The Programmatic Interests and
Financing Modalities of Festivals in
East Asia
Project Final Report
Prepared by:
Daniel B. Darmawan
Jeanne Boitano
Yuehmei Liang
Leiden University School of Management
MBA in International Management
2004 - 2005
Leiden, August 18, 2005
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Table of Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Executive Summary .................................................................................................. 4
Project Introduction and Methodology ................................................................. 6
2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 6
2.2 Festival Definition ........................................................................................... 9
2.3 Purpose and Objectives ................................................................................ 10
2.4 Project Methodology and Limitations ....................................................... 10
2.5 Paper Presentation ........................................................................................ 12
Festival Operation in East Asia ............................................................................. 13
3.1 The Purpose of Festivals in East Asia ......................................................... 13
3.2 East Asia Festivals’ Organization Structures............................................. 15
3.3 How East Asia Festivals Determine their Programs ................................ 17
3.4 Communication and Positioning ................................................................ 24
3.5 Festival Financial Resources and Expenditure Analysis ......................... 27
Development of Cooperation among Festivals in East Asia ............................. 33
4.1 The Current Cooperation of East Asia Festivals ....................................... 33
4.2 The Key Success Factors in the Cooperation............................................. 36
4.3 Potential Difficulties for Cooperation ........................................................ 39
Developing Opportunities in the East Asia Market ........................................... 42
5.1 Why European Groups Seek Opportunities in East Asia ....................... 42
5.2 Typology of the European Performing Arts that are Favorable ............. 42
5.3 The Entry Channels ...................................................................................... 45
5.4 Secondary Markets ....................................................................................... 49
Conclusions and Recommendations .................................................................... 53
Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 53
6.1 Overview of Festival Operation in East Asia ............................................ 53
6.2 Cooperation among Festivals in East Asia ................................................ 56
6.3 Opportunities for European Performing Arts Group .............................. 57
Recommendations................................................................................................... 58
6.4 Recommendation for IETM ......................................................................... 58
6.5 Recommendation for EFA............................................................................ 59
6.6 Recommendation for European Performing Arts Groups ...................... 59
6.7 Recommendation for East Asia Festival Organizers ................................ 59
6.8 Recommendation for the Governments..................................................... 60
6.9 Recommendation for Business Corporations ........................................... 61
6.10 Recommendation for Future Research ...................................................... 62
Appendices .............................................................................................................. 63
Appendix 1 : Informal European Theatre Meeting ........................................ 64
Appendix 2 : European Festival Association .................................................. 65
Appendix 3 : Hong Kong International Arts Festival ..................................... 66
Appendix 4 : Shanghai International Arts Festival ......................................... 69
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
8
9
Appendix 5 : Macao International Arts Festival .............................................. 74
Appendix 6 : Tokyo International Arts Festival ............................................... 77
Appendix 7 : Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival ....................................... 80
Appendix 8 : Seoul Performing Arts Festival ................................................... 83
Appendix 9 : DaDao Live Arts Festival ............................................................ 85
Appendix 10 : Jakarta International Arts Festival (JakArt) ............................ 88
Appendix 11 : The Member List of Asia Europe Foundation ........................ 92
Appendix 12 : East Asia Festivals’ Programmes List ...................................... 93
Hong Kong Arts Festivals ...................................................................................... 93
Macao International Arts Festival ......................................................................... 94
Shanghai International Arts Festival, ................................................................... 95
Tokyo International Arts Festivals ........................................................................ 97
Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival .................................................................. 98
Seoul Performing Arts Festival ............................................................................. 99
DaDao Live Art Festival ....................................................................................... 100
Jakarta International Art Festivals (JakArt)....................................................... 101
Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. 103
Bibliography .......................................................................................................... 105
Table List
Table 1: Programming Based on Type of Performance
Table 2: Programming Based on Festival Target Group
Table 3: How East Asia Festival Gather Information about Foreign PA Group
Table 4: East Asia Festivals Financial Resources
Table 5: East Asia Festivals Financial Expenditure Allocation
Table 6: East Asia Festivals Budget
Table 7: Characteristics Comparison between Three Types of Festival
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30
31
32
56
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
1 Executive Summary
It is the objective of this paper to perform preliminary research and present a general
overview on the structure and operation processes of the performing arts festivals in
East Asia. Additionally, we want to present the current cooperation status among the
festivals and present the key success factors of this cooperation. For the interest of
our clients, IETM and EFA, we identify the trends of performing arts in East Asia,
and examine the possible entry channels for performing groups to this region. We
also explore the possibility for establishing secondary markets in East Asia. To
accomplish our tasks we investigate eight festivals in the East Asian region.
In our research, we identify three main types of festivals in East Asia. Each festival
has its own distinctive characteristics. This categorization occurs because the East
Asian festivals are influenced by many factors such as; their purpose and motivation,
cultural heritage, government policies towards culture and resources available.
While sponsor-oriented festivals have abundant resources and tend to be large
festivals, state-supported festivals are likely to promote specific arts genres.
Conversely, rebellious festivals operate with their unique cooperative organization
model to fulfill their vision. Therefore, famous and commercial artists typically
choose the sponsor-oriented or state-supported festivals, while the idealist and
cooperative artists seek to find self actualization in the rebellious festival.
We believe that East Asia offers large opportunities for European performing arts
groups. We identify at least 147 performing arts festivals in the region. We find
festival concentration in more developed countries like Japan, Korea and Hong
Kong. In our research, we recognize that the majority of foreign performance groups
appearing in East Asia fall under the music and dance genres. This occurs because
the audience is not faced with the language barrier, as in dramatic theatre, and is able
to interpret the art and performance message as it sees fit.
To seize the opportunities in East Asia, European performing groups should
establish a relationship with the local performing arts players. This is due to the
influence of the East Asian cultural heritage where relationships must be established
prior to business decisions being made. Europeans need the opportunity to introduce
themselves, and gradually strengthen the relationship, both on the organizational
and personal level. We identify six entry channels to commence the relationship with
the Asian parties (agency, formal association, government, company sponsorship,
performing arts fair and festival representatives). By strengthening the relationship,
the European parties could seek more opportunities such as establishing a circuit of a
secondary market. In addition, the informal fora also play a key role in the
information circulation. In those fora, Asian parties will exchange knowledge, gossip,
personal preferences, judgment, private experiences, opinion etc.
In addition, we recognize that the cooperation among the European and East Asia
has already been established. There is a movement, both from the governments and
arts communities, to strengthen and enhance more cooperation between the
performing arts players. Their objective is to build bridges between the societies of
Asia and Europe through cultural engagement.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
From our study, we realize that it is not easy for European performing arts
professionals to penetrate the East Asia market. European performing groups should
establish their foundation first in some country in East Asia, and from there they can
expand their market in the region. However, to find the right Asian partner is very
essential. Like Sun Tzu said, “Victory can be anticipated, but it can not be forced.”1
1
Carr, C. (2000) The Book of War, New York: Modern Library, 2000, p.80
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
2 Project Introduction and Methodology
2.1
Introduction
Cultural and arts diversities in Asia
Asian culture and arts are too diverse to be seen as one piece. There are a
number of factors that influence the development of culture in this area:
different origins of culture, counties and areas that are at different levels in
economic development, and different government policies.
In Asia there are some influential and in some cases, dominant cultures and
they vary by region: Chinese, Japanese and Malay dominate East Asia
culture, Indian dominates Central Asia and Arabian dominates the MiddleEast and West Asia region. Each of these dominant cultures has distinctive
historical forces which are influential: The Chinese culture is influenced by
Lao Tze and Confucius; Indian is influenced by Hindu religion and
Buddhism, and Islam is the dominant force in Western Asia and the Middle
East. But against these dominant influences, people try to incorporate new
ideas, to transform the culture, or to assimilate new influences through art
and culture.
This cultural transformation results from inter-mingling various cultures,
especially those which arrive from the West. Christian culture has been an
influence in Asia since the 16th century, the result of colonization by European
countries. It is because of the complexity of the development of culture in
Asia that the Asian cultural arts market becomes difficult to define.
Other influential drivers currently at work in Asia that effect the cultures and
arts markets are differences in economic power and government policies on a
country by country basis. A majority of the countries of Asia are developing
economies. They struggle to maintain both economic and political stability.
As a consequence, the governments do not place high priority on the
development of local culture and arts. Conversely, the developed countries
in Asia, whose economies are strong, see the development of culture and arts
as an integral part of country’s continued development.
As a result, either professional or traditional performing arts in Asia can only
grow and flourish based on the social and economic development of the
country in which they exit. An example of this is the absence of developing
countries such as Thailand, India and Middle Eastern countries in Music,
Opera, Dance and Drama in Asian, the Pacific and North America (MOD) in
2003,2 the yellow book directory for the performing arts industry.
As the world is moving toward a more global economy, there are concerns
raised regarding the effects that globalization will have on the cultures of
specific societies. Globalization drives products and goods to be
2
Alain Charles Arts Publishing Ltd. (2003), Music, Opera, Dance and Drama in Asian, the Pacific and
North America 2003
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
homogeneous worldwide, so there could be negative consequences in the arts
and a loss of artistic diversity. As a result of this globalization, cultural
industries such as TV, film, publishing and music, have grown substantially
and what is produced in one region is easily transferred and sold to other
areas. Commercially produced art has become increasingly popular since the
producers take the “cookie-cutter” approach to producing and are able to be
marketed as a global product.
Productions such as the musical Mama Mia are celebrating great success
worldwide. It is important that these large commercial productions do not
stifle the development of art of the local cultures. A fear prompted by the
economic globalization is that the local cultures will lose their specific
markers and that the diversity of productions will become less evident. This
is intrinsically against the make up of a region’s cultures and the goods that
are produced in these societies.
For it is these differences and diverse
products (productions) that form and define the culture for what it is.
“Culture tends to express the diversity of geographic and ethnic location and
so opposes movements towards one single way of being-in-the-world and
one story of how life should best be lived. The very nature of culture, then,
pulls against those economic structures and forces that might be driving us
towards a single global culture.”3 As the process of globalization transpires,
the drive to maintain the cultural and individual artistic identity will remain
strong among the arts professionals.
Performing Arts Markets in East Asia
A vital and prosperous performing arts environment is the essential factor for
festivals. A variety of performing arts activities presented by various
organizations are taking place throughout whole year, including music,
dance, theatre and Chinese opera. According to the statistical data from
National Arts Council of Singapore, in 2004 there were 1,915 productions
with 5,105 performances in Singapore alone. There were 2,710 ticketed
performances with 1.1 million individual attendees.4 There are 267 arts
societies registered with the Registry of Societies and 321 performing arts
companies registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory
Authority in Singapore.5 In the same year, there are 5,318 performances in
Hong Kong with 4.55 million individual attendees.6 According to the Urban
Ticketing System,7 there are 4,212 million tickets sold with the total sales of
641 million HK$ in 2004.8
Tomlinson, J, Globalization and Culture (online), cited on August 16, 2005
Singapore population was 4 million estimated in July 2004. US Immigration department (online).
Cited on August 8, 2005
5 National Arts Council, (2004), Arts Statistics (online), cited on August 10, 2005
6 Hong Kong population was 6 million estimated in July 2004. CIA Fact Book (online). Cited on
August 8, 2005
7 The ticketing system in Hong Kong, organization website http://www.lcsd.gov.hk
8 HK Leisure & Culture Service, (2005), Cultural Statistic Report (online), cited on August 11, 2005.
3
4
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
In East Asia, the concrete statistical numbers for the performing arts industry
can only be found in the more developed countries, such as Singapore and
Hong Kong. It is because Arts Management is a relatively new area of
management and has not yet been taken seriously in most of the East Asia
countries who are more concerned with their economic development.9
However, it is expected that Singapore and Hong Kong are only the tip of the
iceberg in the East Asia performing arts industry. According to the MOD
2003,10 there were 147 major festivals in the East Asian region.11 With the
influence of western arts and cultures, the contents of Asian festivals are rich
in both western classical and contemporary and Asian traditional performing
arts genres and styles.
Europeans and East Asia Performing Arts
The European presence in the East Asia performing arts quite often plays a
role as an important reference for the western and contemporary
performances. For the western-originated genres, such as classical music,
dance, and theatre, the European artists and performing companies provide
the high standard performances to East Asia performing arts players. For the
innovative contemporary works, the European partners challenge the
relatively conservative East Asia societies with the bold and brave
experiments of performing arts. It is fair to say that in East Asia, the European
performing arts intriguing to the Asian population.
Europeans today are becoming increasingly involved with East Asia
performing arts, especially through the festivals. Most of the famous
European artists, orchestras, dance companies, and theatres are all including
the major East Asia cities and festivals in their portfolio of performances.
In addition to the economic benefit and the reputation, it is more desirable
that the interaction between western and eastern arts and cultures can result
in the stimulation of artistic creation and collaboration. The innovation of
productions and performances is the first priority in the performing arts
industry. In order to facilitate this innovative creation, it is necessary to
establish cooperation among festival players and collaboration among artists
between western and eastern performing arts markets. Therefore, it is the
intention of this study to understand what the programming interests and
financial modalities of the East Asia performing arts festivals are;
furthermore, with the understanding of the operation of East Asia
performing art festival, how European performing arts groups can deal
with the East Asia parties and establish a wider presence in the East Asia
region.
The statistics numbers of Korea and Japan are more enclosed and are not public on the website.
Music, Opera, Dance and Drama in Asia, the Pacific and North America 2003 was published by Alian
Charles Arts Publishing Ltd. MOD is a yellow book for Europe and International Arts Manager,
particularly in the performing arts field.
11 Alain Charles Arts Publishing Ltd. (2003), Music, Opera, Dance and Drama in Asian, the Pacific and
North America 2003
9
10
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
2.2
Festival Definition
A festival is composed of series of events happening in a compressed, usually
short-term period. Festivals are both cultural and social events. They occur
in a unique setting that enables the enactment of authentic works, often
providing new interpretations.
In Europe, festivals originated from the ritual celebration in Athens in the
fifth century B.C with a theatrical festival in order to honor Dionysus.12 The
different purposes of festivals evolved as time passed: for instance, athletic
games, religious ceremonies, military victories, dedications, and funerals.
Furthermore, the forms the festivals took evolved from annual market fairs in
the medieval Europe, to church or court festival presentations in the 18 th
century, followed by the Bayreuth Festival by Richard Wagner in the 19 th
century. In modern Europe, festivals have been proliferating intensively
especially since the end of the Cold War.13 Festival d’Avignon, Edinburgh
Festival, and Holland Festival are the famous examples of sustainable
festivals since the 1940s.14
Presenting the cultural events in a condensed format, the role of the festival
has come to re-voice and re-interpret the traditions.15 The festival is the
intermediary of arts and culture to represent the traditional forms with
innovative approaches. The conventional performances are variations for the
festival every year. The festival also acts as the cultural modifier to introduce
various cultural forms from other regions. In this way, the festival offers the
community a “fresh taste” of foreign flavor and provides the cultures a
chance to meet one another. Very often, new creation of arts is generated from
the lively environment of the festival.
Festivals also play a part in tourism for the city or town where it is being
hosted, bringing visitors from surrounding areas to participate in the
scheduled events. It is the blend of bringing people together in unique social
situations and the creation of new productions that give each festival its own
uniqueness.16 Festivals usually gather people together around a celebratory
event and are used as a valuable catalyst for cultural, social, economic
development of a particular region.
There are numerous varieties of festivals as they can encompass many
different attributes (i.e. theme, duration, scale), depending on motivation and
the type of activities the organizers behind each festival bring to it. In this
study, we are focusing on those “professional” arts festivals in East Asia
The god of wine in the Greek mythology
Klaic, D. (2002), The Future of Festival Formulae: A Holland Festival Symposium in De Balie
Background Paper, Amsterdam, p1
14 Davis, E.L, (2005), Knowledge Continuity Management in Festival Organizations, Utrecht School of
Art, p.8
15 Lynch D. (1999), Short-term Travel Grant Application (online), cited on August 4, 2005.
16 Ibid (online)
12
13
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
region that present performing groups and artists, both traditional and
contemporary. In addition, we also concentrate on those festivals that have a
recurring basis, not on one time event festival. The operational scope of
internationalization is one of the necessary elements in this study, with the
constant dialogue between cultural institutions and local communities. For an
international festival, “support, practical insight and inspiration are provided
locally, while the involvement of cultural institutions-particularly those with
an international profile – ensures that festivals provide essential exchanges
between local and international communities.”17
2.3
Purpose and Objectives
As part of our MBA program, we are involved in a consultancy project for
IETM (Informal European Theatre Meetings) and EFA (European Festivals
Association). Please see Appendix 1 and 2 for additional background
information on our clients.
It is our intent with this project to present to our clients, a general overview of
how performing arts festivals in East Asia are structured, and how they
operate and the levels of organization among them.
We will present the different varieties of performing arts festivals that occur
in East Asia, and analyze the festival’s purpose and programming
orientations of the festivals. We will also investigate the financial modalities
under which East Asia festivals operate. Moreover, we want to present the
current status with regards to cooperation among the festivals and present
their key success factors. In the interest of our clients, we will identify
possible entry channels to Asia and explore the possibilities of secondary
markets to the East Asia Festivals.
2.4
Project Methodology and Limitations
In order to achieve our objectives, we have researched a selected group of
performing arts festivals that are representative of the East Asia countries.
We have used festivals that are associated with Association of Asia and Pacific
Performing Arts Center (AAPPAC), an organization with thirty two members,
established in 1996 to promote and exchange the artistic programs of the
region. In addition, the festivals’ selection was also based on initial contact by
Dr. Dragan Klaic on behalf of the IETM in the Festival Forum in Singapore,
Critically Speaking: Asia & Europe Contemporary Performing Arts Colloquium,
held in June 2005.
The festivals we chose were diverse with regards to size, programming, and
motivation. We selected seven festivals in East Asia, which include; Hong
Kong Arts Festival, Tokyo International Arts Festival, China Shanghai
International Arts Festival, Macao International Arts Festival, Hong Kong
New Vision Arts Festival, Seoul Performing Arts Festival, DaDao Live Arts
Reding, V., European Festival Association, (2000), EU Commission for Culture and Education
(online), cited on August 8, 2005.
17
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Festival and Jakarta International Arts Festival (JakART). We felt that festivals
from these countries presented a realistic picture of the Asian market with
regards to performing art festivals.
Those festivals that responded to our initial correspondence and surveys
were interviewed via phone calls, and (or) email. Interviews were conducted
with the festivals’ staffers in order to collect information on the operation of
those festivals, their operational scope and funding, including public support,
commercial sponsors, the performing groups, the operators, the audience,
and other relevant players. We gathered additional information from books,
articles and the internet research.
After data was collected and distributed we analyzed all aspects to create a
comprehensive picture of the operation of festivals, including organizational
purposes served, programming, financial analysis and value-added activities.
We have used this information to analyze the points set forth in the objectives
and present opportunities for cultural arts exchange and cooperation and to
provide a recommendation for both European and East Asia festivals and
their networks in order to seek stronger cooperation among each other.
In order to obtain additional information, we conducted interviews with
several performing arts group in East Asia and Europe. Finally, we
conducted internet research on several key organizations that play a
significant role in the culture and arts cooperation in East Asia.
In our paper, we use a qualitative approach as our main approach. However,
we try to provide quantitative data to support our arguments whenever
possible.
In the process of our research project we have faced some limitations,
particularly in the gathering of information. The similarity among festivals is
inevitable because of the established network associations. Some of the
festivals that we researched are non-profit organizations but not all have clear
operation records. Some of the festivals are government divisions, whose
operational activities are dispersed, subcontracted or have been spun off.
Therefore the person interviewed would use language that was vague or
“diplomatic.” The person interviewed was aware that some of what he/she
could say might be taken in a negative light and therefore, some information
from the interviews was incomplete or difficult to obtain. For instance, it was
hard to obtain all financial data that we needed. On the other side, the scope
of the European festivals and performing groups were limited due to
infrequent responses of selected organizations. We believe this to be due to
time of year, a summer holiday season for those involved.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
2.5
Paper Presentation
We are writing this report for both our clients; IETM and EFA, mentored by
Dr. Dragan Klaic and the academic panel of Leiden University School of
Management. With the diverse backgrounds of our readers in arts and
business, we recognize the need to include some background information of
both disciplines. We understand that this may create some redundancies.
Due to the nature of our readers, we feel it is necessary to include the
background information in the appendices in order to offer a complete
picture for all readers involved.
We will begin by defining a festival and describing the context of festivals in
relation to our paper. What is the cultural backdrop for these festivals, and
the current conditions in which they must exist.
We will present in Chapter 3 the operational components of the festival in
East Asia. How are the festivals structured on a management level? We will
explore what factors play a role in the determination of their programming.
What are their structures for communication and positioning themselves in
the market? We will also analyze the financial components to the festival.
What are their main sources of revenue? Does this play a role in their
determination of programming and recruiting of performance groups? The
expenditures of the festival will also be analyzed, and festivals of all sizes will
be reviewed.
Chapter 4 presents an analysis of the current state of cooperation among
festivals in East Asia. What are the key success factors for this cooperation,
and what possible difficulties exist that must be overcome for further
cooperation among the parties in East Asia.
In Chapter 5, we will present East Asia’s opportunities for European
performing groups. What are potential entry channels for the European
groups to utilize in order to enter the festivals in East Asia? We will analyze
which types of programs from Europe are favorable in the eyes of the
programming boards of the festivals in East Asia. We will present
opportunities for a second-hand market, and provide examples for how this
is being accomplished today in East Asia.
We will then draw conclusions on our findings and present recommendations
to our clients on the East Asia frameworks and the synergies that exist with
European festivals and performance groups and how these synergies could
be further developed.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
3 Festival Operation in East Asia
In this section we would like to give general overview about how East Asia festivals
operate. We break down our analysis into five important components: purpose,
organizational structure, programming, communication and finance. In our analysis,
we found that a festival’s purpose plays an essential role. The purpose will determine
the size of the festival. It is also reflected throughout the other components of the
festival structure including the programming criteria, financial resources and how
they communicate with their audiences. When considering the organizational
structure, we identified two forms of organization; an independent organization and
an organization which is an extension of the government.
3.1
The Purpose of Festivals in East Asia
“In ancient times, festivals were used as ritual celebrations, particularly for
religious ceremonies, military victories, dedications and funerals.”18 However,
in the modern era, “the purpose of festivals shifted to a public celebration.”19
Based on our research, the major festivals in East Asia have been initiated by
the city or national government. These governments consider the festival as
“lighthouse” projects with the additional purpose of developing the local
culture and arts field. “The festivals provide further value to the region, in
addition to artistic creation and religious celebration, in terms of local
tourism.”20 Generally, from the perspective of a government, the festival’s
objectives are to increase a city’s popularity and prestige, create an
international image by placing it on the cultural map, and to attract more
tourists. In our samples, the festivals that fall under this purpose are Hong
Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Macao.
In addition to the festivals with government support, East Asia also has
“rebellious” festivals, particularly in the developing countries. These festivals
are inspired by an idea or one individual with a driving mission, a visionary.
They want to challenge the general public practice because these festivals
sponsor art forms or ideas that are not mainstream, or they want to show they
can do something distinctive and out of the ordinary, they generally receive
very limited support from the government. In JakArt, the “idealist” artist
community felt that the Indonesian people did not appreciate culture and the
arts sufficiently. According to Mrs. Ary Sutedja, of the JakArt Festival,
“Indonesian people are to busy with themselves. They do not have enough
time to see (or think) about culture and arts. Why do not we as an art
community bring culture and arts to the people?” In addition, Mr Shu Yang
said, “DaDao wants to provide opportunities that will build an environment
for live-arts artists to continue to perform and create new works, to promote
the professional performing standards, and to educate the public since live arts are not recognized in China and are oppressed by the main stream.”
Brockett, O.G.(1995), History of the Theatre, 7th ed, London: Allyn and Bacon, p.53
Getz, D. (1991), Festivals, Special Events and Tourism, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, p.54
20 Greffe, X.(2003), Arts and Artists from Economic Perspective, Paris: Economica/UNESCO, p.8
18
19
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
From the perspective of culture and arts, we found three main purposes of
the festivals in East Asia. The two primary purposes that our festival samples
emphasize are to introduce the works of performing arts from all over the
world for the enrichment of the local cultural life and to create local
productions in order to promote wider public interest in culture and arts. A
third purpose is to present specific cultures to the host country.
First, the festival wishes to introduce the works of performing arts from all
over the world for the enrichment of cultural life of a specific city. By having
international performing arts groups in the festival, the organizer aims to
stimulate and facilitate the cultural and artistic development in local artists
and the community. “They build international, cross-cultural bridges between
professional communities of artists, providing opportunities for cooperation
and communication.”21 In addition, international groups with good
reputations also strengthen the reputation of the festival, particularly by
creating an international reputation.
The second purpose of the festival is to cultivate the local arts and culture
environment. This is achieved in two ways, encouraging local creation of local
art works and by promoting wider public interest in the already existing
culture and art. By promoting local productions, festivals can provide added
incentives for local groups to produce higher quality performances, by giving
them the opportunity to contribute to the program of the festival. The
festivals see themselves as a place to promote and to test experimental
projects and ideas. Conversely, the festivals offer the public the chance to see
new talent or innovative productions. The festivals act as a catalyst to bring
local culture and art closer to the society.
The festivals increase local awareness, specifically with regards to other
cultures. This purpose is distinctively exhibited by the Tokyo International
Arts Festival. The festival organizer uses the event as an interface between
other cultures and the Japanese people. The aim is not for a cultural exchange
but rather to build a better understanding about distant people through their
culture. This became the motive especially after the attack on September 11,
2001. From 2003-2006, the Tokyo International Arts Festival is concentrating
on performance groups from the Arabic countries as well as Eastern
European countries. They were the first to bring in a performance group from
the Palestine region. Why? The Japanese consign their military units in Iraq
and they realize a need for a better understanding concerning the Middle
Eastern cultures.
Allen, K. & Shaw, P. (2000), Festival Mean Business: The Shape of Arts Festivals in the UK, British
Arts Festival Association, p.2
21
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
3.2
East Asia Festivals’ Organization Structures
The festival organizations are operated either by an independent entity or as
an extension of a government organization. There are two levels of
organization in every festival organization, management and organizer. The
management is the permanent form of the festival organization, represented
by the organization board, and focuses on the strategic planning of the
festival. The second layer of festival organization is the organizer. The festival
organizer is under a project management structure which is comprised of a
core team made up of a full-time staff that forms the basis of the festival.
Figure 1: Cultural Festival Configuration 22
Notes: Permanet festival organization is printed in bold
Different structures exist among the festival boards in East Asia. For instance,
at the Hong Kong Festival Society Ltd., organizers of the Hong Kong Arts
Festival, the board is composed of representatives from various sectors. They
include individuals from the business community, the private sector,
philanthropy, government, the Jockey Club, the tourist board, and the
financial sector. The board is chaired by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
chairman. By having individuals with diverse backgrounds on the board, the
Hong Kong Festival Society Ltd. hopes to get greater community support and
to present the festival. Another important function of this board is to establish
the sponsors and the business networks who support the festival. However,
to ensure an independent board, the sponsors are not allowed to hold board
positions. This is not the case for Arts Network Japan which runs the Tokyo
International Arts Festival. Their sponsor representatives are placed on the
board as a symbol of cooperation between the corporation and the festival.
22
Hagoort, G. (2003), Arts Management Entrepreneurial Style, Delft: Eburon Publishers, p.159
15
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
To execute the festival, “the organization will hire additional temporary staff
and volunteers in order to meet various short-term demands of the event
itself.”23 The function of part-time workers and volunteers is very broad. The
temporary staff members are involved in administration, translating,
ushering, stage crew, ticket office, photography, information centre, etc. Most
part-time workers and volunteers are college and university students,
preferably from arts, music or theatre fields. The number of volunteers varies
according to the festival scale and how the festival structures itself. For
instance, Shanghai pulls hundreds of students in as volunteers because the
number of performances each year ranges from 120 to 150. The festival is run
by a non-profit organization which has the financial burden of supporting the
part-time jobs not filled by volunteers. However, Hong Kong New Vision,
presented by the division of Hong Kong government, only hires part-time
employees, without utilizing volunteers, to cover all the tasks because of the
relatively small scale of programming, which included only 14 productions in
2005.
In this study, there is another organizational approach which provides an
alternative way for festivals to operate without the usual financial and
managerial support. “Rebellious” festivals use their own means to provide
support for their festivals. Although the organization structure is similar to
the festival with government support, the “rebellious” festivals are totally
dependent on their volunteers to run the festival.
Promoting the social movement with arts, JakArt has a small core team as a
think-tank. The organization has 300 part-time members (on a voluntary
basis) with different backgrounds, including bankers, auditors, lawyers, and
artists who are assigned positions within the festival that fit their specific field
of expertise. Because the festival has very little in terms of financial resources,
all stakeholders of JakArt contribute to the festival as volunteers with a strong
identification with the organizational purpose. “JakArt purpose is to
demonstrate, expose, share, and encourage the importance of creativity in the
social, economic, and cultural activities.”24 The festival is sustained without
“conventional” resources because the volunteers, who are put through a
psychological test before being selected, are engaged of emotionally and
motivated by their ideals. The festival successfully includes people with
passion and imagination. Combined with persistence, these individuals want
to create their legacy.
While conducting the festival, JakArt acquires more volunteers, mostly
university students from various backgrounds. In 2001 – 2003, they utilized at
least 1,000 volunteers. JakArt does not pay for anything including meals and
transportation. In exchange, JakArt gives unique experiences, challenges and
Allen, K. & Shaw, P. (2000), Festival Mean Business: The Shape of Arts Festivals in the UK, British
Arts Festival Association, p.32
24 JakArt, (2004), Internal Publication Leaflet
23
16
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
freedom to find the solutions to problems that arise. To run the organization
and festival, the organizers are dependent on collaboration among
stakeholders. For instance, to re-paint poor neighborhoods in Jakarta, JakArt
organizes the painting artists, approaches the Paint Company to become
sponsor and utilizes the JakArt network, while the local neighborhood
provide meals and volunteers to help the artists.
3.3
How East Asia Festivals Determine their Programs
It is not easy to define festivals according to the programming interests.
Because one of the crucial elements of the arts is creativity, new ideas, types,
and styles of performing arts are happening in every moment and affecting
the components of the festivals. For instance, the official recognition of live
arts25 didn’t exist until late in the 20th century.26
However, every festival has certain guidelines to cope with the programming
selection, whether explicit as those deliberately established festivals or
implicit like the young and inexperienced festivals. Those guidelines shape
the particular direction for the festival to select programmes and include two
things: the type of performance and the target audience for the performance.
Based on Type of Performances
When using the type of performance as a determining factor for a festival, the
festival can take one of two approaches. Festivals with mixed programmes in
terms of the genre of performance are referred to as “interdisciplinary”
festivals. On the other hand, festivals engaging a particular focus on the form
of performance or artistic style are referred to “specific-type” festivals.
The festivals containing interdisciplinary programmes tend to encompass
various art forms. The festival includes all kinds of performing arts genres,
including music, dance, theatre, film, and even fine arts exhibitions. The
festival also involves various artistic styles, such as classical, popular,
traditional, contemporary, and national. It is the mindset of the festival
organizer that every single audience will find a place in the festivals in terms
of the different preferences for some type of the performing arts. For these
festivals, the main purpose is to facilitate the cultural exchange and build up
the city image in terms of local arts and culture. It is the nature of a festival to
“celebrate” rather than to present a certain point of view regarding the
artistry. In our research, the festivals that follow this strategy are Shanghai,
Hong Kong, Macao, Tokyo and JakArt.
Live arts represent essentially temporary works of art that span a range of disciplines and
discourses involving, in some way, the body, space, and time. To use the term live art is not to
attempt to define or fix a practice but a strategy to open up a landscape, to map new artistic
geographies, to imagine new ways of working and at the same time, to create appropriate
cultural, curatorial and critical frameworks around this eclectic and expansive body of practices
and artists.
26 Live Arts Development Agency (2005), What is Live Arts? (online), cited on August 8, 2005
25
17
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
For the festival employing specific-type of performances, it is found that there
is a more visible “direction” within the programmes in terms of the genre of
performance or a certain “tone” of performing. These festivals stress a specific
type of art form because of the expertise or the particular interest of the
presenters. We can see that DaDao promotes the live arts genre in China,
while New Vision and Seoul invite the various forms of performance in the
field of contemporary arts. All of them try to build strong identity of
innovation in their arts field.
Table 1:
Programming Based on Type of Performance
Contents
Classical/
Popular
Music Dance
Theatre
Shanghai
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Macao
JakArt
●●
●
●
●●
●
New
Vision
Seoul
DaDao
●
Contemporary
Music Dance
Theatre
Live
Arts
Fine
Arts
*
●
●
●
●
●
●
●●
Others
**
Approach
●
●
●
●
●
InterDisciplinary
●
●
Specifictype
●
Notes:
●● : stronger emphasis comparing among its own programmes
* : including exhibition and expo
** : Including films and multi-media
It is shown in table 1 that festivals with the interdisciplinary approach all
include the mainstream types and style of performing arts, such as classical
music, classical ballet, or popular theatre. In addition to the mainstream, the
interdisciplinary festivals also encompass two more genres of performances.
For the specific-type festivals, it is a more focusing distribution picture in
terms of types of programmes. Usually only one genre is presented in the
festivals. There is a strong and united “taste” in the various programmes.
However, the table presents only a general overview. An exception to this
case is the Hong Kong New Vision Festival. This festival wants to promote
contemporary arts but not as exclusively as Seoul does. In their programming
they try to bridge two different arts styles (classical and contemporary).
Therefore a “dance theatre” is presented as well as a “multi-media theatre”;
and a concert combining popular singers, classical instrumentalists, and an
opera singer is presented as well as a concert blending eastern and western
music styles. Although the types of the performances are not able to be
classified into one categorization, there is a clear distinctive characteristic to
the programming of the New Vision Arts Festival.
18
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Based on Festival Target Group
There are two perspectives employed regarding the servicing target: those
that are externally-driven and those that are internally-driven. The targeting
groups can be defined according to the business component of festivals:
product offering, activities, and resources. The audiences and sponsors are
the final groups to whom the product of the festival is delivered. The
audience purchases the tickets for the performances, and the sponsors enjoy
an enhanced reputation that is associated with the reputation of the festival as
well as that of being associated with the arts. Second, are the organizers and
governments which are the organizers of the festivals. These two groups are
in charge of the managerial and logistical tasks of the festivals and have
serious impacts on the direction, production and presentation of the festivals.
Third, there are the artists who are the involved in performing existing works
or creating new pieces.
The festivals initiating the programming ideas from the perspective of
audiences and sponsors are referred to as “externally-driven” because it is the
factors outside of the organization which have more impact on the
programming decision making processes. On the other hand, festivals
preferring to comply with the interests of artists, engage an internal-driven
focus on the programming by looking at their own resources as a core
competence, such as unique artistry, high concentration of specific genres,
high standard for performances, and seeking to endow them with visibility.
Table 2 shows the generalization of two perspectives of the programming
interests in terms of the targeting groups of the programming.
Table 2:
Programming Based on Festival Target Group
Festivals
Stakeholders
Independent
organizations
Government
divisions
No legal
status
Shanghai
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Macao
New Vision
Seoul
JakArt
DaDao
Perspectives
Resources
Artists
expertise
●
●
●
Activity System
Organizer
●
●
●
●●
●●
Internal
Product Offering
State
Sponsor
Audience
●
●●
●
●●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
 
