On June 21st, initiated by the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Beijing Forum for Performing Arts opened in Beijing. The theme is "Exchange and Cooperation, Sharing and Win-win". More than 200 management personnel and artists from nearly 70 art institutions from more than 20 countries worldwide gathered for made in-depth discussions on the challenges and opportunities facing the theatre industry today.
"Today, theatre has become an important place for the public to appreciate high art and improve their cultural literacy," said ZHANG Xu, Deputy Minister of Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China, in his speech at the opening ceremony. "I hope this forum can work as an active role to greatly help well-known international performing arts institutions to reach consensus on operating experience sharing, cultural project cooperation, talent training and other aspects. In the future, I expect that all-round, in-depth and regular exchanges and cooperation could be carried out between Chinese cultural institutions and international cultural institutions."
"Today we are hosting the first Beijing Forum for Performing Arts. It is another innovation of the NCPA," said WANG Hong, Deputy Mayor of Beijing, “The Beijing Municipal Government will continue to support the NCPA in its efforts to become interconnected and have mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation with famous theatres and art institutions at home and abroad, so as to contribute to the creation and promotion of more outstanding cultural and artistic achievements in the world."
NCPA President WANG Ning
President of NCPA WANG Ning said, “In the era of economic globalization and cultural diversity, as an important carrier of cultural development, theatre is an important platform for equal sharing of the fruits of civilization and an important link for communication between different countries, ethnic groups and cultures."
In order to strengthen the exchanges and cooperation between theatres, WANG put forward suggestions: promoting information sharing, comprehensively deepening exchanges and cooperation, and establishing a regular consultation mechanism. Also, WANG said, "We sincerely invite theatre peers from all over the world to focus on China and the cultural performance market, and work together to build a community of shared destiny for the sustainable development of theatres across the world, making new and greater contributions to the progress of human civilization."
More than 200 management personnel and artists from nearly 70 art institutions from more than 20 countries worldwide gathered at the NCPA.
During the keynote speech, General Director of Stiftung Oper Berlin Georg Vierthaler, President/ CEO of National Arts Centre Christopher Deacon, Administrative Director of Royal Opera House Cormac Simms, General Manager of Artistic and Operations of Carnegie Hall Anna Weber, General Manager/CEO of Teatro Real Ignacio García-Belenguer Laita, Director-General of Royal Opera House Muscat Umberto Fanni, as well as CEO/Artistic Director of Teatro alla Scala Alexander Pereira delivered wonderful speeches in combination of the actual development of the theatres they represented.
From June 21st to 23rd, the guests will have in-depth discussions over three practical issues of theatre development: "new concept of theatre operation and management", "art education and audience cultivation" and "future road of art creation and production". During the forum, there will also be a series of wonderful concurrent activities such as watching the NCPA Opera Turandot. Meanwhile, the NCPA will sign and renew strategic partnership agreements with some theatres. On June 23rd, the day of the closing ceremony, theatre representatives will also adopt the Beijing Declaration to reach consensus and cooperation intention in the fields of artistic creation, talent cultivation, universal education and information sharing.