Why is it important to internationalize Finnish dance? Where are export aims primarily directed to?

The Finnish market for dance is really small. For dancers and choreographers, it’s natural to go and work abroad as dance is inherently international for its nature. For Finnish dance, the most likely international networks lie in other Nordic countries and the rest of Europe. We also have great relations in Asia, especially Japan, Korea and China. At the moment East is clearly the right direction; artistically we share same values such as the importance of nature and education.

In what ways does Dance Info Finland aim to internationalize Finnish dance?

We build networks for long-term collaborations through residence programs, professional visits, networking events, collaboration performances, for example. We also invest in research of demand and interest for dance on an international level. It’s necessary to know who is who, where the vibrant markets are and what are the collaboration possibilities.

Then the work is simply creating contacts and maintaining them. Building international networks is a long process and there is no easy way out. When talking about internationalizing performing arts, I would rather use the word collaboration instead of export. The codes of conduct from business don’t apply to arts as they would to some other industry. It’s all about people working together for a common goal.

Which Asian country has an especially vivid field for dance art?

I wouldn’t specify that to only one as many Asian countries are growing as new centers of dance. Newcomers such as Vietnam and Cambodia are starting to have more and more dance artists. Of course China is an enormous country with endless possibilities. South Korea has around 55 universities where one can study a masters degree in dance, that tells a lot about the country.

Is Finnish dance appreciated abroad?

Yes. We have a versatile scene and not only a single pattern of doing things. Finnish dance is firmly rooted into our original and “exotic” country, which interests people. We have our own special sense of dark humor that can be seen in performances. There is a certain melancholy and deepness about Finnish dance. The use of space is something very original, since in Finland we have lots of space around us. Bringing that feeling of space  to cities like Beijing creates an interesting confrontation. Art education in Finland also allows for instance lighting and sound design grow as their own art forms.

What are the key steps for success in international markets of dance?

Focusing on doing your own thing and believing in it , the drive for internationalizing your own art and the ability to take risks. As an artist, you cannot only rely on the producer to do the networking and build your image. It is extremely important to have the state of mind of promoting yourself. It’s not an easy path, and it takes a long time to get recognized internationally.

How would you describe the European and Asian audience for dance?

In bigger cities, the competition for target audiences is very intense. Compared to Asia, Europe has longer traditions with contemporary performing arts. Europeans grow into contemporary art as in Asia the traditional art forms are more familiar to audiences. That can make Asian audiences more conservative, but I wouldn’t generalize this either.

One can also see differences between Asian countries. My observation is that in China audiences are more restless than in Japan where the audience is filled with total silence. In some places, censorship and liberty of speech narrow down possibilities to perform acts that in Finland would not be seen as tabus.

What can Finnish dance learn for Asian professionals?

Attitude! In many countries, there is no financial support system for dance but still there are beautiful, inspiring productions made out of determination and passion.

EARS – Europe-Asia Roundtable Sessions is a platform focusing on creative industry collaboration between Europe and Asia. The next EARS event will be held in Helsinki, August 27-30, showcasing the latest developments from the fields of design, music, performing arts, literature, marketing and media.

The post Interview with Pirjetta Mulari appeared first on EARS.

You’re attending EARS on Helsinki for the second time in August. What has happened since we saw you the last time?

I am now working with the Helsinki Festival China focus. Inside China focus I am curating a special event with young artists called 25 x 25, standing for 25 hours of various non-stop performances by Chinese artists under the age of 25. That is my main project at the moment but I have also been doing other festivals in China during this past year.

Could you tell us how this collaboration with Helsinki Festival started?

Actually, I met Erik, the artistic director of Helsinki Festival last year during EARS. We talked about the China focus program and both thought there was a need to have different younger Chinese artists presenting what they are doing and thinking. So I curated this project with more than 12 young artists from the fields of  theatre, music, dance, visual arts and media. Some of them are not professional artists but students or they do other things at the same time. They create art in different ways than others, even professional artists in their fields. As they are so young, they have a different perspective of seeing, understanding and presenting the world through their art. They are fresh artists with new ideas. The original creativity is there, you can see the sparkle.