External
Notes:
●● : stronger emphasis comparing among its own stakeholders for each festival
19
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
In the external-driven festival, the programming influence frequently comes
from the sponsors and the audiences. The sponsor-oriented festival organizer
usually is an independent organization. Although the organization secures
some support from the government, it still needs to find additional resources
in order to run the festival. Thus, the government plays an important role for
the festival, but its intervention in programming issues is lower compared to
the state-supported festival. Since there is another influential player (sponsor)
in supporting the festival, the festival organizer needs to balance the interest
of all parties. The government wants to establish a good civic reputation with
the artistic and cultural added-value to create “subsequent economic
activities”27, such as tourism. The sponsors want to increase their visibility
and improve their corporate image with the audiences.
We recognize different approaches in terms of sponsors’ influences. In Hong
Kong, the festival successfully limits the influence of the sponsor and focuses
more on the audiences. Hong Kong already has a long history (since 1973)
and an established reputation as having a high standard for the performing
arts. Although Hong Kong has famous sponsors such as the Jockey Club and
IBM, the sponsorships are tied to the board of the festival, not the
programmers. Conversely, Shanghai includes all varieties of performances
with an international reputation to comply with its objective to “present the
best world cultures.” In order to attract potential sponsors Shanghai
associates the reputation of the well-known artists or performances with their
sponsors’ corporate image by allying them to become patrons for the entire
festival or for a specific programme. Therefore, artists, or performing arts
companies, with good publicity and a strong reputation have the essential
elements to be presented.
Regarding to the state-supported festivals, their staff members are public
servants. The festival organizer, as a division of government, offers a cultural
and artistic public event to the local people in order to promote the quality of
life. However, we identify different approaches used to formulate the
programming interests. In Macao, they used interdisciplinary programmes as
the way to take care of the needs of its people. Within the programmes, onefourth of the productions combine popular entertainments, such as pop
singers and films. More than half of the productions include local
components, such as local performers, Portuguese or Cantonese28, or
traditional Chinese operas. Conversely, New Vision and Seoul only focus on
specific style of arts, because the government has decided to foster and
encourage the development of contemporary arts. Therefore, in Seoul, New
Vision, and Macao, the government plays a role of building up a bureaucratic
mechanism with the capacity and point of view to decide the programmes.
Greffe, X. (2003), Arts and Artists from Economic Perspective, Paris: Economica/UNESCO, p.8
Macao was the colony of Portugal and was returned to China in 1999. The dialect of Macao is
Cantonese.
27
28
20
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
For the festivals without legal official status, they are dependent on their
internal resources to make their vision a reality. They exploit their resources
(artist expertise, organization network) to run the festival. Since they only get
limited support from other parties (government, sponsor), they are free to
determine their own programming. Consequently, the first priority for them
is the performance itself and the artists. Artists with a strong artistic
motivation and with a non-commercial attitude are welcome and preferred in
this festival. In DaDao, there is a “sanctified place” for artistry in the
programming process that can not be compromised. They use the festival as a
place for artist’s actualization. The concern to attract enough audience in
order to cover the economic requirements is much lower compared to the
other types of festivals. The sponsors, individuals or corporations, contribute
because the festival “is what it is”. The sponsor wants to associate with
DaDao artistry and innovative spirit in order to introduce something new to
the traditional Chinese society. As an example, one of the sponsors in 2005 is a
real estate company located in Beijing. The real estate company is known for
providing innovative living spaces and creating fashionable lifestyles which
are not common in China.
There is a certain similarity among table 1 and table 2 with regards to
Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Macao, all of which have significant
support from the state and sufficient capital. Those who heavily use externaldriven perspective are also exercising an interdisciplinary approach. They
engage the resources of society, whether from public support or not, tangible
or intangible. It is therefore a hidden assumption for them that they are
“returning a salute” to the society. On the other hand, the festivals which tend
to employ internally-driven perspective are also more likely to focus on
specific-type programming because the influence or pressure from the
external stakeholders is relatively low.
Who is the decision maker in respect of programming?
In determining their programming, despite the characteristic differences
(festival with government support, specific-type festival and rebellious
festival), festivals in East Asia are similar with relatively insignificant
differences. The festival artistic director decides the general concept for the
upcoming festival and makes the final decision in choosing which artists or
shows will be performed in the upcoming festival. The festival artistic
director’s role is to ensure that the programmes are aligned to the festival
purpose, to guard the festival’s image and reputation, and to ensure the
programmes can satisfy the target audience. The artistic director usually
forms his own task-team to help him in daily activities. This team generally
is made up of representatives of local art experts and artists.
21
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Artists and Programme Selection Procedure in East Asia Festivals
Regarding the criteria that festivals use to select local artists and shows, Goh
Boon Teck, Singaporean artistic director for the Toy Factory Theatre
Ensemble, indicates that the festival creates general criteria for a preliminary
screening process. After passing the qualification stage, the decision to
present the show generally depends on the reputation and credit that artists
have from previous productions. The selection process is rigorous, for the
Singapore Arts Festival, however, once chosen the festival director trusts the
individual troupe and gives them complete freedom on the artistic decision
making regarding the presentation of their program. The Singapore Arts
Festival usually presents only two or three different groups from a specific art
type (e.g. classical dance, traditional Chinese theatre etc.). Therefore it is a
challenge for every performing art group in Singapore to be distinctive and
differentiate itself from other groups. The audiences that attend the festival
play a role to some extent in determining the programming of the festival,
because the Singapore Arts Festival desires to ensure diversity of the
programme. In addition, according to Mrs. Ary Sutedja from JakArt, their
local artists’ selection process is almost entirely in the hands of a network of
senior artists and practitioners who are recognized as knowing their
particular field well. These senior artists decide by themselves which artist
they want to contact and collaborate with.
On the other hand, the method of selection for international artists and shows
is a more complex process. We recognize that an influencing driver is the
informal network made up of international artists, foreign embassies and
agencies. These informal networks are formed when people in the artistic
festival industry exchange and share information about a particular group or
artist with peers in the industry. This also occurs when a senior and
influential artist or expert gives a recommendation to the festival
programming department about specific artist or show. In addition, cultural
attachés in foreign embassy also acts as an informal information resource,
able to produce a list of “hot-stuff” shows in own country and sweeten the
offer by paying for the travel costs. At the transnational level, information
exchange between festivals generally pertains to the experience of working
together with the artist and the resulting impact in attracting festival
audiences. The recommendation from the established artist and foreign
embassy usually relates to the uniqueness of the show. Alternatively, the
artistic agencies use a formal approach by aggressively promoting their artists
to the festival artistic department by providing a video, brochure, and
invitation to see artist performance. Moreover, Singapore and Shanghai
organize a performing arts exhibition; attended by the agents from all over
the world with the goal of promoting their artist.
Based on our research, every festival, except the “rebellious” festivals,
generally follows the same procedure. They gather information by going to
those resources they know and look to other similar festivals. Subsequently,
the artistic team does a preliminary screening and makes a short-list of
22
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
potential international artists or shows. Afterwards, they attempt to contact
the artists or group to discuss the logistic, technical and financial issues they
have identified. After gathering more detail information, they evaluate all of
it referring to their selection criteria. Examples of these criteria include the
relevance of the proposed programmes to the theme and objectives of the
festival, the overall programme balance of the festival, financial implications,
artistic merit of the programme, technical viability, marketing consideration
and risk taking. Based on the evaluation, they generate a priority list for their
artistic members to visit the show. After they see the actual show, the festival
artistic director will make the final decision to present the show or not in next
upcoming festival.
Table 3:
How East Asia Festival
Performing Arts Group.
Notes:
Gather
Information
about
Foreign
Festival
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Shanghai
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Macao
HK New Vision
Seoul
DaDao
JakArt
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
1. Agency
2. Conducts Performing Arts Fair
3. Attending Performing Arts Fair
4. Attending Other Festival
●
5. Direct contact with artist/group
6. Recommendation
7. Sponsorship
8. Foreign Embassy
In addition, we found that festivals with government support have more
opportunity to search and select potential artists or shows. With strong
financial support, the big festivals in East Asia are very appealing to foreign
artists or agencies, who want to expand their market. They also construct
better network development for information gathering. Furthermore,
concerning performances selection, the big festivals have travel budgets to see
the potential performances.
In Hong Kong, 90% of the programmes are viewed by the festival staff before
being chosen. The rest are chosen based on the recommendation of a festival
representative in the UK or influential artist. In developing countries, with
exception of Shanghai, the percentage of the previewed programmes drops
significantly. Consequently, the festival artistic department relies more on
personal network and peers’ recommendation. In this case, visiting other
festivals in the region to observe potential international artists or show is
essential.
23
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Rebellious festivals are dependant on the artists’ personal network and
foreign embassies to attract the international artists. While the artist’s
personal relations can encourage a foreign artist to participate in the festival
with their own money, foreign embassies actively help the festival organizers
by sponsoring the artist, particularly for the transportation cost and
performance fees. In return, rebellious festivals give the artist unique
challenges and experiences. For instance, JakArt presents a Greek theatre
group performed in the Greek language in the middle of old ship dock with
an audience of dock laborers, fisherman and local neighborhood.
Furthermore, foreign culture and arts organizations can play important role
particularly in specific arts festival like DaDao Live Arts Festival. For
instance, Live Arts Development Agency, an independent organization
commissioned by the UK government, was established to promote the
development of Live Arts. Since 2004, they has contacted the director and
visited DaDao Live Arts Festival. They have sent 18 international artists to
China to participate in the festival. Consequently, Live Arts Department
Agency and its member-organizations have been the main resource of foreign
programmes for DaDao Live Arts Festival.
3.4
Communication and Positioning
A festival is a complex product because it conducts many events in limited
period of time with the aim of communicating its purpose and obtaining the
audiences’ awareness and interests. A whole series of single performances
often vary one from another and draw a different type of audience. For
instance, the elder generation tends to prefer the classical style, while the
younger generation tends to prefer the contemporary or popular style.
Traditional performances appeal to some, and other groups choose
unconventional performances to acquire new experiences.
Festivals in East Asia generally identify their audiences based on a
demographic profile, particularly in age, gender and social status. Therefore,
particularly in interdisciplinary festivals, the festival organizers tend to
stretch their programming and provide many type of performances to cover
the expectation their stakeholders (government, sponsors, audiences).
However, they develop and communicate each program for specific target
audiences.
East Asia Festival Communication Strategy
Festivals use different levels of communication, the “umbrella” branding
strategy or “product” branding strategy. In the umbrella branding strategy,
the festival operator promotes the message based on the reputation and the
image of the festival, while a product branding strategy focuses on stressing
the presence of one or more well-known artist and outstanding performances.
Based on this study, festivals with a government support in East Asia (Hong
Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo) try combining both layers of communication.
This type of festival is very concerned about its reputation, prestige and
24
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
overall picture of the festival. They believe famous artists and brilliant
performances will support the reputation of the festival and create an
international image by increasing visibility in the world. In order to acquire
this reputation and prestige, the festivals present famous, local and foreign
artists or well known performances and use this reputation to create more
buzz for the upcoming festival. In this way the festivals are able to reach a
larger audience due to the interests of the general public. Consequently, the
major festival operators use mass communication tools (TV, newspaper and
radio) to create general public awareness, while printed media (flyers, poster,
festival guidebook) are used heavily to promote famous artists and popular
shows. Print media plays a very important role in the communication of the
festival. It reaches more people and can do so over a longer period of time.
For instance, the big festival with government support usually put
supplements about their festival in daily newspaper some weeks ahead.
Many East Asia festival operators with government support enjoy the strong
awareness of the local communities because the public sees the festivals as a
yearly city event. However, the communities do not know who will perform,
and where and when the performance will occur. In addition, the
communities only have limited idea about the international artists. Therefore,
the need to use “product” branding strategy becomes more essential to
stimulate the interest of the local community by using the printed media.
In the style-oriented festival (Seoul and Hong Kong New Vision), which are
focusing on the contemporary arts, different communication strategies are
employed. These festivals still have support from the government, but
smaller amounts compared to the “lighthouse” festivals. Although the
funding is less, these style-oriented festivals enjoy public awareness although
only limited within their target group. The numbers of festival fans are
smaller, and they are more enthusiastic and vigorous since they have the
same interest and knowledge in that specific art. They use the festival as a
tool to transfer the trend from abroad and absorb it and encourage the local
development of contemporary arts to their area and create networks and
collaboration between local and foreign artists. This type of festival uses highartistic subject and appeal to the artist as a major tool to communicate with its
fans. By taking advantage of the fans’ informal communication, the festival
operator can focus more on creating the reputation and capturing new
audiences by using the umbrella branding strategy.
In contrast, rebellious festivals operators (DaDao and JakArt) have limited
resources and support and do not have the “luxury” to buy a spot on TV or in
the newspaper. This kind of festival depends on “buzz” created from the free
media coverage, by using festivals purposes as the communication magnet.
Furthermore, similar to style-oriented festivals, JakArt festival also had a
strong informal communication network with the intention of contributing to
local communities. A significant tool to attract the interests of audiences is
free entry to the performances that could draw any interested party passing
by. Nevertheless, the festivals also create a unique environment and
25
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
experiences for the audiences because of the unique distinction and inspiring
acts. From this point of view, “the festival becomes an excellent opportunity
to break down the barriers that traditionally stop the public from going to
cultural events.”29
In addition, the festival organizers also use internet as their communication
tools. All festivals in our sample use website as public information resources.
However, the content for each website is different. While DaDao only provide
main information about the festival, in Singapore website you could register
for online bulletin and buy the ticket online.
East Asia Festival Positioning
Positioning is how a festival can be sited in the minds of its potential target
audiences. In order to achieve correct positioning, festivals need to analyze
the characteristics and factors that are distinctive of their project (e.g. a
unique environment, type of performances or theme, featured artists) and
those that best satisfy what the target audiences is looking for (e.g.
entertainment, relaxation, cultural enrichment, status, prestige).30 There is no
single successful formula in positioning a festival, except to differentiate it
from the others. In this study, it is understood that festival positioning is
heavily intertwined with festival purposes. Furthermore, festivals in East
Asia are already positioning themselves adequately in the local community
and the surrounding region but not successfully enough to attract audiences
from outside the country. Here are some examples from our sample
concerning their positioning.
In the Hong Kong Arts Festival, immense influence comes from Western
society, thus the acceptance of Western arts and culture in Hong Kong’s local
community is greater than in other Asia cities. This is logical, because Hong
Kong was a colony of the UK from the late 19th century until 1999. Therefore,
more than 60% of the events in Hong Kong Arts Festival 2005 were presented
by foreign artists or performing arts groups. By doing this, Hong Kong Arts
Festival has presented itself as one of the most international festival in East
Asia, particularly for performing arts groups. However, 90% percent of the
audience comes from the local communities.
China Shanghai International Arts Festival is a relative new festival in East
Asia, started in 2000. Although very young, Shanghai enjoys high degree of
support from the Chinese government and acts as one of Chinese “lighthouse
projects” particularly in the culture and arts field. The reputation has built up
rapidly as a prestigious interdisciplinary arts festival promoting Chinese
traditional arts with an international flavor. Consequently, well-known artists
and repertoire make up the mainstream of the programmes and
approximately 40% of the programmes are from foreign artists and
Bachella, U., Bollo, A., Di Stefano, E., Klaic, D. & Hansen, K. (2004), Festivals: Challenges of
Growth, Distinction, Support Base and Internationalization, Tartu, p.43
30 Ibid, p.44
29
26
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
performing arts groups. The audiences coming from Shanghai and the
surrounding area account for approximately 90%. However, the audiences for
foreign programmes are highly dependent on foreign expatriates and the
Chinese upper class in Shanghai and the surrounding areas.
The positioning of JakArt is as an arts and social movement combined,
achieved by bringing arts and culture closer to the society. JakArt successfully
attracts numerous local artists (amateur and professional) and “idealist”
foreign artists to contribute to the local community without spending any
money for their talent. For instance, a Greek theatre group performed in the
middle of old ship dock with audience of fisherman, dock laborers and their
neighbors. The veritable slogan of JakArt is “It is not about who you are, but
what can you contribute to the society.” Approximately 95% of their
audiences come from the local communities.
East Asia Festival Audiences
In the previous sections, it is shown that the major audiences of performing
arts festivals in East Asia are from local communities. The foreign audiences
are only a minority. The primary reason of this audience composition is due
to the contents of festivals. Most of the genres of performing arts in the
festivals in this study are western cultural derivatives which are not
interesting to the western visitors traveling in Asia. The Barong31 from Bali or
Taiko32 from Kyoto would be more preferred by the western tourists than the
Ballet Nacional Español from Spain in Asia.
Moreover, most of the chosen festivals employ to enrich the local cultural life
and to introduce new experiences to the local community. It is the domestic
audiences who are the main purchasing customers of the festivals. With very
different preferences from the western visitors, the general domestic
audiences expect that the festivals can provide something new, something
unusual, and something “international”. Since the primary target market is
domestic audiences rather than foreign tourists, it is expected that the
audience picture is less international.
3.5
Festival Financial Resources and Expenditure Analysis
3.5.1
Festival Financial Resources
Every festival has a different financial structure, especially regarding the
origin of resources. We have identified in this study the government, private
sponsors, ticket income, foreign governments and individual donors as the
festival’s main financial sources.
31
32
Traditional Indonesian dance from Bali resulted from traditional religious ceremony.
Traditional Japanese music played with drum was to disperse the devil in the ancient time.
27
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Government Role
In this study, the government has a critical role in festivals particularly
regarding the financial issues, and they have decisive influences in the
programming interests as a consequence. Festivals which are subsidized by
the state bear the responsibility to carry out the government’s will, which is to
be relatively popular, highly acceptable, and intensely visible. “Four
government roles can be identified in this study according to the definitions
as initiator, organizer, commissioner, and funder.”33
Festivals initiated and organized directly by the government enjoy the
advantage of having almost full economic support and publicity, such as
Hong Kong New Vision, Seoul, and Macao. These festivals are operated on an
annual given budget and work under less pressure to generate income, either
from sponsorship or tickets.
The other festivals which are organized by independent arts organizations
and commissioned by the governments receive significant subsidies from the
government, nationally or municipally. Shanghai is one example which fits
this mode. The role of the government here is rather like that of a
commissioner who “outsources” the festival which presents the national
image of arts and culture to a non-profit organization.
There are other festivals which operate independently and receive a great
amount of funds from the government but not as commissioned
organizations. These festivals have more freedom to program compared to
the commissioned ones. The role of the government is defined as “funder” for
this type of festivals, such as Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Sponsorship in East Asia Festivals
Concerning sponsorships, we found similarities among the festivals in East
Asia. Most of the sponsors of festivals are local companies (up to 70%). This
probably happens because of a closer relationship between a sponsor and a
festival organizer compared one with a foreign company. There is also
another concern if the festival is a government project, in this case the
government can influence the local business to support the festival.
The festival sponsors come from a variety of industry backgrounds including
banks, insurance companies, airlines, hotels, or consumer products to name a
few. A unique situation is the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Their main sponsor is
a non-profit organization, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.
There are various opportunities and levels for sponsorship: the main sponsor
supports the entire festival; programme sponsors offer the opportunity for the
corporate sponsor to be associated with specific projects; and finally as an
official sponsor. This is an approach which provides an alternative way for
European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (June 2003), Study on Cultural Cooperation in Europe
(online), cited on August 12, 2005, p.145
33
28
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
festivals to operate without the ordinary financial support. The official
sponsor offers its services as a host for festival activities. This type of sponsor
could include airlines and hotel chains, or special projects such as a student
ticket system, which sponsors a program for those who would like to help
students and as a means to offer students tickets at half price.
Like the government, the sponsors generally do not have direct influence in
the artistic and programming activities of the festival. However, the sponsor
can influence the marketing program heavily, particularly in the developing
countries like China. Shanghai International Arts Festival formed a
partnership with one of the major real estate corporations in Shanghai. The
company acts as a main sponsor, by patronizing and covering the whole
festival and contributes a majority of the sponsorship. Nevertheless, the real
estate company has tried to exploit every opportunity in the festival to
promote itself. For instance, the company was introduced by the festival to
the participants of the promotion showcase held by the Singapore Arts
Festival. Regardless, of the business context in China, we think that the
festival organizers need to introduce an ethical code of sponsoring, by putting
the interest of the festival in front of sponsor’s own interest and limiting the
opportunity for a sponsor to engage in reckless self promotion.
Foreign Government Roles
In addition to local government and sponsorship, there is another important
role of the foreign government through their embassies in the respective
countries to support specific festivals. Foreign governments want to promote
their national culture and encourage arts and cultural exchange between the
two respective countries. Consequently, foreign cultural institutes not only
promote their artist and performances, but also help festival organizers to
present the programs in the festival.
The involvement level of the foreign government in the festival differs in
every country. The foreign government usually offers subsides to cover
international airfares for a selected group. In some cases, the foreign
governments also encourage companies or cultural institutes within their
country to present national artist or performances. For instance, Tokyo
International Arts Festival received financial support from the Goethe
Institute to perform “Germany in Japan” programmes. Conversely, in
developing countries, the level of involvement of foreign government is much
greater. Through the cultural institute, those foreign governments not only
help festival organizers to make contact with the artists, they subsidize the
transportation expenses and performance fees34. The foreign governments do
co-financing because they want to boost the image of their own country (and
