British Arts Festivals Association

Provides a calendar, directory, and map for over 100 arts festivals across the UK. The site includes links for performers, arts councils, arts marketers, producers, and other European festivals.

Comparative Drama Conference

Founded in 1977, this international, interdisciplinary event is devoted to all aspects of theatre scholarship, including textual and performance analysis. The yearly conference attracts over 175 scholars from around the world for a weekend dedicated to academic collaboration in English, theatre, and the classics. In 2013, Edward Albee served as the keynote speaker.

Edinburgh International Festival

The mother of all fringe festivals, offering some 200 shows, including theater, dance, and music.

Mid America Theatre Conference 

Growing out of a 1979 meeting at the University of Nebraska, a regional theatre conference, usually built around a theme (“Revision” in 2014). The site includes an archive of papers from past conventions.

The Humana Festival of New American Plays 

Where plays go to be born. (Or not.) A “celebration of American playwrights’ innovation and imagination,” theatre professionals from around the world attend this unique event, which seeks to bring new plays into the national spotlight, and features top professional directors, designers, and actors. It’s also a major networking opportunity for theatre professionals and the press. The website includes information on employment, auditions, and play submissions (the festival currently only accepts full-length plays from literary agents, but it does accept unsolicited scripts for its 10-Minute Play Festival). A look at the scheduled plays will likely introduce you to plays and playwrights soon coming to a regional theatre near you.

National Theatre Conference

Founded in 1925, the conference explores the ways to: serve the interests of American theatre, and to initiate, encourage, and support projects of value and significance. Its members gather annually to discuss common problems and interests, and to attend presentations from theatre professionals.

National Performing Arts Convention

A multi-disciplinary collaboration seeking to build a better future for the performing arts. The 2008 convention identified five areas for joint action: advocacy, artists, diversity, education, and technology. performingartsconvention.org serves as a central resource site addressing those five identified areas.

SETC

Southeastern Theatre Conference, the largest regional theatre organization in the United States, serves all aspects of theatre and offers extensive resources and year-round opportunities for its constituents. The site includes a job board, information on auditions, links to publications and resources, and theatre education and training. Over 90 professional companies and academic institutions hire through SETC’s Job Contact service, whether online or during the annual convention. Over 115 advanced training schools and programs attend the annual convention, seeking undergraduate and graduate students.