Who are the young artists coming to Helsinki?

Youngest of them is a dancer and choreographer, only 17 years old girl from a small village, now studying in Hong Kong. You can see the raw energy of her body and of what she wants to express.  Even when she’s not sure what she is expressing you can see the urge to move. We also have an actress/director from Beijing doing a monolog about pain. She has interviewed other girls and women from different ages about their experiences

and built a monolog based on those statements. We also have a musician interested in interactive sound art. There is also going to be two artistic groups trying to find different ways to express art; they are part of a project that can be seen as an artwork or a social study but that doesn’t change the content, the love and the interest for powerful insight. These are some of the artists performing at 25 x 25 in August.

Does the new generation and their work differ somehow from what we have seen before?

They don’t have a historical or even professional burden on their shoulders. China is comparably new to the contemporary artistic culture. In many ways the Chinese traditions and western traditions are burden to more professional artists who might be trained to think according to certain traditions. They can feel chained. Young artists don’t care about the traditions from East or West. They are trying to find the creativity from themselves, from their imagination and from their own lives, not from the academy or their teachers. They are more fresh and willing to break free from some of the definitions of different forms of art. From many artists you can not really say she is a dancer or a theater person, they cross boundaries. They have more freedom in their works and in their lives. They are more themselves as individuals and braver to take risks without being afraid of failure. I think they are the future.

What is best about EARS?

Roundtables! Talking is important to everyone; for people in business, art and media. You have to have people talking to each other before anything good can really happen between them. For the relations between Europe and Asia, talking is essential; the world is evolving and changing every day. We need people to meet each other and talk to each other face to face, have them ask questions and that way find real understanding. This form of roundtables brings different people from different countries and industries together to talk, that is the beginning of every possibility.

The post Interview with Cheung Fai appeared first on EARS.

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Fu Kuen, my family name is Tang. I’m an independent producer, curator and dramaturg for theater and also a visual arts. I’m originally from Singapore but I’m based in Bangkok. I often travel between Asia and Europe and also within Asia. A lot of my work is independent with individual artists in different contexts and also making artistic work, producing and advising other artists.

You have been working a lot with different performing arts festivals. What kind of intercultural collaboration have you done in that field?

As a curator for festivals, I’m mostly responsible for identifying current practices and productions in Asia that are interesting and could be transferred for festival audiences in Europe.

What kinds of trends can you see in the cultural sector in Thailand?

In Thailand, as in many other developing countries, globalization is rising. It’s very hard to identify what the audince is looking for. but there is a general trend towards entertainment and lifestyle genres. Also musicals are in rise, and films – the Thai people are really into Blockbusters.

You talked about new circus at EARS on Helsinki. What kind of market is there for circus in Thailand?

Thailand doesn’t have a very big tradition in circus compared to the neighboring countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia where there are many circus troops. I think that European new circus as a genre has a lot to give to Asia. There’s also a lot of potential for collaboration – how it would look like is hard to say. Young people in Asia are very open-minded and connected via social media and all sorts of virtual experimentations these days. So it could well be an online circus for example! We’re talking about a very vibrant, dynamic young audience and creators. They are game to try many things.

What do you think about China as a market for contemporary arts?

I think that China as a case is quite specific. Since the country opened its doors for globalization, the huge population of China is exposed in a way like never before. China is a huge potential market from a cultural industry point of view. The consumers are very curious and the demographic is very broad. Even if you are a niche kind of practice, you can find your audience there because it’s such a big market. I would like to think that the Chinese market is not always mass-based. There are individuals and sectors that want something else but can’t find it.

What kinds of differences in performing artists’ training methods have you noticed between Europe and Asia?

In Asia it’s always been that the body and mind cannot be separated. So when they do their training, they do a lot of meditation and holistic exercises. It’s not just about building muscles, strength and body but also making sure that mind and body are working in a holistic way. For example yoga as a kind of maintenance and internal strength exercise, is a part of a scheme for training process. I see that this kind of body practicing is increasing in Europe as well.