its culture) and not by some intrinsic cultural agenda. The general objective is
political and seeks some influence. Unfortunately, we can not identify the
parameter and procedure that has been used by foreign government to help
Chinese government leverages the exchange rates to benefit the festivals in terms of performing
fees to foreign groups.
34
29
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
foster these cultural exchanges. Each government has its own policies and
priorities and decisions are often made case by case, depending of the
country, festival and guest artists.
Donator
Concerning to rebellious festival, we recognize the important role of
donations for them. They only get limited support from the government and
private companies. For instance, in Indonesia, the officials in the government
and private companies want to put their own interest in front of the JakArt’s
interest, therefore limiting their sponsorships.
There are many donors for the festival. From internal resources, they have
artists and personal networks. The artists donate when they agree to perform
in the festival without a performance fee. Furthermore, in JakArt, they can
utilize their members’ network to provide materials or money for the festival.
From external resources, foreign governments are very important resources.
They can provide foreign artists, and probably some money for the festival.
Particularly for JakArt, we can consider local community as a donor since it
collaborates with the festival organizer to provide meals, transport etc.
However, donors are not noticeable for the rebellious festival only. Donors
also involved in sponsor-oriented and state-supported festivals, together with
the government and other sponsors.
The distinction to be made is that sponsorship is a result of a business
transaction. Although they both involve revenue for the festival, the sponsors
purchase a product, in this case publicity and exposure for the sponsoring
company. The donors, on the other hand, act on altruistic ground, driven by
value, passion, belief in the inherent worth of arts, or personal association
with the artists and their organizations.
Table 4:
East Asia Festival Financial Resources
Festival
Government
Sponsorship /
Donator
Ticket
Income
Shanghai
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Macao
HK New Vision
Seoul
DaDao*
JakART**
33.30%
25%
40%
70%
100%
78%
33.30%
18.75%
35%
15%
33.30%
56.25%
25%
15%
12%
100%
80%
10%
20%
Notes:
*
For DaDao, all of their incomes come from sponsorship and donation, but we
**
were unable to breakdown the number.
For JakART 80% of the income comes from donation, from individuals, artists,
foreign embassies, or their network. Another 20% comes from the government
and sponsorship
30
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
3.5.2
Financial Expenditure Analysis
Concerning the financial expenditure of the festivals, we have identified that
there is a certain trend among festivals in East Asia. The festival expenditures
are dominated by programming expenses, which includes international
airfares, hospitality, performance fees and royalties etc. Marketing expense is
always allocated in a separate category, limited to how to inform the public
and create public interest about the upcoming festival. Another primary
expenditure is the organizational expenses including salaries and
administration. An exception to this is Macao International Arts Festival
because the administration fees and salaries of the employees are not
included in the festival budgets but are carried by the government directly
since Macao uses government employees to run the festival.
As a contrast, rebellious festivals cannot create clear distinction and
categories of financial expenditures. Many expenses are not categorized with
at all or in the same way that most festivals categorize expenses. This is a
result of their unique collaboration business model. In unconventional
festivals all stakeholders contribute something to the project. Consequently,
the project actual expenses are distributed among the stakeholders. For
instance, a painting project in Jakarta, the actual cost for JakArt is only for the
paint applicator. The paint was provided by the sponsor, while local
neighborhood provides meals and volunteers to help the artists. In addition,
rebellious festivals probably lack management expertise because their
organizations are base on the volunteers. According to JakArt 90% of the fund
raising activity is to cover festival infrastructure (e.g. hall rent, sound system,
and lighting), and foreign artist accommodation. Another 10% is for
administration and printing expenses.
Table 5:
East Asia Festivals Financial Expenditures Allocation
Festival
Operation
Programming
Marketing
Shanghai
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Macao
HK New Vision
Seoul
DaDao*
JakART**
n/a
18%
n/a
n/a
58%
n/a
85%
60%
70%
n/a
90%
n/a
24%
n/a
15%
14.50%
10-15%
n/a
25.50%
10-15%
n/a
10%
31
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Table 6:
East Asia Festivals Budget
Festival
Total Budget
Shanghai*
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Macao
HK New Vision
Seoul
DaDao
JakART**
€ 7,500,000 - € 9,000,000
€ 6,500,000
n/a
€ 600,000
€ 2,500,000
n/a
€ 3,300 - € 5,000
€ 40,000 - € 210,000
Notes:
* Rough estimation, based on internet research and rumors
** The big range in JakART happened because they have different theme every year,
like the art movement (2001-2003), festival ala carte (2004), imaginary festival
(2005)
32
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
4 Development of Cooperation among Festivals in East Asia
Collaboration is an important tool in the global economy of today. “The best companies are the
best collaborators. In the flat world, more and more business will be done through
collaborations within and between companies, for a very simple reason: The next layers of
value creation—whether in technology, marketing, or manufacturing—are becoming so
complex that no single firm or department is going to be able to master them alone.35
4.1
The Current Cooperation of East Asia Festivals
Currently, there is some level of cooperation among festivals in East Asia.
However, we found that this level of cooperation is limited. To some extent,
the festival organizers prefer to keep their own identity and try to become
more innovative than other festivals. This follows the hidden agenda from the
government officials to use the festival as a “lighthouse” project.
In our research, we found several cooperative examples in the culture and
arts field. The cooperation can be the result of formal affiliations, such as the
Association of Asian Pacific Performing Arts Center (AAPPAC) and
Association of Asian Performing Arts Festivals (AAPAF). Meanwhile, the
informal networking enables festival to gather both tangible and intangible
resources which facilitates collaboration among the festivals, such as Live Art
Work in Japan (LAW). Governmental cultural agency centers such as Goethe
Institute and British Council also provide a channel for festivals to seek
resources. The ministries of culture or education in specific countries can
stimulate the interactions among festivals by establishing various arts and
cultural policies, projects, and programs, including student exchanges and
cultural delegations.
The formal affiliations, or associations, include various players in the
performing arts industry from the West and East: festivals, arts and cultural
centers, performing arts companies, agencies, and organizations which work
in the arts field. It can be rather a close relationship since information can
only be collected by registered members. In these associations, members can
exchange ideas, expertise, management solutions, information about touring
artists and venues, and funding resources. As an example AAPPAC offers an
online programming communication system, “Touring Networks - TOPICS”
for touring company members to register those members in the region who
have an interest in a particular venue.
More complex collaborations have also been established among the members
of AAPAF. In 2005, one contemporary multi-media dance theatre, Amber, was
co-commissioned by two of the founding festivals of AAPAF, Hong Kong and
Shanghai, the National Theatre Company of China (NTCC) and co-produced
by the NTCC, Hong Kong, and Singapore Arts Festival.
Friedman, T. (2005), The World is Flat: A Brief History of 21st Century, New York: Farrar, Straus &
Giroux, p. 352
35
33
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
The informal networks provide an opportunity to share information that is
more diverse and open. Without paying memberships and being accepted
“by the hosting” organization, the information is readily available for anyone
interested. This is a very useful channel for the festivals and independent
artists without sufficient resources to belong to an international association
such as DaDao and its artists. In the informal networks, typically only
information distributed in the public domain is available. For instance,
information about artists, venues, education, festivals, funding and
publications is presented by the LAW. Festivals can find the information
about artists and performing arts companies from various countries as well as
about funding resources through this network.
The cooperation of DaDao and Nippon International Performance Art
Festival is one of the successful examples. In fact, this circulation of
information is an important function of the information network. It includes
such things as rumors, gossip, personal preferences, private experience along
with individual judgments and opinions. All these encourage the small
festivals and independent artists to form or join the networks.
The informal network between artists is much more vivid and exciting in the
performing arts industry. The dance theatre, Little Prince Hamlet, was coproduced by six independent male artists from Hong Kong, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Korea, and Japan, and was commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts
Festival. All six male artists are performers and also take part in other
responsibilities of the production, including as the choreographer, the
composer, the musician, the multi-media performance director, and the
lighting and technical designer. Through the personal relationship of the
artists, the collaborative production presents five different cultures in East
Asia and creates a new performing arts style combining traditions and multimedia art forms imported from the West.
This study finds that governmental cultural agencies have significant impact
on festivals, especially for information and as a source for funding resources.
Goethe Institute offers comprehensive information about German arts and
distributes it to its branches around the world. Every branch also has a set
budget to promote the German culture in these countries. In 2003, Goethe
Institute financed one of the programmes presented by JakArt in Indonesia,
and in 2005, Goethe Institute Tokyo financed the production Endstation
Amerika by Setagaya Public Theatre from Germany in the Tokyo International
Arts Festival. It is anticipated that the cultural institutes can become a
“middle man” to broker information and resources among the festivals.
Artists and performances that have the distinctive flavor of a particular
nationality will be preferred by these institutes.
In addition, governments of the host country could act as facilitators for the
arts and cultural events in their region. We consider the Singaporean
government as a generator and an important player in promoting cooperation
and integration of the resources of performing arts, particularly in South East
34
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Asia and East Asia. Singapore, with its multi-ethnic and diverse cultural
heritage (Chinese, Malay, Tamil, etc.), tries to enrich its diversified culture
through the exchange of knowledge and creates opportunities for cooperation in artistic productions. Singapore should be considered an
emerging culture-hub in the East Asia region.
National Arts Council (NAC), under the supervision of the Singaporean
Ministry of Information, Communications and Arts, has been the pioneer
among the Asian governmental agencies to initiate several official and
unofficial programs or organizations in order to facilitate the development of
arts and cultures in Singapore and the surrounding region. NAC has
established projects and programs to promote an exchange of international
arts and cultural. One of the grant programs is the “International
Collaboration Grant”, which “provides support to facilitate the development
of co-productions and collaborative ventures with overseas artists.”36 This
funding program is a great resource for festivals or artists seeking
international cooperation with Singapore.
With full governmental support and a strong tradition of arts management,
the Singaporean festivals and other arts and cultural events have developed
rapidly. The Singaporean approach has been the model for other Asian
festivals. AAPPAC and AAPAF are the logical development of the PanSingapore networking organizations.37
However, there are festivals falling outside of the Pan-Singapore scheme.
Those are “individual” festivals that employ small operations and have
limited support from the government, and may even present alternative
genres of performing arts. Although they can not be compared with the giant
festivals, the Pan-Singapore networks provide opportunities for them to
gather information on programmes and artists and to imitate the
management structures. JakArt is one of the founders of AAPAF, and the
director of DaDao usually participates in international forums and festivals. It
is hard for the small to medium festival to be able to provide tangible
resources to others as a demonstration of cooperation. However, with the
strong particular vision of artistry and the market knowledge of local
communities in terms of artists, environment, and audience, these festivals
can work with other and develop cooperative ventures that are different from
the more formal structures.
National Arts Council (2005), Financial Assistance: International Collaboration Grant (online), cited
on August 8, 2005
37 Esplanade Co. Ltd in Singapore is one of the founders of AAPPAC. Since 2004, AAPPAC has
shifted its secretariat to Esplanade, Singapore.
36
35
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
4.2
The Key Success Factors in the Cooperation
We identified several points that we consider as key success factors in the
development of cooperation among Asian festivals. Formal network
affiliations play a significant role as a primary resource because of their
ability to build an arts player database and set-up a standard for the
performing arts industry. In addition, because of its cultural heritage, East
Asia performing arts players are also dependent on personal networks to
exchange information and share experiences. On the other hand, we also
realize that governmental role is a very important one to create sustainable
cooperation. Finally, the pervasive use of technology in Asia also plays a vital
role, both at the organization level and the audiences’ level.
4.2.1
Formal Network Affiliations
Formal network affiliations like AAPAF, AAPPAC are formal organizations
among the culture and arts player in the region. The ability to access formal
network affiliations is important because of the need to share information and
knowledge among performing arts players and organizations in the region. In
addition, formal organizations can establish trends and standards for the
industry through joint agreement among its members. So there is a strong
motivation, for some performing arts industry players to become part of a
powerful organization.
Moreover, formal network affiliations are a suitable way to initiate and foster
communication with performing arts industry players from other regions,
particularly from Europe and North America. As a formal organization, they
can build a performing arts players database and knowledge about a specific
region. By managing the information, they become primary information
sources to make contact and explore promising opportunities with other
players. Without formal network affiliations, arts players face obstacles
obtaining information in order to create a clear picture of the who else is in
the field and what opportunities may exist, brought on primarily because of
geographic and language barriers.
4.2.2
Informal Network Affiliations
Although formal network affiliations are important, they just open the door
for opportunity. In East Asia, we cannot deny the importance and power of
personal relationships as a core for informal networks. Especially in East Asia,
personal relationships and trustworthiness are valuable treasures. You need
to establish a relationship first, before moving on to business concerns. It is
routine that the most important business decisions are made in the informal
meeting setting.
While senior and powerful artists control and influence the formal network
affiliations, informal networking is the communication channel among the
small and medium size arts players. In this communication channel, small
and medium performing arts players are able to exchange information and
share experiences. They want to know about the latest trend in their field. In
36
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
addition, many outstanding creations were started from deep within the
community and society where the most vivid and flashy interactions occur
between the artists. With better informal networks, young, small or medium
size festivals (and performing arts groups) can benefit from the ideas,
information, and even financial support shared within the network. The large
arts organization can also broaden their knowledge about innovative arts
approach and grasp the grass-root trend.
Another significant contribution from informal networks is their ability to
promote a specific artist or group, particularly from other regions. Small and
medium festival operators usually work under very tight budgets. They do
not have many lavish opportunities compared to the large festivals: including
seeing the performance directly from the foreign artists. Therefore, they
depend on the recommendation of other festival operators and influential arts
players to select foreign artists for their festival.
4.2.3
Government Role in Supporting Culture and Arts
Currently, culture is not the main issue for most governments in the East Asia
region. The governments, particularly in the developing countries are more
focused on economic and political stability issues. Furthermore, due to the
dependence of collective and administrative decisions of government, culture
and arts are led to become bureaucratic.38 The people who make the cultural
policies are not necessarily coming from the arts or cultural expertise, but
from a bureaucracy which means that they are more concerned about
economic, social, or political benefits rather than the appreciation of arts and
culture. Consequently, all the big festivals in Asia are held in wealthy Asian
countries like Singapore and Japan, with the exception of China.
Particularly to China, explosive growth offers its government a new
perspective. The economic growth of China has grown dramatically since the
reforms in 1979. It is the anxiety of catching up with the developed countries
that makes the Chinese government wants to involve themselves with the arts
and cultural activities in order to establish a national image and to become
more visible internationally. The argument is that the Chinese government
invests in the big shows or critical events that make an impression globally in
order to prove the rising power of China. For example, more than 10 million
euro is spent on an “explosion arts “performance of fireworks in one of the
events for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Shanghai. The
arts and cultures have become powerful tools for the Chinese government in
marketing the country in the international sphere. Although the Olympic
Games will take place in Beijing in 2008, the government and the committee
have already invited thousands of local and foreign artists to move to Beijing
in order to strengthen the national image of a strong and creative arts and
cultural environment at that time.
38
Greffe, X. (2003), Arts and Artists from Economic Perspective, Paris: Economica/UNESCO, p.8
37
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
In the developing countries, the festival presence is brought to live by the
resolute will and determination of the local artists. Are they brave enough to
face the challenges of bureaucracy, corruption, etc.? However, the festivals
without government support can not be sustained for the long term without
alternative funding sources. They are heavily dependent on the festival
founders’ determination. The Governments’ will to support the festival is a
determining factor in the life-line of the festival. Therefore, to create wider
and sustainable cooperation among festivals in Asia, government support is
an essential element. In addition, according to Dr. Dragan Klaic, in the
European context, there are four main roles for government to take for arts
and cultural events: initiating cultural agreements; achieving political
benefits; participating in multilateral events; and marking particular
occasions.39
4.2.4
Technology
The rapid development of technology has an effect on the cooperation among
the performing arts groups, festival organizers and audiences. The
operational activities of the festivals take advantage of technology in order to
gather information, to reduce the cost, to smooth the administrative activities,
and to amplify the marketing effect. Internet and media are very effective
technological factors in the performing arts industry.
Internet technology provides a solution to the dilemma of great distances
between any two parties by providing efficient communication. The artist and
the event organizer can approach each other more easily through the use of a
website and convenience of email. Therefore, the cost of communication is
reduced and the frequency is more intense. Artists are able to communicate
with each other more frequently leading to more artistic creations from both a
quantitative and qualitative perspective. The administrative activities are
more efficient because of the online interaction with the audiences, such as
the online booking system.
Internet marketing is occurring in every industry, and the performing arts
industry is one of the most affected. With the development of multimedia, the
performing arts company can provide the audience with the experience of a
virtual performance via internet. The virtual reality of the internet can offer
the audience the chance to experience part of the performance whenever the
audience is online. It is a strong marketing tool. Meanwhile, the revolution of
digital storage technology improves the content of these virtual
performances, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The documentation of
the performance is more complete because the digital video and the audio
recording system reduce the cost, complexity, time, and manpower. The
digital documents then become the powerful marketing and communication
contents and tools to promote the performance.
European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (June 2003), Study on Cultural Cooperation in Europe
(online), cited on August 12, 2005, p.146
39
38
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Another important contribution of technology is the development of the
subtitle provider. Language is the essential element of theatre and opera. In
order to promote the performance outside of the native country, the
companies of theatre and opera have to overcome the linguistic barriers in
order to access the foreign audiences. The invention of subtitle machines, in
the perspective of marketing and communication, increases the opportunities
of international cooperation.
4.3
Potential Difficulties for Cooperation
Nevertheless, despite the speed of growth, we recognize several potential
difficulties existing in the current cooperative environment. In the future,
threat of similarity in the programming can be occur. Furthermore, a stable
economic condition in East Asia countries is necessary in order to elevate the
level of cooperation.
4.3.1
Similarity in the Programming
Singapore has already become a “benchmark” among festival operators in
Asia, both in the programming and operational fields. Therefore, “PanSingapore influence” can dominate the cooperation and have significant
impact on the development of cooperation. The two main formal associations
of cooperation, AAPAF and AAPPAC were begun by the Singaporean
industry players: the Singapore Arts Festival in the case of AAPAF and the
Esplanade, Theatre of the Bay for AAPAC.
In the future, when the cooperation among festivals becomes more intensive,
the festival operators will face exclusivity issues, particularly in cocommissioning programmes. The information sharing among festivals creates
the phenomenon of certain touring performing companies appearing in
several festivals or arts centers. The more common festival programmes
become, the less there will be resources available for new collaborative efforts.
Although the festivals in two countries will not compete with each other in
terms of the market, it could create the problem of losing originality and
creativity in the festivals. If the festivals depend on more and more common
programmes, gradually, the exclusivity which is one of the critical attributes
of arts will begin to disappear. This has not yet happened, because Asia is
diversified and festival organizers aim at the local communities for their
primary audience. And people in Asia still face complex immigration and
travel restrictions and requirements, making it difficult to move throughout
Asia easily.
4.3.2
Economic Development and Social Condition
The Economic development condition can be a potential threat for further
cooperation development among performing arts players in Asia. Most
countries in Asia are still in the developing stages. Some of them are still
struggling to acquire political and economical stability. Thus, culture and arts
is not a priority for the countries.
39
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Without a strong and stable economic condition, the people have limited
buying power. “The have-nots” only focuses to fulfill primary needs to live
(food, clothing, and house), while “the haves” can get pleasure from their
lives. Unfortunately, “the haves” are only a minority of the total population,
and the gap between the two is getting bigger. Furthermore, young
generations of “the haves” get more influenced by the Western popular and
entertainment cultures and tend to ignore traditional culture and arts. This
kind of situation limits the culture and arts development in the respective
countries.
From the traditional performing arts group perspectives, this current trend
gives them pressure in order to survive. They must deal with greater public
preference towards western popular and entertainment cultures. The general
public is likely to go to mall, cinema or watch MTV. To attract more audience,
the traditional performing groups usually lower the performance tickets, but
this strategy failed to attract enough audiences and give more economic
pressures to the group. Therefore, many traditional performing arts group fail
to survive in the competition. For instance, in Jakarta, the number of Betawi 40
traditional groups has dropped by 40% within the years 1998-2002. The
potential market for them is only the marriage celebrations held by rich
ethnic Betawi in Jakarta.
Moreover, governments in developing countries tend to ignore the cultural
and arts development and education. In some developing countries, the
cultural affairs are subject to the branches of the educational ministries or
committee councils of a lower level in the government bureaucratic hierarchy.
Without the awareness towards arts and cultures of the government, the
appreciation towards arts and cultures of the general public cannot be
established, either through the educational system or the social common
practice. For instance, in many Asian countries, the classes of Music or Arts in
the secondary school are “usurped” by the classes of the Mathematics and
English because math and language are more useful and important for the
children. Without the will and supports from the government, the arts and
cultures are not able to have sustainable development.
In addition, the country audiences’ buying power differences will also limit
the cooperation. For instance, in joint production programmes among
Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean performing groups, although they
develop the programme together, can only perform in Singapore and
Malaysia. They cannot go to Indonesia since the Indonesian cannot afford the
performing and transportation fees. Moreover, the Indonesian market is too
small and arts appreciation is too low. According to Ary Sutedja, “The
culture’s elite audiences in Indonesia are limited. We usually meet the same
people in every concert.” Even though there is some level of cooperation, it
will still be limited on several performing groups who have good personal
relations with foreign players.
40
Betawi ethnic is native people in Jakarta.
40
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Therefore, there are limited cross-cultural programmes for audiences in
developing countries since the programmes are not presented well in
respective countries. The uneven resources limit cooperation perspectives
because festivals prefer to collaborate as equal partners. The inequality of
financial supports and resources among collaborative partners is expected to
