Festival History

The festival organised by Estonian Theatre for Young Audiences grew out of the Festival of Puppet Theatres of the Baltic Sea States, which first took place in 1992 in Estonia. Starting out as a small festival in 2007, Tallinn Theatre Treff soon grew into a theatrical event with a versatile international programme, which included not only theatrical performances, but also dance, music, visual arts, cinema and other art forms.

Tallinn Treff Festival took place ten times; for eight of these years, Vahur Keller was its artistic director. Until 2012, Treff was connected with Tallinn Old Town Days festival, which is also held annually at the beginning of June. Over the years, there have been festivals with special programmes (such as the Young Spirit programme of school theatres and drama students, and the international puppetry association UNIMA programme); festivals that focused on a certain theme (such as baby theatre in 2008) and festivals with grandiose free-of-charge street programme and with side programmes in other towns. Treff has always featured visual and puppet theatre performances for audiences of all ages in order to introduce the versatility and diversity of visual theatre.

From 2017, the festival is held in a renewed form – as a biennial visual theatre festival. In 2017–2019 the festival bore the name NuQ Treff. In 2023, the International Visual Theatre Festival Tallinn Treff is taking place for the 13th time.

In May 2022 a new festival – Baltic Visual Theatre Showcase took place for the first time. The festival was organised by Estonian Theatre for Young Audiences in co-operation with Vilnius puppet theatre Lele and the Latvian centre of ASSITEJ, the international union of theatres for children and young people. The festival's program contained 13 visual theatre productions from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Catalogues of the previous festivals:

Baltic Visual Theatre Showcase 2022
NuQ Treff 2019
NuQ Treff 2017
Tallinn Treff Festival 2016
Tallinn Treff Festival 2015
Tallinn Treff Festival 2014
Tallinn Treff Festival 2013
Tallinn Treff Festival 2012
Tallinn Treff Festival 2011
Tallinn Treff Festival 2010
Tallinn Treff Festival 2009
Tallinn Treff Festival 2008
Tallinn Teater Treff 2007