The post Interview with Tang Fu Kuen appeared first on EARS.

Who you are and what do you do?

My name is Ed Peto and I run a company called Outdustry Group based in Beijing. We represent Western rights owners, labels, services and producers for market-entry into China.

Please tell us about your background and how did you end up in China?

I’m originally from London. I was working in the music industry with labels, artist management and a few other areas. I developed a reasonably good understanding of how the industry worked as a whole and I wanted to take that understanding somewhere where the industry was still to be made, essentially. So, seven years ago I took a bit of a left turn in my life and decided to go and see how the market works in China. It’s been a very odd seven years because a lot of it is sort of been making it up as you go along. The industry in China is just fascinating! As tough as it is, everyday something bizarre or interesting happens – you’ll come across some amazing stories, amazing people and it’s kind of addictive. China just a very interesting place to be at a very interesting time.

Could you tell us a bit more about your company Outdustry?

The company is really a family of five small businesses. One is a producer and composer management business (Engine Music) representing Western producers, mixing and mastering engineers and composers for work on Chinese mainstream-pop, indie albums and more recently, major film soundtracks. The second business, which we actually just set up, is a sync agency (Core Sync) representing Western catalogues pitching for film, TV and web usage. We’re also starting to work as music supervisors for Chinese drama series.

Third business is a kind of a rights management business (OD Rights). We represent Western rights owners for bringing their catalogues into China and finding ways to monetize that through digital, physical and other markets. We’re increasingly looking into areas like performing rights, which is a very interesting area at the moment in China. We’re also acquiring Chinese catalogues for international distribution.

The fourth one is a market intelligence business called China Music Business. We publish articles about how the music industry works in China and are available for market visits, report writing and market introductions. Sort of trading in information and connections essentially. Last but not least, we have a music marketing agency (S/N Agency), primarily focused on building awareness around our clients and driving consumption of their physical and digital releases.

What kind of strategic decisions have you made to succeed in the Chinese market?

I think in general, the Chinese industry as a whole has progressed a lot slower than people would have liked it to and it’s still a very long play. Actually, as a recorded music market, it’s still incredibly small. It’s actually smaller than Switzerland and Thailand. That means companies in China have to be there for the long run. In terms of focusing our business, we made a decision a couple of years ago that while live music in China is incredibly exciting, it’s over-crowded and a hard area to make money in, so we focused on the record side which is even harder but there’s no one else really doing what we do – so we’ve got a good niche for ourselves. It’s strategically a very interesting area to be in but we have to keep in mind that it’s a long strategy.

Besides China, do you do business in other regions in Asia as well?

Because the industry is so small at the moment in China, there is a temptation to start doing business outside of China. However, one of the decisions I’ve made over the last couple of years is that you just got to be the best at what you do within a particular region. I think it could be a mistake to try to spread yourself out too much. China is such a complex place that it requires your full attention. Each region in Asia has its own set of issues or complexities, which require full time attention as well. For us, the most important thing is to be the best at what we do within China.

How do you see the development in the creative industries in China?

Any of the copyright dependent industries have traditionally had a very hard run in China. But there is a recognizable copyright law in China so it’s just a question of enforcing it properly so that the creative industries can start to flourish. It’s just starting to happen now. It’s looking increasingly interesting as the businesses develop and people actually start to see rewards from copyright based goods.

If we look at the film industry in China for example, it’s going through a boom at the moment. Largely because the Chinese government sees it as kind of a soft power issue where they want to start exporting films and they’ve protected that as an industry. We’re hoping that the music industry is going to be the next area of creative goods that actually get that level of protection from the government. It looks very exciting if this will happen. But as with all things in China, these things take longer than you would imagine. We know that the market is going to be very exciting and big in the future. It’s just when that future actually comes, that’s what’s unclear.

The post Interview with Ed Peto appeared first on EARS.

Hey, who are you and what do you do?