be moderated by the government subsidies and sponsorships. However, the
cultural policies and the social appreciation towards arts in the developing
countries are not sophisticated and complete enough to realize the
importance of the cooperation of arts and cultural industry players in the
festivals. Consequently, collaborations will take place in the more developed
and wealthier countries in the region, such as Singapore, Japan, South Korea,
and Hong Kong.
41
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
5 Developing Opportunities in the East Asia Market
5.1
Why European Groups Seek Opportunities in East Asia
There are both artistic and commercial reasons for this phenomenon. East
Asia provides the opportunity for the European performing groups to expand
their market, their audience and increase their income.
Performing
internationally also fosters the ability for groups to meet other artists, or
festival organizers, in order to exchange ideas with one another and work
toward collaborative efforts in the future. It is the natural tendency of artists
to share their work and talent. And in a time where the arts market is
saturated by many different groups in Europe, the performing groups seek to
increase their audience and experience new opportunities with people in a
new environment and of a different culture. By pursuing opportunities in
East Asia, the artists or performing groups are able to share their talent with a
larger audience, and perhaps introduce a contemporary art form to people of
a different culture. By performing on the international circuit the groups are
able to reach new audiences and generate more awareness which may
promote additional performances in new areas and generate more revenue
for their company.
5.2
Typology of the European Performing Arts that are Favorable
In our study we have found that European performing arts in music and
dance are received quite favorably among the festivals in Asia. Language,
certainly, plays a role in this trend. Music and Dance are borderless with
regards to language. All can enjoy and interpret the art in their own way,
without losing any meaning since there is no need of translation which can be
a problem when theatre and opera productions are performed.
We recognize that European performing groups already have acquired strong
recognition in East Asia because Europeans enjoy a strong cultural heritage,
especially in the classical genres. It has lifted the prestige of European
performing group and has created advantages in the programming selection
process.
In Figure 2 we can clearly see the breakdown of programming by
participating regions in the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Hong Kong is a wellestablished festival (since 1973). As mentioned earlier, music and dance are
dominated by foreign performing groups. Thirty eight percent of Hong Kong
Arts Festival programming involved a European performing groups or
artists. This is due, certainly, to the relationship that Hong Kong has with
Europe as a past colony of the United Kingdom. Four out of the five dance
performing groups came from Europe, and in the music category one quarter
of the performance groups were from European countries. There is a strong
European participation across each type of performance, Theatre, Opera,
Dance and Music, offered at the Hong Kong Festival.
42
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Figure 2: Breakdown of Programming by Participating Region in
Hong Kong Arts Festival 2005
Hong Kong Arts Festival 2005 Programmes
20
15
10
5
0
The a te r
Ope ra
Da nc e
M us ic
Othe r
1
C o lla bo ra tio n
2
Euro pe
3
1
4
5
Ea s t As ia
4
3
1
6
C irc us
8
1
1
Notes: Other region include North America, Latin America, Africa, West Asia, Central Asia
and Australia
For comparison, we will use Shanghai International Arts Festival. Shanghai is
a relativity young festival, but because of the nature of the festivals to reach a
broader audience, the festival looks for well established performing groups,
typically in the traditional and classical genres. Although the majority of
performance groups originate from local countries, Shanghai had 13% of its
performing groups from Europe in 2005, again with the largest percentages in
the music and dance categories (see figure 3). Interestingly, we found that
Australia tries to cooperate more in Dance category (2 productions and 1 joint
production), while American groups are focused in the Music category (2
productions).
In the style-oriented festival, such as Hong Kong New Vision and Seoul there
is greater focus on joint-production programmes. This seems logical as one of
the objectives of their festivals is to encourage local creation. The festivals see
themselves as a place to promote and to test experimental projects and ideas.
In Hong Kong New Vision, 25% of the productions came from Europe.
However all are collaborations with Asian, American or other European
performing arts groups. In Seoul, almost 40% of the productions were
performed by European groups. We can see clearly in figure 4 that European
performing group enjoy some preferences from the festival organizer.
43
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Figure 3: Breakdown of Programming by Participating Region in
Shanghai International Arts Festival 2005
Shanghai International Arts Festival 2005
Programmes
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Theatre
Other
Dance
M usic
3
4
Co llabo ratio n
1
1
Euro pe
1
2
4
East A sia
3
5
5
Opera
Other
2
1
1
11
1
Notes: Other region include North America, Latin America, Africa, West Asia, Central Asia
and Australia
Figure 4: Breakdown of Programming by Participating Region in
Seoul Performing Arts Festival 2005
Seoul Performing Arts Festival 2005
Programmes
10
8
6
4
2
0
Dance
Theater
Co mbinatio n
2
Others
Co llabo ratio n
1
2
1
Euro pe
2
2
1
Lo cal
5
4
1
Notes: Other region include North America, Latin America, Africa, West Asia, Central Asia
and Australia
44
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Conversely, the “rebellious” festivals can not choose the origin of their foreign
performing group or artist. This is because they depend on the artist’s
personal network and foreign government (or foreign organization).
Consequently, the foreign artists who participate usually come from
developed countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, or Germany.
In addition, Mrs. Ary Sutedja from JakART is against the idea that the festival
should focus more on arts with high audience acceptance, like music and
dance. She argues that the festival should not limit the performances type by
taking the easy path. Why do we not try to present new things to our
audiences? We do not know the audiences reaction until we try it. Some of the
audiences will not like it, but for some of them the “new things” can be
become inspiration in their lives. The festival should bring new and unique
experiences to its audiences.
The detail programme list for each festival can be found in the appendices.
5.3
The Entry Channels
The first priority for European performing groups to enter the Asian market
is to establish a network among East Asia performing arts players. In East
Asia’s culture high importance is placed on doing business with those with
whom a relationship has been established. Consequently, it is important for
European performing groups to take an active role in establishing
relationships with performing arts players in Asia, including festival
administrators and curators, local theatre groups, directors etc. We have
identified six channels (agency, formal and informal forum, foreign
government, company sponsorship, performing arts fair and festival
representative) that can by utilized by the European groups to enter the East
Asia Market.
5.3.1
Agency
The role of agencies in the performing arts industry is to actively promote the
artists and (or) performing arts groups that they represent. Their goal is to
find performing opportunities for these artists in their area of operation.
They attend arts fairs with the objective of marketing the groups to the
festival artistic directors, programming boards or cultural venue operators.
They also aggressively promote their artists by providing a video, brochure
and invitation to see artist performance. The agencies provide the artist or
group with either single event opportunities or a broader tour of a certain
region. Some agencies also work on developing projects for their artists to
take part in.
A downfall for the artists or groups who are represented by these agencies is
that their scope of performances could be limited by the defined scope of the
agency. An example of a performance group that utilizes the services of an
agency is the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. This group performs a
repertoire that ranges from Gregorian chants to late baroque and 20th century
45
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
music.41 They tour internationally, rarely performing in their home country of
Estonia. This is due to the limited and small audiences they find at home (1.7
million inhabitants). Their primary performing activities consist of recordings
and international performances. The choir has faced difficulties as they try to
expand their performance schedules to new arenas and reach new audiences,
also in Asia. They lack resources for an administrative staff to organize
performances on an international circuit. The Choir has outsourced this
responsibility to two international representatives, one in the US and another
in the UK, to set performance dates in the international setting throughout the
year. They are however bound to the resources, orientation and focus of these
agents, as only occasional performances are set by direct contact with the
choir.
5.3.2
Formal and Informal Forum
Formal and informal networks are very important to establish the first
contact. Today many festivals incorporate a forum platform as part of the
festival where professionals can participate in this networking opportunity.
Festival administrators and artists have the opportunity to meet and build
personal networking contacts, and start or continue the relationship process
that may spur thoughts for future presentations, or create alliances for
potential future joint commissions of work.
While formal networks open the door of opportunity for knowledge
exchange, it tends to take root in the informal network setting. As Angharad
Wynne-Jones, director of LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre)
stated in an interview, “These networks and associations are important
catalysts to the forming of professional relationships, but it is important for
the individuals to take the next step and move in a personal circle where trust
can develop between the two groups”. She still relies on friendships she has
established during her tenure in Asia Pacific region with regards to
exchanging ideas and learning of new works. Therefore, many international
artists and performing groups are sought after “word of mouth”
recommendations from festival representatives. By having good
recommendation from influential arts player, the chance to be selected in the
festival is greater.
There are also non-profit organizations established to assist artists wishing to
cross the cultural border into the East Asia culture and arts field. They are
initiated by governments (or international organizations) in order to boost
cultural exchange or s a result of a cultural agreement between respective
countries (or regions). They offer the opportunity for professionals to gather,
meet and exchange ideas. Artists can learn from others experiences in
traveling to East Asia and provide vital information on the process needed to
succeed. The organization not only provides information and network
connections, some of them also offer funding resources.
United Singer International, (2005) Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir(online), cited on August
8, 2005
41
46
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
One of the influential players in cultural exchanges is The Asia Europe
Foundation (www.asef.org). It was established in 1997 to “build bridges
between the civil societies of Asia and European Union through promoting
cultural, intellectual and people-to-people exchanges, and creating a network
of institutional linkages and personal ties between the two regions”. The
foundation is located in Singapore, and includes 38 countries from the East
Asia and European Union. One goal of the foundation is to create a “cultural
portal” and to supply “real time information and serve as a gateway for
greater mobility and cooperation in the cultural domain.” A foundation
project was founded with partners Universes in Universe, “a non-commercial
information and communication system for the visual arts of Africa, Americas
and Asia Pacific” with the intention of supporting cultural exchange among
the visual arts.42 Project CulturE-ASEF was established in March 2002
(http://www.culture-asef.org/english/ver/index.html) and founded to support
the cultural portal and assist in cultural exchange between members. This is
an online database that lists and provides the website links to cultural
exchange foundations in each of the member countries. (see Appendix 11).
ASEF also lists events and conferences that may be beneficial to individuals
and organizations in addition to projects being funded by the foundation. The
website fosters discussion among the members and in this way helps to
promote the exchange of cultural ideas. Organizations such as ASEF are
vehicles that can be used by individuals to further seek out the information
they wish for, and provide a channel for further education and
communication which could then lead to further relationships.
There are other resources existing for the artist or performing groups hoping
to expand their market into East Asia. They include, the Asian Culture Link
(http://www.asianculturelink.net), which is financially supported by
UNESCO, and The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture
Agencies (http://www.ifacca.org) whose primary goal is to provide a global
network of national arts funding bodies.43 IFACCA vision is to create “a
dynamic network, sharing knowledge and creating understanding to enrich a
world of artistic and cultural diversity.”44
5.3.3
Foreign Governments
Foreign governments are another portal for foreign artists to use to enter the
East Asia market. Through their embassy, particularly their cultural attaché,
they create bilateral agreements concerning cultural exchanges. They also
provide information about their artists and cultures. In some cases, they
greatly help culture and arts players in their respective country by offering
subsidies and other facilities. JakArt relies on the support of foreign
Asia Europe Foundation (2005), About the Project (online), cited on August 17, 2005
The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (2005), What we do?
(online), cited on August 8, 2005
44 The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (2005), Vision and Objectives,
(online), cited on August 8, 2005
42
43
47
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
governments as a way to assemble and support the performing international
artists. Until 2004, JakArt organizers collaborated with over 200 government,
embassies and non-profit organizations to help support its festival since
1999.45
Moreover, many western developed countries have established their own
cultural centres abroad, and especially in the capitals of some key East Asia
countries. Organizations such as the British Council (UK), and the Goethe
Institute (Germany), were established to promote ‘cultural relations’ among
other countries. Their activities are very broad, including language centres,
film festivals and students exchanges. In our study, we found that cultural
centres also provide funding to festivals in international settings which
promote their culture, share the knowledge, and foster the exchange of ideas
with others. 2005-2006 is the “Year of Germany” in Japan. Therefore the
Goethe Institute has provided funding to the Tokyo Arts Festival to bring a
theatre group from Berlin to perform at the 2005 festival.
5.3.4
Company Sponsorship
Another possibility for artists to enter the East Asia market is to attempt to get
sponsorship from a business organization. The local performing arts group
can look to their sponsors domestically and explore the regions where those
sponsors have a presence. This could be a solution for many groups as they
look for financial resources to cross the borders and perform internationally.
An example of such a sponsorship occurred in Taiwan, with the Taipei
Philharmonic Choir. One of its prime sponsors is Foxxconn, a global
manufacturer of PC connectors and enclosures.46 In 2003 the choir contacted
the organizers in the Czech Republic to organize performances, and then
looked to the sponsor at home to provide financial resources for the trip. The
Taiwan sponsor Foxxconn, has a subsidiary and a presence in the Czech
Republic, therefore saw the benefit for them to sponsor the choir’s trip to
Europe.
Performing groups can look to multinationals as sponsors that would provide
a larger network for traveling possibilities. By turning to a multinational
company for a sponsorship, the performing groups open a larger network of
performance possibilities. In return, the companies then have motivation for
sponsoring a tour because they have influence in the desired location, and the
company can reap the benefits of sponsorship, i.e. name recognition which
supporting the arts can bring.
JakArt (2004), Festival à la Carte Java and Bali (online), cited on August 14, 2004
Foxconn (2004), Enters European Motherboard Market: Expertise and Economies of Scale Bode Well for
New Venture (online), cited on August 14, 2005
45
46
48
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
5.3.5
Performing Arts Fair
Attending a performing arts fair in East Asia could be beneficial as well.
Currently, there are two cities in East Asia that conduct Performing Arts Fairs,
Singapore and Shanghai. These fairs are visited by local and regional
performing arts players. The visitor background is diverse: festival
organizers, performing arts groups, agencies, arts venues etc. According to
the cumulative statistics, in Shanghai International Performing Arts Fair, there
are more than 50 countries and 585 performing arts agencies that have
attended the Arts Fair resulting in 190 deals made.
5.3.6
Festival Representatives
Festival representatives are professionals hired by the festival who are
typically located in those regions of the world where the festival would like to
concentrate on recruiting its programming. They are hired by the festivals to
scope the talent in the local area and recruit the groups and artists to perform
at their festivals. Hong Kong employs a representative based in London. This
representative chooses approximately 10% of the programming for the Hong
Kong Festival. LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre) has employed
three representatives in the East Asia region. These individuals are located in
Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. The representatives focus in these
regions and are responsible for finding performing artists and groups that fit
the objectives that LIFT hopes to achieve in its programming. For LIFT, it is
important to find performance groups that come from an area that had once
been a colony of the United Kingdom.
By having representatives in remote locations, the festival can make
programming decisions based on personal recommendations by the festival
representatives. Festival artistic directors have limited resources (time and
money) to be able to observe the performances first hand. They must rely on
the recommendation of the festival representative to seek out programming
that fits the description and objectives of the festival. By establishing a
relationship with the festival representatives, the performance groups are able
to outreach their possibilities of performances into new areas where the
representative can offer initial access to the new market such as East Asia.
5.4
Secondary Markets
There has been quite consumption of western arts and cultures in Asian since
19th century while Japanese were the first one opening their arms and minds
to welcome western tastes in the second half of the 19th century. The rest of
the region was the colonies of western nations until the first half of 20th
century. Mahbabuni said, “The cultural industries of the world, primarily in
the field of ideas, continue to be dominated, in one from or another by the
West.”47 The mentality of colonization is still apparent, even in professional
performing arts industry. In addition, younger people in Asia are influenced
by western culture because of globalization, thanks to TV and internet.
47
Mahbahuni K., AAPPAC (2005), The Elusive Asian Renaissance (online), cited on August 8
49
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Furthermore, “the haves” in East Asia send their children to experience
western education. This phenomenon provides the motivation for East Asia
performing arts consumers to purchase western performances.
With the general appreciation of western arts and cultures, a secondary
market for the European performing companies could be expected. The
secondary market for European performers refers to the other opportunities
to perform after the performers attending a certain festival. The value of the
secondary market is effective because the inter-continental airfares can be
shared by many events.
It is rare that the European performing arts companies perform in the same
city or country with the same audiences shortly after the hosting festival
period. The exclusivity of the programmes and artists is the main reason why
the secondary market is defined outside of the country. Most of the festival
organizers want to present the image of being “unique and special” to their
audiences. Furthermore, the city difference in size and population should be
taken in account. In the East Asia region, where most countries are in still in
the developing stage, the country capitals usually are the most prosperous
city. Although additional cities exist within the country, their size is
significantly smaller. As a result, the potential audiences that are able buy
tickets also drop significantly. For instance, the suitable city for European
performing groups in Indonesia is only Jakarta and Surabaya where the
inhabitants are rich enough and have the buying power to attend the events.
Therefore, a secondary market will most likely occur outside the country.
However, there are exceptions to this secondary market formation. In Japan a
secondary market can be developed within its borders because the cities of
Japan are relatively equal in size and purchasing power. While in China, it is
not easy for the domestic audiences to travel because large territories and
create geographical barrier in reason that the secondary market is within the
countries.
The types of secondary market for European performing arts companies vary
from case to case, and from time to time. The secondary market can take place
via universities, arts and culture centers, non-profit arts and cultural
organizations or networks, private societies, national or international
conventions, symposia, or the arts and cultural events of the embassies. For
instance, Estonia Philharmonic Chamber Choir will be presented in Taipei by
the National Chiang Kai Shek Cultural Center in Taiwan after attending the
19th Macao International Music Festival presented by the government of
Macao.
50
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Why Secondary Markets are Important?
The secondary markets are important for both the European performing arts
companies and the Asian parties, including the players in the primary and
secondary markets. The clear result by having secondary market is to reduce
cost for both markets, particularly by sharing intercontinental transportation
expenses. In addition, European performing groups can increase their market
and the scale of the performances. For instance, Hong Kong can reduce the
airfares of the Nederland’s Dans Theater if a secondary market is established
in China with Beijing Dance Academy. In this case, Hong Kong and Beijing
Dance Academy will share the intercontinental airfares which usually occupy
a large portion of the festival’s cost.
To have secondary market, the respective parties need to think about one
critical issue, which is timing. It means that the time frame of performance in
primary and secondary market should be close enough, in order to achieve
the synergy. It will not work if the performance time in the secondary market
is 10 days after the European group perform in the primary market. Although
they can save some money in intercontinental transportation expenses, but
the accommodation expenses will be higher and surpass the first benefit.
In addition, primary and secondary markets can take a benefit from
promoting strategy if the performing group performs in the circuit. It is the
“international feeling” building up the “popular image across various
peoples” for the performances and increasing the acceptance. If the audiences
in the secondary market (or vice versa) see the group is invited to other
“prestigious place”, it will increase curiosity from the audiences, whether
primary or secondary. For instance, Il n'y a plus de firmament presented in
New Vision by the Théátre Vidy-Lausanne E.T.E in Switzerland, Théátre de la
Ville in Paris, and Berliner Festivochen in Germany can approach the French
Embassy in Singapore which has a strong relationship with the Singaporean
performing arts community. If the secondary performing opportunities are
established in Singapore, the acceptance of the local audience in Hong Kong
towards the contemporary theatre will be increased because of the joint
promoting synergy.
The secondary market also promotes a certain type of performing arts. By
increasing the occurrence of the same artists in a short-term timeframe in a
limited region, the certain type of performing arts can be strengthened.
Whatever reasons the European groups have to step into Asia, the effect will
be reinforced by establishing a secondary market. For instance, the
performances and image of live arts will be strengthened both in east and
north Asian region if the foreign artists of DaDao engage with Live Art Work
in Japan, which is the most important portal organization for the performing
arts and live art and provides information of all kinds of performing
opportunities in Japan.
51
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
How to Establish Secondary Market?
With the high visibility and context of performing in the festivals, European
groups can build up East Asia network through local artists, staffs, regional
embassies, and venues to get further chance to perform in the region by
themselves. But it is more effective if the hosting festivals become the
initiators or organizers of this secondary market mechanism. In this study,
this mechanism has already been noted because most of the festivals join the
formal associations, and one of the associations’ functions is to exchange
information, which refers to the touring companies, venues, and others.
However, there is little such circumstance for those festivals outside of the
associations. Most of these festivals are facing the problems of lack of human
resources and sustainable economic supports. They are only able to take care
of their own festival affairs and hardly have the remaining strength to think
from the other angle.
In this study, it is recommended for festivals to team up with its peers to form
informal exchange network of information in East Asia. It is the function for
the network to achieve several synergies among the players of performing
arts industry in East Asia. The festivals can broaden the scope being
international and intercultural by providing extra stages through the network
for the European groups invited. With the access of information of the
schedule for various festivals or arts centers, European groups can arrange
the circuits in a better order to reduce the unnecessary spending on
international transportation.
There is another possibility to initiate the secondary market in East Asia.
Foreign embassies or cultural organizations can have significant impact on
promoting the national arts and cultures. For instance, the German embassies
or Goethe Institute branches in Korea, Japan, and China can form the
cooperation by exchanging the information of touring German artists or
performing arts companies. The Dorky Park Company from Germany presented
in Seoul can be introduced to Japan or China. The embassy can strengthen the
national image by promoting the German contemporary performing arts
companies in the region.
However, although it is not the problem at this moment for the festivals or
event presenters from different country to have same programmes from the
same European groups, it is suggested in the study that the European groups
can have distinct programmes for different festivals. It is not only the
exclusivity of arts per se to be expected, but also the diversification of the East
Asia cultural resources to be interacted with. For instance, the History of
Ronald, the Clown of McDonalds by La Carnicería Teatro from Spain will less
likely be appreciated if the company presents the same programme in
Shanghai.
52
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
6 Conclusions and Recommendations
Conclusions
6.1
Overview of Festival Operation in East Asia
After we have conducted our research, we have identified three main types of
festivals in East Asia; they include the sponsor-oriented festival, statesupported festival and rebellious festival.

