Initiated by the China National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), the World Association for Performing Arts (WAPA) is an international professional non-profit organisation formed voluntarily by cultural institutions, art colleges and academies, as well as cultural businesses. Supervised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China, the WAPA is headquartered in Beijing with its Secretariat set at the NCPA. Currently, the WAPA consists of 30 member organisations from 19 countries across five continents.
The WAPA's mission is to build an open multilateral communication platform, promote outstanding works of performing arts on the international stage, facilitate the integration of technology with performing arts, and advocate for mutual learning and shared prosperity between different civilisations. The WAPA regularly holds the Beijing Forum for Performing Arts, the Beijing Forum for Symphonic Music, and the NCPA Taihu International Stage Art Forum.
In November 2023, the WAPA completed its registration at the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of China, becoming an international organisation with an independent legal personality. On this occasion, it holds the 2023 Inauguration of World Association for Performing Arts & Beijing Forum for Symphonic Music.
As one of the three main events under the WAPA framework, the Beijing Forum for Symphonic Music has been held successfully twice in 2019 and 2021.
Created in this new era featuring cultural prosperity in China and cultural diversity in the world, the Forum, in line with the principles of being international, open and forward-looking, aims to build a high-level international platform for exchanges in the field of symphonic music. By identifying the developing trends and discussing hot issues of symphonic music, it will draw more attention and support to the development of symphonic music from all sectors of society and promote cross-region and cross-industry integration in order to contribute to exchanges and development in the global performing arts industry.
Themed "Reaching for Innovation, Sharing for Prosperity," Beijing Forum for Symphonic Music 2023 will be held from November 13th to 14th in Beijing, China.