I’m Chung Shefong and actually I work on a lot of different things. I’m teaching at the National Cheng-chi University and this year my current position is also the Director of the University’s Art and Culture center. I’ve also been working as a music producer and a festival organizer for many years. I founded the music label Trees Music and Art in 1993 and a festival called Migration Music Festival in 2001.

How has the performing arts field developed since you started working in the field?

The music festival and label I’m working with are definitely not mainstream so the development of the industry is not something we would focus on. Nevertheless, I would say that what has changed, is the audience. More people are interested in our music and coming to see the gigs. We are also getting more support and more people trust our brand.

What is the festival about?

I founded the festival called Migration Music Festival eleven years ago. It’s not a big scale festival, it’s something between a small and a medium sized one. Our festival programs vary from film and panels to workshops and storytelling. The year 2013 we concentrated in the storytelling.

Why is the festival called Migration Music festival?

I started from the concept of migration, I’m very interested in all the stories and the music related to it. I’m also interested in the story of diaspora. As the festival is not very big, I really need to focus on the themes and topics of the program and select the artists carefully. During the last few years, we’ve had themes such as accordion new definition, world indigents, conscious, this year storytelling tradition and also we are concentrating on the Asian artists doing something unique.

How does storytelling vary in different parts of Asia?

That’s actually a part of our theme this year. We try to link the singing, bard tradition from each country to contemporary storytelling. I think the contemporary storytelling, the singer songwriter tradition is more connected to the social issues. Taiwan is a part of Asia but we don’t know what is happening in our neighbor countries. In the 60’s and 70’s there were the student movements in Asia and many folk movements rose from the social and political movement. We didn’t know about that at the time so we are trying to introduce these stories through music now.

How did the audience react to the theme?

I try to make the Migration Music Festival a platform or a tool to fix the gaps in people’s knowledge as there is always a gap in understanding others. We don’t always have the will to do that. The most important role for this kind of a festival is to make people know about other’s stories and give them more understanding.

There are a lot of festivals that concentrate on a specific type of music, be it jazz or classical music. I try not to do that, I always start with a theme. It’s not very common nowadays.

What is the future of independent festivals in Taiwan?

I think it will get more and more difficult as the costs of organizing an event are rising. That’s why it’s important to network with other festivals and establish partnerships. Otherwise it will get more and more difficult as also most of the countries are cutting their culture budgets. I try not to think about the future too much, I just try to find more and more new partners so that we can keep on doing the things we want to do.

The post Interview with Chung Shefong appeared first on EARS.

Hey, who are you and what do you do?

My name is Chenlin Zhao and I’m the Senior Brand Manager of United Live China Entertainment. It’s a company that produces musical theaters in China. We have produced, for example, Chinese versions of the “Mamma Mia!” musical (2011) and “Cats” (2012). In 2013 we were touring with these two musicals around China. We have also two middle-sized and other small productions going on.

What do the Chinese think about musicals?

In Shanghai the musical boom started in 2002. It was the first time when a real world class musical, “Les Miserables”, entered Shanghai. It was very well welcomed and loved by the audience in here. Since then, the Shanghai Grand Theater has done one big musical show every year. We’ve had english versions of “Mamma Mia!”, “Hairspray”, “The High School Musical”, “Cats” and many other shows as well so the audience is really used to musical theater here in Shanghai. The situation is also quite similar in Quanzhou and in Beijing. Generally, most people know the form of musicals but not as well as in these big cities. We have had great success in China especially with “Mamma Mia!” and “Cats” as they have been originally very popular in China.

What kind of changes you do when you bring musicals to China?

We do Chinese versions of the shows so of course we need to translate the script and also the lyrics. First we need to make sure that the translation is understandable. When translating to Chinese, there are a lot of difficulties especially in keeping the rhymes right so that people can really understand what songs are about. The Chinese language has different tones and they can totally change the meaning of the song. We have put a lot of time and energy in keeping the meanings as they originally are, and also making the lyrics beautiful and understandable for the Chinese audience at the same time. The translation process has many steps. First we translate the lyrics to Chinese, then we’ll have another team to translate it back to English for the English team so that they can check if the changes in the meanings are acceptable for them.