Sponsor-oriented festival
In our samples, the festivals that fall in this category are Hong Kong Arts
Festival, Shanghai International Arts Festival and Tokyo International Arts
Festival.
Sponsor-oriented festivals are usually organized by an independent
organization. In the programming, most choose an interdisciplinary
approach and tend to become larger festivals. The festival could act as a
cultural “lighthouse” project to increase international visibility in the
culture and arts field. Due to the size of the festival, although the festival
organizer secures support from the government, it still needs to find
additional resources in order to run the festival. To attract the sponsor and
secure a festival reputation, sponsor-oriented festivals usually present
famous local and foreign artists or well-known performances. The artists’
reputation is the magnet to reach larger audiences and can also create the
“buzz” surrounding the festival. In return for the sponsor’s support, the
festival sponsor could heavily influence the festival communication
strategy. The festival sponsors may want to be associated with the whole
festival or specific programmes. In terms of festival financial resources,
sponsor contribution could be as much as 35% of the total festival budget.
There is a fascinating fact regarding sponsorship in East Asia festivals. We
found that a young festival, like Shanghai receives a lot of pressure in
terms of the festival communication strategy from their main sponsor. The
sponsor tries to put their interest in front of the festival’s interest.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong - because a long history and established high
reputation - the festival organizer can limit the influences of the sponsor
and focus more on the audience.
Concerning the origin of sponsorship, we found similarities among the
festivals. The majority of the sponsors are local companies (approximately
up to 70%). This probably occurs because of a closer relationship between
the sponsor and festival organizer. In addition, with financial support of
the government, the government can influence local business companies
to support the festival.
53
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia

