the navigation of artificial intelligence (AI), bringing together perspectives from speakers working across multiple regions. Contributors included Peter Gelb (Metropolitan Opera, USA), Iman Aoun (ASHTAR Theatre, Palestine), Annie Dorsen (Director and Writer, USA), Marie Fol (Live Arts Lab, Belgium), and Kyu Choi (Seoul Performing Arts Festival, South Korea).
The congress celebrated excellence through the presentation of five ISPA Awards, including the Distinguished Artist Award (Amir Nizar Zuabi) and the Angel Award (Carol Colburn Grigor). The congress concluded with a forward-looking invitation to the ISPA 2026 Congress in Singapore (19–22 May 2026).
Perhaps the congress is best summed up by the words of speaker Fizza Hasan (Theatre Wallay, Pakistan), “This resilience is not abstract – it is lived, embodied and practised every day by artists working in contexts of conflict, constraint and uncertainty.”
Join ISPA in Singapore this May or next January in New York (12–14 January 2027). For more details, visit ispa.org