Mamma Mia songs are pop music by ABBA and easier to translate as they are similar to regular pop songs. But for example as “Cats” is based on poems by T. S. Eliot, the translations are more challenging. When doing the translation, we  need to change the certain meanings of words so that people can understand them right. For example in “Cats”, there is a character who is very rich and goes to restaurants and eats a lot of expensive food. We needed to change some of the foods because the original ones wouldn’t have seemed that luxurious for the Chinese.

Are you focused on Western musicals only?

No, we are also doing Chinese productions. They are a bit smaller than shows like “Cats”. The latest one is called “Finding Destiny” and it plays in a small theater in St. Henricks Street. It’s based on a Korean version. It was originally a popular musical in Korea and this is the Chinese version of it. But this time we’ve made quite big changes to the script compared to what we did to “Cats” or “Mamma Mia!” – they are practically the same as in Broadway or West End. “Finding Destiny” is totally adapted for the Chinese audience, they can get into the story very easily.

Also in October 2013 we did a production called “Feast For The Princess” which was 100 % an original show and a Chinese production. But the show is not a real musical, it’s a theater show with a lot of music. This is our first step in doing original Chinese musical theater. We are planning to produce more of them in the future but as we are still learning, we need to take baby steps. Musicals are really complicated to produce.

What kind of standards do you have for the Western scripts?

First of all, the Chinese audience really likes shows that are famous. The audience needs to know the show first and that’s why we chose “Mamma Mia” and “Cats”. If you bring a totally new show, people in Shanghai might get interested in it but in the smaller cities, if people have never heard of the show, they won’t come to see it. For most of our audience, a musical might be the first theater experience. They want their first experience to be enormous, they want more than a good production and they need the show to be famous.

The second thing we need to keep in mind is that the Chinese are really into stories. That means that when we bring the Western shows to China, we want them to have big stories so that they would interest the audience more. We had some difficulties with this in “Cats” as the most people came to see it just because of the song “Memories”. The English version of “Cats” has been in Shanghai for three times and most of the people who came to see the Chinese version had seen the show before. However, when we asked the audience what was the story about, they had no idea. They had bought the tickets, heard the song “Memory” and were happy. Of course the lyrics are quite difficult as the show is based on poems.

The post Interview with Chenlin Zhao appeared first on EARS.

Hey, who are you and what do you do?

I’m Sylvia Xu, the head of Pro Helvetia Shanghai. My job is to promote Swiss contemporary art and culture in China, Hong Kong and Macao. We are a facilitator and a bridge between Chinese and Swiss art institutions and artists.

How has the cooperation developed?

I see that we are now known in the arts sector in China compared to the time say six years ago. Back then people had no idea what Swiss Arts Council, Pro Helvetia was. What we have learned a lot about is that who is a good partner and who is not. Now we can give Swiss artists valuable advice on what to do when they come to China.

How does Chinese audience take the Swiss art?

At the beginning, in 2008, the Swiss government initiated this culture program with us. At that time there was no Pro Helvetia Shanghai office. We just implemented the program for about 2-3 years during the Olympics and the World Expo. At that time the Swiss government did a research and discovered that when Chinese people were asked to tell about Switzerland, they associated it with chocolate, watches, high quality and rich people. Nobody was talking about Swiss arts or culture. Now, after six years, we haven’t really been focusing on PR to the public as we have Chinese partners to do that. Now we are much more well-known along the institutions and they know who we are and where we are when they want to have some collaboration projects. I think that at the moment people are more and more looking into design and architecture projects. And that is a sector which Switzerland is quite known for. That’s why in 2010-2014 we are focusing a lot on these projects. In terms of music, the interests is more in jazz and electronic music.

Could you tell us about a recent project?

In September we had a big solo exhibition of Pipilotti Rist. She is the most well known living Swiss artist in China. The host of the exhibition was Times Museum in Guangzhou and actually ProHelvetia gave only a small amount of funding, most of it came from the Chinese partner. This was quite successful as even tough we support projects, we only support the international costs. That means we are not only looking for a venue partner, we are looking for partners who are willing to contribute in the venue, the management and the money. So this was a good project, in which the partner did almost everything. We had very good media coverage. Another project similar to this one we will have next year in Rockbund Museum with another well known Swiss artist called Ugo Rondinone. In both of these examples the interest comes from the Chinese partners, we are not trying to promote and push the artists to them.