State-supported festival
In our sample, the festivals that fall in this category are Macao
International Arts Festival, Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival, and
Seoul Performing Arts Festival.
From the category name, it is explicit that the festival operates under the
auspices of a government body. Minimum government financial
contribution is 70% of the total budget. The state-supported festival enjoys
the advantage in terms of near full economic support and work under less
pressure to generate income, either from sponsorship or tickets earning.
In the programming issues, we identify two different approaches. In
Macao, they use interdisciplinary programmes to satisfy the needs of its
people, while Hong Kong New Vision and Seoul are more focus on
specific style of arts, in order to cultivate the local development of
contemporary arts. Both festivals focus on collaboration with foreign
groups or artists. The festivals encourage local creation and act as a place
to promote and to test experimental projects and ideas. However, there is
a clear distinction between New Vision and Seoul. Seoul has more focus
on high-artistic subject, while New Vision attempts to bridge two
different arts styles (classical and contemporary) by using combination
between contemporary artists and popular (classical) artists.

Rebellious festival
The festivals in our study that fall in this category are Jakarta
International Arts Festival (JakArt) and DaDao Live Arts Festival.
The rebellious festivals are operated by either an independent
organization (JakArt) or an individual (DaDao). These festivals are ignited
by an idea or the vision of the artist. The festival organization is set up to
run on a voluntary basis, and it depends on the cooperation among its
members. Without financial reward, the organization members are
engaged by the organization’s vision and purpose. In addition, to run the
festival, they acquire more volunteers. JakArt could be an extreme
example as they recruited more than 1,000 volunteers to execute 300
events in 2001 - 2003.
The purpose of the festival determines the festival size and programming
approaches. JakArt wants to bring culture closer to the society and state
the importance of creativity in daily live, consequently they choose a large
festival size and interdisciplinary approach. Conversely, DaDao wants to
build up an environment for live arts since the art type is not recognized
in China. They choose a small festival size and specific-arts approach.
However, the first priority for them is the performance itself and the
artists. Artists with a strong artistic motivation and non-commercial
attitude are welcome and preferred in this festival. The rebellious
festivals are dependant on the artists’ personal network and foreign
embassies to attract the international artists.
54
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
With regards to the communication issue, since the rebellious festivals are
working under a very tight budget, they rely on free media coverage and
informal communication network, particularly from their volunteers to
create the “buzz.” Furthermore, free entry and unique environment also
attract curiosity from pass-by audiences.
Regarding the financial resources, rebellious festivals depend heavily on
donations, either personal or through organizations. This phenomenon
occurs because rebellious festivals usually take place in the developing
countries, where the government does not place much attention toward
culture and arts development. Also, government officials and private
companies want to put their own interest in front of the festival interest.
In addition, based on our internet research, we found a fascinating fact
that in Indonesia rebellious festivals are more sustainable compared to the
“official” festival. The festivals also use the same approach like JakArt, by
pulling all the internal resources and collaborate with the stakeholders.
For instance, Jogjakarta International Gamelan Festival is an annual event
for the last 10 years. They try to state the existence of gamelan48 in
Indonesia since local people tend to abandon this music tradition. They
successfully invited foreign gamelan players (United States, Japan,
Australia) that come to Indonesia at their own expense.49 Meanwhile,
Indonesia Arts Summit is struggling to perform on a regular basis.
The festivals will most likely evolve over time. The change may be more
prevalent in the rebellious festivals as they grow more popular, drawing
more attention and publicity to their events. It is important that these
festivals remain true to the original motivation in which they were
established. In this way, sponsorship, although helpful could also prove
to be harmful to the existence of these festivals. By opening the festival to
sponsorship, the festival is also surrendering some of the influence over
the festival to those providing financial resources. This could move the
festival in a direction away from its original motivation, and may prove
fatal for the festivals existence. Regarding the specific-type festival, it is in
their nature to change. By continuously stressing the importance of
innovation in art, they look for new and original and modern art forms to
stretch the interpretation of the art in the audiences’ mind. It is in their
very nature to change as contemporary art evolves over time. The larger
more established festivals have a history and their traditions will pave a
way for their future. They are established to please a broader audience.
They remain true to the classical programming of the large performance
groups who also enjoy a high reputation. Because these festivals have
strong government support, it is less likely to see much change occurring
in these festivals.
48
49
Traditional Javanese Music Devices
Kompas (2005), Main News (online), cited on August 7, 2005
55
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Table 7
Characteristics Comparison between Three Types of Festival
Festival Type
Sponsor-Oriented
State-Supported
Rebellious
Size
Purpose
Medium – Large
Cultural “light house
project”, to present
foreign performing
arts, encourage local
production, and
promote wider public
interest in culture and
arts
Medium
To present foreign
performing arts,
encourage local
production, and
promote wider public
interest in culture and
arts
Organization
Independent
organization
Government
Programming
Interdisciplinary,
specific arts genres
Local communities
Festival as a brand,
using mass
communication (TV,
newspaper) to create
awareness, while using
booklet and poster to
explain each
performance
Sponsor contribution is
up to 35% of the total
budget
Interdisciplinary,
specific arts genres
Local communities
To target market, they
rely on informal
communication forum.
Mass communication
media is use to attract
new audiences.
Small - Large
Want to challenge the
general public practice
because their sorts of
arts are not
recognized, they are
oppressed by the
mainstream, or they
want to demonstrate
their capabilities to do
something.
Independent
organization,
Individual
Interdisciplinary,
specific arts genres
Local communities
Depend on free media
coverage and “buzz”
from the volunteers.
The performances are
free of charge.
Target audiences
Communication
Strategy
Financial
Resource
6.2
Government cover at
least 70% of the total
budget
Limited support from
government and
private companies,
depends on donation
from individual,
foreign government or
other organization
Cooperation among Festivals in East Asia
Current cooperation among East Asian performing arts festivals results in
various consequences. The formal affiliations with the more sufficient and
tangible resources and information exchange among members provide the
opportunities for cost reduction, thanks to broader circuit and the coproduction of programming. The formal affiliations also contribute to the
image and positioning of the festivals by connecting the less exposed festivals
to more reputable ones. In contrast to the “celebrity club” of the formal
affiliations, the informal networks compensate for the shortage of the
resources and enlarge the effect of all kinds of the “under-table” information,
such as buzz, rumor, and gossip. Innovative works or unexpected
56
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
collaboration is always driven from the personal relationship among
individuals in the informal networks.
In the environment of the festivals, the governments play the important role
of facilitating cooperation in the performing arts. Being the “parents” of the
national culture and arts, governments and their agencies offer the platform
for festivals and artists to meet together and distribute the resources. In East
Asia, it seems that only festivals with substantial government support can
create wider and sustainable cooperation, such as Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong
Kong. And only in these countries, can the festivals benefit from the more
comprehensive cultural policies which reinforce the public appreciation of the
performing arts. Only with the general awareness of arts and culture, can the
technology be designed to serve the performing arts - by increasing the effect
and efficiency of the managerial and administrative tasks, such as
communication and marketing activities.However, there are weaknesses and threats accompanying the cooperation
among those festivals. The similarity of programming may gradually result in
the weakness of the festival in the future. The festivals may lose the
uniqueness, and creativity drive and distinction because of excessive
exchange of programmes and copied programming interests. Threats that
exist in the social and economical environment lead to obstacles in the
cooperation of the festivals. These threats include poverty, absence of arts
and cultural education, lack of complete government policies, and uneven
distribution of wealth among Asian countries.
6.3
Opportunities for European Performing Arts Group
In order to take advantage of the opportunities that Eastern Asia Festivals
offer, European performing arts groups must overcome some obstacles.
Relationships must be established with those in the programming decision
making process. Performing art groups must understand the cultural
component that personal networking plays in the East Asian business
decisions. They need to develop personal relationships through networking
with the festivals and festival representatives, or by outsourcing the services
to a third party such as an agency that is part of an existing network. By
creating a personal relationship with the festival organizers, some significant
opportunities for the European group could open up, as they can then take
advantage of the contacts of the hosting festival, and perhaps attempt to
structure a broader tour in the secondary market. There are many
organizations whose objectives are to support the exchange of knowledge
and experience between the artists and the festivals, which could help to
facilitate the contact and networking opportunities, such as foundations and
other non-profit organizations, foreign embassies and government cultural
agencies (British Council, Goethe Institute etc.).
Programming decisions are another component that affects the opportunities
for European groups to perform in Asia. Language plays a large part in the
decision making process as we have found that the majority of performance
57
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
groups in East Asia that come from Europe fall under the music and dance
genres. This art form is more widely accepted by the East Asia audiences
where the interpretation of the art is not so dependent on the language. The
larger festivals look to the European groups to provide more classical
programming where the smaller festivals look to more contemporary
programming. This must be a factor when the European groups are deciding
which avenue to take, in order to enter the Asian Market.
Whether through a single venue or taking advantage of the secondary East
Asia market as a tour, the European performing groups come to East Asia as a
way to expand their audience market, generating more awareness of their
group abroad. This could lead to more performances which not only
increases revenue but also increases the prestige of the company as one that
has performed outside of Europe. This high prestige could then be used to
market the group for more performing opportunities in following years, or
performances in other diverse locations.
Recommendations
After analyzing the operational issues and the cooperative situation of East Asia
performing arts festivals, and the presence of European performing arts in East Asia,
the recommendations can be drawn for several critical players in the performing arts.
However, no matter what recommendations are made, the overall objective is to
build up the relationship and seek the common interests for the cooperative parties,
whether for economic benefit, artistic advancement or cultural and political
understanding.
6.4
Recommendation for IETM
For IETM, there is a possibility to build up a connection with the informal
networks in East Asia, such as Live Arts Work (LAW) in Japan. There is a vast
amount of information continuously pulsating in the performing arts circuits.
This informal exchanging platform, once developed by IETM, can process this
information first hand. Because such networks are limited in East Asia, it is
hard for European parties to gather information about the small and
independent artists of performing companies in this region. Meanwhile,
IETM can also articulate and amplify the input of the European performing
companies which have already participated in East Asian festivals. In this
study, the Asian experience and knowledge of East Asia appears as limited
and weak among the European performing companies. By involving the
performing companies with an Asian experience, IETM can then gather more
information and ideas about the performing arts in East Asia and disseminate
them among its members. Moreover, since IETM usually holds forums and
meetings to discuss critical issues in the field, it may be helpful for IETM to
invite the programmers or directors of the Asian festivals while they are
visiting performances or festivals in Europe.
58
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
6.5
Recommendation for EFA
We believe that EFA may have the interest to broker the programmes coproduced by the AAPAF as EFA is one of the associate members of this
organization. With 90 festivals, 11 national festivals associations, and 4
European networks, EFA can offer the possibility for a large number of
performances of the Asian co-produced programmes, especially for those
programmes which have strong characteristics of Asian arts and cultures. It is
also recommended that EFA builds a relationship with the festivals that are
unable to join the “celebrity club” association, in order to reach a more
diversified Asian performing arts context. Because most of the members of
AAPAC and AAPAF are in the pan-Singaporean networks and are major
performing arts players, whether festivals, centers, or other organizations,
many festivals in North East Asia do not participate in these networks, such
as those from Korea and Japan. For example, Japan has 74 festivals listed in
the MOD 2003, and possesses the largest number of festivals in Asia. This is
followed by Korea, with 14 festivals involving international artists. It may be
constructive for EFA to establish a stronger connection with the Japanese
festivals as the population has become westernized throughout all levels of
the society. There are only a few major festivals involved with EFA from these
countries at this time. However, there are many small and middle sized,
innovative festivals with strong international content taking place in Japan
each year.
6.6
Recommendation for European Performing Arts Groups
European performing arts groups should explore different channels in order
to enter the East Asia performing arts markets. It depends on the targeted
market. If the European group is driven by a commercial attitude, it should
seek the opportunities primarily in the sponsor-oriented and statedsupported festivals. Thus the use of artist agencies and formal networks is the
most efficient way to “break the wall”. In addition, particularly with the
Hong Kong festival there is an opportunity to make direct contact with
festival representatives in London. Conversely, if the European performing
group is seeking primarily an artistic benefit and stimulus, it would be worth
it to target the rebellious festivals in the first place and seek to benefit of own
government cultural policy and initiate contact with cultural attaché in the
respective country. Whatever entry channel is chosen by the performing
group, it is imperative to maintain established personal network and to
continually expand on it.
6.7
Recommendation for East Asia Festival Organizers
Concerning the festival organizers, we recommend to them to take a more
active role in order to establish a secondary market circuit. This action will
benefit both sides. The visiting European artists can enter a new expanded
market, enjoy a new experience and gain more income. On the Asian festival
side, they can share the inter-continental airfares and travel expenses with the
other venues. They also could have stronger bargaining power with regards
59
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
to the performance fees by offering more performances of the European
performing groups. In addition, the primary and secondary market can take
advantage of a joint promoting strategy, as more international appearances
will create curiosity in the potential audiences, and perhaps even enhance
opportunities to attract sponsors.
We also suggest utilizing more volunteers in their festival operations. This
idea may not seem suitable for the well-establish festivals because they have
resources to hire additional employees. However, we argue by having more
volunteers they can strengthen the ties between the festival and its audience.
Although it will be more difficult to organize the festival, the local
community will have the opportunity to actively participate in the
preparations for the festival. They will be more than just a passive audience.
We can see how the rebellious festivals successfully survive by utilizing their
internal resources, maximizing the volunteers’ capability and cooperate with
stakeholders. In the long term, this kind of relationship and specially
designed educational and outreach programs will help the development of
local culture and arts and create wider public interest, especially from the
younger generation.
6.8
Recommendation for the Governments
In this study, most of the European governments usually act as the funders
for artists who wish to perform in East Asia festivals. It would be interesting
if the European governments can go a step further to become the initiator, the
facilitator, or the commissioner and encourage the European artists to go
beyond their habitual territories. For instance, the European governments can
start special projects for European performing companies, initiate proposals
of performances in certain East Asia countries. By exporting the national
programmes or artists to East Asia countries, European governments are
strengthening their national image and the political relationship with targeted
countries. This variety of projects can go with any type of commercial fair,
political summit, or tourism promotion activities.
Concerning East Asia governments, it is more important for them to
understand that arts and cultures are not just a direct “by-product” of the
economic or social development. There is an urgent need for the governments
to look squarely at the arts and cultures like other disciplines. If the East
Asian governments only view the performing arts as “giving something
additional splendor”, the relationship between two parties will stay in
“grantor and recipient”, and the synergy of combining arts and political will
not happen. Moreover, since most of the festivals in this study are influenced
deeply by the governments’ will, it is necessary to sound the alert of absence
of autonomy in terms of operation and conception in the East Asian region.
The governments should put more efforts on the education in order to
cultivate the ability of people to examine and appreciate arts and culture. By
presenting and communicating the value of performing arts, festivals are the
critical channels to offer social education of arts and cultures. This is what the
60
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
East Asian governments should care rather than using festivals only as the
tools to show off the wealth which will ultimately amount to lots of
opportunism and poor decisions in the artistic sphere and will negate any
political effect desired. The best position of governments towards festivals is
to be the “back-up” in order to offer them essential resources and assist them
to be independent as possible. And, eventually, the festivals grow with the
appropriate support from the governments to be self-sustaining, and even
benefit the community with subsequent economic activities, such as job
creation and tourism.
For the cooperation on the government’s level, since the arts and cultures are
the best “lubricator” to build up relationship among nations and the best
“spokesman” to promote the images, governments of both sides can discover
more cultural exchange opportunities by associating with the festivals.
Because the festivals make use of a large amount of social resources,
including the public awareness and the support from the local community, it
is an effective means for the European government to strengthen the
relationship with the Asian parties via the festivals activities.
6.9
Recommendation for Business Corporations
The effective relationship between the performing arts and the corporations is
based on mutual respect and reciprocity. The business parties should
understand the value of the performing arts they support, if the relationship
is to be sustainable. Therefore, it is essential for the business corporations to
broaden their understanding of performing arts via contacts, discussions and
performance attendance.
Traditionally, the relationship of the business corporations and the
performing arts groups means the involvement of the former as sponsors or
donors. To a large extent, the relationships are established based on trading of
activities. The performing arts parties come with proposals to the business
parties and persuade the potential sponsors to “buy” the programmes. The
sponsors will get the advertisement and sponsoring tickets in return, with
perhaps some exclusive events.
Rather than only giving the financial support, business corporations could
provide performing art players with necessary operational, managerial, and
technical support in terms of goods, knowledge, and services. For instance,
since the festivals are seasonal, there are many short-term demands of goods
and services which can be sponsored by the corporations, such as furniture,
computers, staffs of call center, or even marketing affairs. In addition because
of the shortage of human resources, most of the small (middle) size festivals
are confronted with logistic nightmares, resulting from the lack of knowledge
of arts management, marketing, finance and accounting. Therefore, the
corporations can also provide this non-finance support to help the festivals
operating more efficiently. This more complex collaboration can benefit both
parties. The festivals could gain necessary operational skills; conversely the
business could learn more about how performing arts festivals work.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Concerning the performing arts groups, business corporations are
encouraged to “broker” the performances whether for the local or foreign
programmes. For instance, an international Dutch bank can subsidize and
introduce a Dutch dance company to China while the bank has a grand
inauguration in Shanghai. This may also occur if the bank wishes to be a
sponsor in 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Since there are a variety of
performing arts programmes in the tradition of Olympic Game, the Dutch
bank can offer the Olympic organizer a programme “sponsored” by the bank
and performed by the Dutch dance company if the bank is one of the
international sponsors.
6.10
Recommendation for Future Research
It is the objective of this project to perform preliminary research and present a
general overview to our clients on the structure and operation processes of
the performing arts festivals in East Asia. However, to fully understand the
dynamic framework of the East Asia performing arts festivals and their
relationship with the concerned parties in Europe, we believe that further
research is needed. Research involving the festival financial issues (fund
raising and expenditure analysis), an analysis of East Asian governments’
cultural policies, secondary market circuit and further research on the
informal networks established in East Asia among the performing arts players
will provide a deeper understanding on the structure of the performing arts
festivals in East Asia.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
7 Appendices
63
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Appendix 1
: Informal European Theatre Meeting 50
IETM (Informal European Theatre Meetings) is an organization established to help its
members facilitate networking, and provide a platform for knowledge exchange among
the 400 performing arts organizations from forty-five countries that make up their
member base from 45 countries.
IETM is composed three units: the Network Unit, Projects Unit and a Communication,
Information and Training Unit. The Network Unit is the framework for which IETM was
established. It provides the members a chance to meet and exchange ideas through
semi- annual Plenary Meetings. These meetings include large group planning sessions,
panel discussions, smaller discussion groups and project presentations. These events
are created to pursue the goal of fostering the flow of communication among its
members. In this way information is shared, ideas generated, and networking is
established among the members of IETM.
The Project Unit of IETM sets in motion the opportunities for global networking among
the performing arts festivals. These projects are designed to bridge the cultural
differences of regions worldwide and offer the chance for performing groups to work
with groups of other regions. The Project Unit launched “On the Move” Project which
was established as a web based information resource for performing arts professionals.
It provides information on financial and informational resources that could benefit
groups as they seek to participate in cross-border performances and activities.
The Communication, Information and Training Unit was established as a means to
deepen the networking connections between members by organizing training sessions in
order to facilitate the spread of information throughout the network.
Informal European Theatre Meeting’s profile was created based on the information from their
website (www.ietm.org).
50
64
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Appendix 2
: European Festival Association 51
EFA (European Festivals Association) is a nonprofit, non-governmental membership
organization for performing arts festivals in Europe. It was founded in 1952 as a way to
re-unite the countries of Europe after World War II, through “cultural integration”. It
began with 15 festivals however, it has grown to represent 90 performing arts festivals,
located in 31 countries. The goal of the EFA is to “promote the significance of festivals
and their important role in international cultural cooperation. It works to demonstrate
the importance that festivals can play in the integration of culture across the borders. It
provides the tools and the resources that support the exchange of information and
collaboration between the festival members. They offer the opportunity to deepen the
collaborative effort between festival organizers and cultural organizations by providing
the opportunity to work together in organized way, and provide the tools needed for
festival representatives to access the management, research and cultural data. EFA also
aims to deepen the cooperation between the different parties through the “coordination
of events, conferences and training activities.”52
Beside the ninety direct festivals members, in 1997 EFA opened it membership eligibility
to include festival associations which oversee an additional 500 festivals throughout
Europe. Four European network associations of the performing arts were added as
members in 1999. This gives EFA the opportunity to exercise influence throughout the
European Region and establish collaborating efforts within those countries and beyond.
European Festival Association’s profile was created based on the information from their website
(http://www.efa-aef.org/efahome/index.cfm)
52 European Festival Association (2005), Organization brochure (online), cited on August 14, 2005
51
65
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Appendix 3
: Hong Kong International Arts Festival
Interview Summary
1. Festival Fact Sheet
Festival Name
Country of Origin
Festival Organizer
Organizer Address
Website
2. Interviewee Data
Name
Position
: Hong Kong Arts Festivals
: Hong Kong S. A. R Government, China
: Hong Kong Arts Festival Society Ltd.
: 12/F Hong Kong Arts Centre,
2 Harbour Road Wanchai, Hong Kong
: www.hk.artsfestival.org
: Mr. Douglas Gautier
: Executive Director
3. Interview Report

