USITT and the African Theatre Association (AfTA) developed a partnership that was to kick off in 2020 with a book drive. Several USITT members had been commenting to Executive Director David Grindle that they needed to divest their personal libraries as they retired. A few of these members shipped boxes of books on design and technology to the National Office during the pandemic.

Many of the universities in Nigeria have theatre training programs, but often don’t have the funding to add books to their university libraries that speak to theatre design and technology. The Institute repackaged the donated books after including a book plate in each stating that the book was courtesy of a partnership between AfTA and USITT. Eleven boxes containing almost 200 books were shipped to Professor Charles Nwadigwe, Vice-President of AfTA, in Nigeria.

Professor Nwadigwe is working to share the books amongst multiple universities over the coming weeks.

This project was made possible through the generosity of USITT members and the financial support of the Samuel Scripps International Fund that covered the shipping costs.