Another successful project we are working with at the moment is the Young Swiss Design Kaleidoscope exhibition. It has attracted a lot of attention in the design field. We’ve had both ups and downs with the project as we had some issues with transportation and promotion but altogether it was a great learning experience and now we know what to look out for when organizing exhibitions. Through this project we collected a lot of good contacts and achieved a broader network. This enables us to do even bigger events next year.

What kinds of challenges do you face in China?

The challenge is that for some European countries, Switzerland for example, many musicians or artists are not known in China. For others, like Brits, it’s easier as their music is much more well-known. What we do is we invite museum directors and curators to Switzerland to festivals, studio visits and director meetings so that they would know more about Swiss art scene. The idea is that they would know which artists to bring to China as they know what the market needs. We have done this quite successfully but it’s still quite challenging. For music, theater and dance, one of the biggest challenge is that most of the festivals can’t give financial support. We expect partners to take part in covering the costs, even with a small amount of money. Still, there is a lot to do. Compared to the time four-five years ago, we are more recognized now within the festivals. We also choose the festivals we work with. In China another challenge is that everything is changing quickly and that is why we can’t plan much ahead. There might be a new festival this year but the following year it’s gone, the festival dates are changing all the time etc. so there are some challenges. Flexibility is one of the most important features when working in China.

The post Interview with Sylvia Xu appeared first on EARS.

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Betsy Lan. I come from Taipei and I represent Taipei Fringe Festival. Taipei Fringe Festival started in 2008 and we are still a very young festival. We are a platform developed specifically for young and new artists. Basically Taipei Fringe is run by the government, the Taipei City Government provides free venues. We pay the rental fee for the artist and the artist can choose the venue they like and the time they like to perform. The spaces we curate are very diverse. Essentially we encourage artists to do site specific works. We also try to use this platform to promote new artists because most of them have just graduated and starting their careers. When they come to the festival, their work will be seen by the professionals and their peers. The young artists can grow in the festival and if they are lucky, they can be picked up by other producers throughout the country.

Where do your artists come from?

As we are still very young as a festival, the artists are mainly from Taiwan. But we also have a handful of international groups and artists from all around the world. They are mainly from other parts of Asia, from Hong Kong, Macao and Singapore, but we also have a few artists from Europe and North America.

What is the history of the festival?

The Taipei City Government runs two arts festivals during the summer. One is Taipei Children’s Art Festival and the other one is Taipei Arts Festival. They are targeted to different audiences: Taipei Children’s Art Festival is for families and Taipei Arts Festival is for more mature theater audience and professionals. The government felt that there was a need to create a platform for the young artists and that’s why Taipei Fringe Festival was created.

How do you see the government’s role in the performing arts field in Taiwan?

Right now the government plays a very important role in providing funding and resources for the arts community. There are not enough private funders in Taiwan. Besides providing money, the arts festivals like these which are run by the government, are also trying to create platforms for artists to be seen.

What kind of response has the Taipei Fringe gotten from the audience?

I think the festival has done quite successfully in the past two years establishing itself as a place to see young artists. We have been lucky to have a lot of young artists coming to the festival every year. They feel it’s an important platform to be a part of and we also try very hard to do program exchanges. For example we have worked with Macao Fringe Festival for the past years to send our award winners to the Macao Fringe to perform. So that way they can organize a tour show and  make the Fringe festival as one of their stops and tour to other places as well. We don’t want it to be only a one time festival for them, it should be a festival that would extend their artistic careers and help them became better artists.

As we are now in EARS on Shanghai and EARS is all about building collaboration between Europe and Asia, do you have some aspirations in that field?