The Purpose of the Festival
The Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF), presented by the Hong Kong Arts Festival
Society Ltd. is an international arts festival with interdisciplinary programmes
existing for 32 years since 1973. It is the objective of HKAF to present the highest
standard of performing arts for the enrichment of cultural life in Hong Kong. The
Festival also serves as a catalyst to arouse wider public interest in the arts and to
encourage artistic dialogue and cultural exchange.

The Festival Features
Featuring overseas and local artists renown in an eclectic array of music, theatre,
dance, popular entertainment, film and exhibition programmes, the HKAF offers
a three-to-four-week-long cultural feast annually from February to March. The
HKAF covers various contents of styles as a substantial arts festival, such as
traditional, classical, contemporary, pops, and crossover.
Since the early 19th century, due to the influence from the western society, the
acceptance of western arts and culture in the Hong Kong local community were
higher than other Chinese cities. Therefore, the contents of the programmes
ranged over many niche markets of performing arts. Not only the most
prestigious artists, but also those leading artists in specific sectors were both
presented in the HKAF to establish high reputation in the general public, as well
as in professional field.
With commissions over a long period of time, the HKAF has been perceived as an
“incubator” for novel contemporary pieces collaborating with other senior arts
festival in East Asia. This was also the consequence of being presented for more
than 30 years. HKAF also had to confront the challenges of instant change of
interests of audiences and the environment and the challenge of creating more
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
opportunities for the local artists within the high standard features of the festival.
Moreover, some of the commissions had already toured around the world. The
HKAF was presented as a brand name in the performing arts market in East Asia.

