The New Silk Road for the Performing Arts

ISPA is a not-for-profit international organization (founded 1949) of over 600 executives and directors of concert and performance halls, festivals, performing companies, and artist competitions; government cultural officials; artists' managers; and other interested parties with a professional involvement in the performing arts from more than 50 countries in every region of the world, and in every arts discipline.
The purpose of ISPA is to develop, nurture, energize and educate an international network of arts leaders and professionals who are dedicated to advancing the field of the performing arts.
This congress was attended by over 300 delegates and hosted by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong Kong, with most members coming from the United States and Canada and Asia, and some from Europe.

Many interesting programs were presented, also aimed at informing about the specific challenges of touring in Asia and China in particular, including the importance of having a strong local promoter, who has good connections and who is able to help with getting all the necessary local and Ministry of Culture permits necessary. It was also pointed out that in China, the tradition of individual purchasing of tickets is not so developed yet; instead most tickets are bought up by companies who then distribute them amongst their employees or give it to interested clients.

And it is was also noted that getting sponsorship, especially from foreign companies, is getting harder to do; therefore, securing financial support from official, mostly local or regional government cultural entities, becomes even more important. Chinese businesspeople and promoters are very pragmatic, meaning they want to see how the expenditure will translate to the bottom line and are therefore very unwilling in investing in any cultural venture that may not be money-making. At the same time, the Chinese market is very star-appeal driven, since there is often no knowledge about the quality value of the entertainment offered.

The centers for best showcasing Western culture remain Beijing and Shanghai; both cities have fairly mature annual Arts Festivals. The different tastes for shows was very evident in the presentations: recitals, chamber music and contemporary classical music, for example, have a very hard time to gain a foothold in China. On the other hand, Europeans continue to have a difficult time accepting traditional Chinese Opera and traditional Chinese music.

In one of the key note speaches, the speaker pointed out he thought modern technology may well wipe out traditions. Many traditionas can become bastardized and corrupted trying to please the middle level and large masses. The mission of today's silk road is to develop and care to nurture it as a two-way road, east-west and west-east cultural interchange.

The next congress of ISPA is to be held in New York in January 2007.

Details: www.ispa.org

Arts Management Network, Zenaida des Aubris, correspondent, Munich