Yes, definitely. In Taiwan there are several European countries that are big arts promoters, Germany and France for example. They do a lot of funding and bring artists from Europe to Taiwan. Coming to EARS is interesting, as this is a very new forum. I’m very curious how it will build connections. I think it’s very important as Asia is the place where everything is happening at the moment. We want to reach out but I think that the rest of the world also wants to reach out to us. So I think this kind of a platform or forum is important for all people involved.

The post Interview with Betsy Lan appeared first on EARS.

Hey, who are you and what do you do?

You can call me Lap, my name is Kwong Wai-lap. I’m now based in Kuang Chao, a city in Southern China. For eight years I’ve been running a modern dance festival there which is one of the biggest in China. Before that, I spent a couple of years as the program and marketing director of Macao Culture Center. I have also worked at the program department of Hong Kong Arts Festival. In 2006 some friends and I set up Fringe Shanghai in Shanghai City. For the past four years, I’ve been concentrated more in the international cooperation and development projects.

What kinds of projects you have done lately?

There is no subsidy system in China. It is difficult for Chinese artists to get financial support to concentrate on creation and developing themselves. I can see that my role has changed from a festival presenter after realizing that there is a big need for someone who can find the platform or the opportunity for the Chinese artists to move on without being bored by the bureaucracy. For example I’m now working with a project in Yokohama with artists from Nanning, Guangxi province in China. They had meetings in Japan and in China and in February they presented a new work in TPAM Tokyo Performing Arts Meeting. This is one of the projects I’m working with right now. I’ve been working with other festivals in Korea and Japan and hopefully we could create an exchange platform for young artists.

How many Asian countries support international cooperation in the arts field?

Actually not many. The most active country doing Asian arts exchange must be Singapore because the government actually has money for that and many foundations. Apart from Singapore I can’t think of any country or institution that would be very active. We used to have a Ford Foundation but they have finished their funding already in Asia. It’s very difficult after a lot of money comes from the private sector or by donation. Recently there was a festival in Lidiao in China that was supported by a private company. This is more and more a trend now to use private money to support arts and culture. The bad thing is that they don’t usually have a board of directors. So when the big boss suddenly realizes that he doesn’t have a good year in business, all the art activities will stop. Somebody has to help Chinese artists to find a sustainable source of financial support. I think that is very important.

Do you have any solution to this in mind?

There is no solution. In Asia it’s still very much person to person relationships. Meaning we don’t have a lot of “write an application” kind of grant thing. It’s more about finding the right person who wants to be a patrons of the arts. And then gradually develop that kind of a relationship into an arts foundation. That would be the best solution I think.

How has the field changed during the time of your career?

In the past 20 years it has changed a lot, and the change came very fast! One of the most important changes is that now young artists can set up their own companies in China. They can run legal organizations. This is why there are a lot more younger groups in China. But the problem is that there is no infrastructure for them to develop their work. So a lot of the groups only work together for a couple of years and then quit. I don’t know what would happen next, that’s why I try to change my role to find more sustainable resources for the development. Who knows, maybe the government changes their policies next year, you never know.

The post Interview with Wai-lap Kwong appeared first on EARS.

Hey, who are you and what do you do?

I’m Tay Tong and I’m from Singapore. Here in EARS on Shanghai I’m wearing different hats: I’m a producer in Singapore and I have my own company called TheatreWorks. We have a center that is called 7213 which presents international artists and holds residencies. I’m also the director of Arts Network Asia which basically is a grant giving body to support Asia to Asia exchange and dialogue. We also have a program called Creative Encounters that supports Asia–Europe conversations. I’m also the aid to the festival director Ong Keng Sen of the Singapore International Festival of Arts.

What is the history of Arts Network Asia?

The network was established in 1999 when a group of us, managers and artists from Southeast Asia, felt that we were not meeting fellow Asian artists in Asia. We were meeting each other in New York, in London, in Paris and Rome. The main reason for this was that there was no mobility grant that would allow Asian artists to come together in Asia. So we all got together, put together a paper, a brochure for foundations and asked for money to create a mobility grant for Asian artists to meet other Asian artists. That’s how we got started, this is our 14^th year.

Is the grant for performing arts only?

The ANA – Arts Network Asia grants are actually beyond performing arts. We have supported film makers, visual artists, new media artists and artists working with environment. We have also created very separately networks that we call peer communities. They  are to support organizations building artistic communities within their own local areas.

How has the performing arts field developed in Asia under the years?

As a whole, many interesting developments have evolved in the performing arts field in Asia. Our art from the traditional art to the contemporary has always been rooted in the day to day life. Art is very multidisciplinary, it’s about dance, it’s about storytelling, it’s about music. And what we can see now across the continent is that many directors and performance makers are rethinking and relooking at the classics and how to make them more connected with contemporary life, day to day living. But at the same time there are new languages that have been created and there are deeper ways where artists from different countries and cultures are coming together. Artists are also rethinking what a performance is. The study of the body is a real interest now in terms of dance – you look at the body and what can the body do. It’s interesting to think what does this mean for an Asian dancer who is trained in classical way to perform contemporary dance. So I think there are many paths of development, which makes the entire scene very alive and interesting, I’m constantly curious!

How could the field develop further in Asia?

I don’t think there is just one thing that needs to be done. We should allow the different art forms or scenes to develop. Asia is so diverse, there is not one scene, there are many scenes, many worlds that have been created.  The individual scenes are constantly evolving based on the people’s, artists’ interests. In order to develop the field, we should work with those individuals: what motivates them, what are the new ideas or concepts that they have. The fact that the field is so diverse makes it such a great platform for the arts, especially in Asia. We are all realizing that there is so much to celebrate in terms of engaging with the others – who ever the other is. It’s not geographical, it could be mindset, we can be in the same room but think differently and be motivated differently.  So what I am looking forward to is closer engagement and conversation in a way to agree and disagree. We should recognize this huge diversity and just enjoy it and celebrate it.

The post Interview with Tay Tong appeared first on EARS.

My name is Cheung Fai. I’m the Associate Artistic Director for Franco Dragone Entertainment Group.

You are in EARS on Shanghai to talk about making the connection. What is your topic about?

I’m trying to give insight and tell about my experiences on how to connect with new audiences. I’m working with performing arts, theater, music and dance and I think that the existing audience in the field is too narrow. If you keep on connecting with the existing audience only it’s not enough. More people should see your work. We need to expand the audience base. We have to find the ways to get new people into the theater. It’s very difficult but I think it could be done.

What, do you think, is the most important target audience for theater?

Young people. I think it’s very important to get really young generations especially into theater. Particularly when they are aged between 20 to 25 they are open to new things. Most of them are students, so they have free time, some money and they want to do something new. If they start going to the theater at that age it may become a habit and they may do it for the rest of their life. If they don’t go to theater at that age, after they graduate and get a job, they are busy and might never go to see theater. I think that it’s very critical that we get in touch with them early.

How do you get the new audience in to theater?

There are many tricks actually. I think theater people could learn a lot from business people. Performing arts used to be very artistic and was seen that it had nothing to do with business, management or marketing. But the times have changed. If you are selling tickets, it’s a business. Nowadays also in the performing arts field you have to think about your market and your marketing strategy, pricing and promotion. We need a lot of innovation in marketing for theater. You have to find your target audience and find the way to promote to them. You need to shape your product for your target audience in the way that it’s attractive to them but so that you can still keep your artistic vision in it. Unlike writing a poem in your house or doing a painting by yourself, theater is something that belongs to the community. When you are on stage, you have a group of people in front of you and you have to speak to them.

I think we need more innovations to the marketing of performing arts in order to connect with new audiences, particularly in China. In other big cities, like in New York, a good portion of the population are theater goers. They go to cinema, they go to see a dance performance. They might do it once a week or once a month, but it’s a part of their life. But in China there is a very low percentage of the population who are theater goers. We really need to expand this percentage and that’s why we need to connect with the new audience. In business terms that’s the blue ocean, within those people we see that new market. The hardest part is to get the first new customers come.

The post Interview with Cheung Fai appeared first on EARS.