The Programme Issues
The HKAF Society Ltd was responsible for the programme procedure by means
of gathering information of performances, accepting proposals from all sorts of
performing arts groups and organizations, and selecting programmes for every
year. 90% of the programmes were viewed before selected, and the
representatives from EU based in London proposed the other 10%. The Society
worked in creating the programme, 4 years ahead and finalized the programmes
6 months before the festival. The HKAF also produced new works in terms of
diversified commissions which were mainly Chinese programmes, while Hong
Kong was a flourishing stage for contemporary Chinese performing arts. There
were also considerable quantities of cross-cultural original works composed by
the HKAF resulted from the historical consequence that Hong Kong cultivated
with the Chinese and Western cultures.
In addition to the performances, the HKAF offered various programmes to
cultivate the interests and appreciation of the performing arts among the general
public and young generation. The Young Friends Scheme provided educational
activities for students during the non-festival period. The Festival Plus program
during the festival period offered talks, master classes, workshops, meet-theartist session, arts exchange programmes, exhibitions, and other events to
facilitate interaction with the public, reduce the distance between artists and
people, and promote performances of the festival.
The average age of the audiences was 34 with the average income of HK$ 35,000
(US$ 1 = HK$ 8.01). 90% of the audiences were from local communities, and 10%
were from mainland China and other countries. 10,000 tickets (1%) were sold for
students this year.

About the Festival Organizer
The HKAF was organized by the Hong Kong Arts Festival Society Ltd., which is
an independent private society. Government and charities organization form the
strong resources props for the festival. The board was composed by
representatives from various sectors, such as business community, private
philanthropists, the government, Jockey Club, tourist board, and the financial
sectors, and chaired by the Hong Kong stock exchanger chairman. The function
of the board was to persuade and locate the sponsors and business network.
None of the sponsors were directly included on the board.
The volunteers were mostly intern students of arts administration, music, or
theatre. However, the HKAF employs 60% to 70% of the seasonal workers. The
types of part-time jobs available were for technical services, customer services,
offices, and arts coordinators.
67
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia

The Festival Financial Resources
The government subsidized 25% of the total budget for the festival, and all kinds
of sponsorship counted for 18.75%. The rest 56.25% was from earned income. The
Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust was the main sponsor charities.
There were various opportunities of sponsorship, such as the Programme
Sponsorship which offered the opportunity for the corporation to be associated
with specific projects; Patron’s Club which supported the whole festival in
different budget levels; and Student Ticket Scheme which was a sponsoring
program for those who would like to help students and was a mechanism to offer
students tickets with half price.
The sponsors composed of international corporations, such as banks and
insurances companies, and local companies. Local companies included;
transportation companies, airlines, and hotels. There were also individuals
donating mainly on Student Ticket Scheme.

The Festival Financial Expenditures
The cost of the HKAF was about HK$ 62 million with 18% for the administration
and salaries, 24% for marketing, and 58% for programme, such as artists’ fees,
airfares, hotels, and royalties of the new productions. Sometimes, the artists and
performing groups received subsidies from their own governments in terms of
airfares. HKAF also seek opportunities of subsidies from the foreign cultural
institutes.

Cooperation with Asian Parties
As one of the founders of Association of Asian Performing Arts Festival, the
HKAF has cooperated with other festivals and is one of the leading arts festivals
in East Asia. Most of the collaboration was through sharing foreign artists to
reduce the international traveling costs. The HKAF has the reputation being a
sustainable arts festival in East Asia and has become the major reference for them
in terms of operational schemes and programme-making. Furthermore, the
innovative production of new pieces always teamed up with other senior
festivals, such as the Singapore Arts Festival. With the birth of the new works, the
HKAF acted as a brand name, a performing arts company, to produce advance
performances and performed in Asian region by allying with the artists and
groups in terms of both artistic and technical levels, such as scripts and staging.

Cooperation with European Parties
The HKAF has a significant influence from Europe because Hong Kong was the
colony of UK for 100 years. Part of the programmes was proposed by the
representative located in London, who is the director the festivals in London has
been cooperated with HKAF for years with the market knowledge of Hong Kong
audiences. The Society also refered to many European arts festivals, such as the
Holland Festival. The European artists were widely presented in the
programmes, especially in classical music concerts, operas, and ballets. Many
European artists also viewed the HKAF as one of the important stages in East
Asia.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Appendix 4
: Shanghai International Arts Festival
Interview Summary
1. Festival Fact Sheet
Festival Name
Country of Origin
Festival Organizer
Organizer Address
Website
2. Interviewee Data
Name
Position
: China Shanghai International Arts Festival
: Shanghai, China
: The Center for China Shanghai International
: Yihai Building, No.211, Kang Ding Rd., Shanghai
China
: www.artsbird.com
: Mr. Xue Bin
: Vice officer of external communication
3. Interview Report

The Purpose of the Festival
The China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF) is presented by Ministry
of Culture of P. R. China, undertaken by Shanghai Municipal People’s
government, and organized by the Center for China Shanghai International Arts
Festival. It is an international and interdisciplinary arts festival aiming at
presenting the best world cultures, promoting Chinese traditional arts, enhancing
the cultural exchanges, and expanding cultural markets. The CSIAF lasting for a
month includes 40 to 50 different productions, and the numbers of performances
ranges from 120 to 150 annually. It is not only one of the most important
performing affairs in Asia in terms of the large scale and scope but the balcony
for international performing groups and festival organizers to communicate,
exchange, interact, and create new performance works.

The Festival Features
CSIAF is an interdisciplinary festival with all types of performances, such as
music, dance, theatre, all sorts of Chinese opera, and multi-media with various
style including traditional, classics, contemporary, folk, and pops. There are also
exhibitions with diverse themes, such as arts exhibition, foreign cultural week,
and public cultural section, in order to expand the participation of the general
public.
One of the key activities of the CSIAF is the Performing Arts Fair, which is a trade
fair of performances aiming at developing the potential capacity of performing
arts market in China and introducing the outstanding performing arts of China to
the world, especially the traditional Chinese operas and the contemporary
Chinese theatres.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
In order to service the expectation of the general public towards arts and culture,
CSIAF is characterized by presenting the typical and classical style of all kinds of
performing arts. Well-known artists and repertoire are the main streams in the
programmes. Governmental promoting, civil supporting, corporations
cooperating, and marketization operating contribute to the abundant resources of
CSIAF, which can converge in all sorts of first-class performances in Shanghai in
the same period. Moreover, 15% of the performances and exhibitions are
programmed for contemporary arts to cultivate the innovation in artsform and
development, such as new production with combination of east and west, classic
and pops, and folk and culture.
The International Performing Arts Fair, the climax of the CSIAF, displays a
variety of performances, performing groups, organizations, festivals, and venues
with marketing tools and activities in order to foster the performing arts market
development. According to the accumulative statistics, more than 50 countries
and 585 performing arts agencies have attended the Fair. Furthermore, 190 deals
have been traded during the festival period to achieve the commercial
cooperation. With the frequent communication and interaction, CSIAF has turned
into one of the distributing centers of Asian performing arts.

The Programme Issues
Presented by the public authority and organized by the Center of CSIAF, the
festival is operated in accordance with the guideline of marketization in terms of
performances, exhibitions, and special projects. The Center collects the
information in various means, such as collating the proposals from foreign
ambassadors in Shanghai, artistic representatives overseas, and performing
groups themselves, referring to other festivals, and contacting with international
performing arts agencies. At the same time, attending the international
performing arts meetings such as Association of Asian Performing Arts Festivals,
Asian Fair, and Singapore Performing Arts Fair is another key source of
programmes for CSIAF. And in order to foster the pops culture, the Public
Cultural Section is open to the public to apply. The amateur programmes are held
in the open space as a marketing means in order to promote the image of the
festival. The selection of programmes is made by a committee comprising vice
president of the Center (the artistic director) and several expert advisers of
performing arts and approved by the president of the Center as final decision.
The themes and the schedules of the performing groups are the main concerns of
the programming; therefore, CSIAF sometimes contracts with the groups in the
coming years. This helps CSIAF to extend the preparing period and to develop a
sustainable operative mode. In addition to the existing programmes, CSIAF also
seeks for opportunities to cooperate with arts and cultural organizations both
local and international for co-productions, exhibitions, expositions, and special
projects by the means of commission and project agency. Meanwhile, the Center
not only teams up with other festivals very often to create original works with
blending of different cultures but invests in other festivals to produce new works
and introduces afterwards.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
The Shanghai Performing Arts Fair includes Opening Series, Festival’s Theme
Conference, Booth Display and Deal Making, Live Promotional Showcases,
Briefings on Performance Touring Projects, and 3-Minute Promotional Speech. It
is estimated that the nationalities of the attending festivals, agencies, performing
groups, and organizations have reached more than 30 countries. Furthermore, the
deals and all kinds of cooperation have been made directly during the Fair.

About the Festival Organizer
The Center of China Shanghai International Arts Festival is a corporation
organization delegated by public authority not only to be responsible for
organizing, producing, and executing of the annual festival but to develop all
kinds of arts and cultural businesses and events by leveraging the cultural
capital. The practice departments of the Center include General office, Public
Relations & Publicity, Performance and Exhibition, Resources Development,
Computer and Net Service, and Finance. There are other cultural entities under
the Center, such as Shanghai Cultural Exchange Agency, Shanghai Audio &
Video Publishing House, Shanghai Mei Lanfang Culture and Art
Communications, Shanghai CSIAF Public Relations Co. Ltd., and Shanghai
International Arts Advertising Co. Ltd.
The operation of CSIAF is promoted by public authority, supported by the local
community, operated in the mode of marketization, and participated by the
whole general public. Meanwhile, it is also crucial to attract the support from the
business corporations in terms of various modalities, such as patronization of the
entire festival, sponsorships of the specific projects, and cooperation in other
manners to exploit the main resources of the festival and to inject novel vitality
into the festival for the possibility of sustainable development.
As the one of the key sub-organizations of CSIAF, the volunteer organization is
composed of undergraduate and graduate students working as translators,
reception personnels and desk clerks. The festival teams up with the colleges and
universities in terms of internship organization to pull hundreds of students in as
volunteers every year.

Festival Audiences
Thousands of audiences are attracted by CSIAF every year with the diversified
contents and numerous numbers of performances in the festival period. The
audiences comprise not only Shanghai residents but also visitors from 16
peripheral cities. Moreover, with the convenience of experience world-class
performance in short distance and lower budget, visitors from other Asian
countries also bring in significant tourism.
In 2004, it is estimated that 200,000 audiences visited the exhibition; 1,000,000
audiences attended the outdoor activities; 300,000-400,000 audiences participated
the indoor performances.53
53
Shanghai population was 13 million estimated in 2004, China Government Popinfo (online),
cited on August 3, 2004
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia

The Festival Financial Resources
The budget for CSIAF from the government funding counts for one-third; private
sponsorships counts for one-third; and the other one-third is due to the earning
income, that is, ticket boxes. The sponsorships from the private corporations
include patronizing for the whole festival and for the specific projects, and 70% to
80% of the sponsorships come from the local corporations. For the patronization
of the entire festival, CSIAF has formed partnership with one of the major real
estate corporations in Shanghai, the Shanghai Grand Real Estate Co. Ltd. And the
strategy to develop the sponsorships of the specific projects or programmes
focuses on finding more new companies to reduce the financial burden of longterm sponsoring. Therefore, CSIAF has built up relationship with more than
hundreds of companies in the local community and established strong brand
images both for the festival and the corporations.
The sponsorship from the foreign ambassadors located in Shanghai to cover or to
arrange the fees of performers and international airfares is quite often in order to
reduce the operational cost of the festival. In addition, the government also helps
the festival to lower the fees of performances by leveraging the exchange rate
between different currencies.54 The festival, consequently, can offer cheaper
ticket price and reach larger audience scale and scope. Regarding to the
promotion budget which usually occupies large portion of the operational cost,
24% in Hong Kong Arts Festival and 15% in Macao International Arts Festival,
CSIAF benefits from the public authority in terms of budget and distribution
because of the nature of being presented by the government, and the Chinese
media industry is controlled by the government at this moment. Furthermore,
CSIAF also shares costs of performances and international transportation by
establishing the Association of Asian Performing Arts Festival with Singapore
Arts Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festivals, etc., to cooperate in the programming.

Festival Financial Expenditures
Not available

Cooperation with Asian Parties
Being one of the founders of Association of Asian Performing Arts Festivals,
CSIAF frequently communicates with Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and Korea.
Also, the press conference and Promotional Showcases are presented in Hong
Kong and Macao every year to tighten up the regional relationship among
festivals. During the Promotional Showcases, The blending marketing activities
of the Promotional Showcase contribute to connect the Chinese performing arts
market with the world and also build up the brand image and publicity of the
festival.
It is indicated by the interviewee, that the foreign currency can not be traded, and it is the
government to decide the exchange rate. For instance, the exchange rate of EUR/RMB ranged
from 1/10 to 1/8 before 21st July 2005. And the government allows CSIAF to pay the performance
fees to the Europeans with the rate of 8/1 while executing the transaction.
54
72
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
With the interaction with other festivals and organizations in non-festival period
and the Shanghai Performing Arts Fair during the festival, the Center cooperate
with others in terms of sharing performances, producing original programmes,
and inviting western artists running circuits to perform with local artists.

Cooperation with European Parties
The Center refers to European performing arts field by visiting important arts
festival frequently. Most of the programmes present in classical and traditional
style are based on the acceptance of Chinese audiences, who prefer the famous
pieces rather than contemporary ones. However, due to the advance of
contemporary arts in Europe, the festival foresees the new trend in performing
arts and employs certain amount of contemporary performances while some of
the Europeans groups ask to arrange one or two contemporary performances
during the traditional rows.
The Shanghai Performing Arts Fair has established a long-term cooperative
relationship with many commercial performing arts organizations, such as
IAMA, ISPA, APAP, Asian Arts Mart, etc. in terms of communicating the various
arts and cultures, exchanging views, and hosting forums to discuss the current
situation and developing trend of the international performing arts market.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Appendix 5
: Macao International Arts Festival
Interview Summary
1. Festival Fact Sheet
Festival Name
Country of Origin
Festival Organizer
Organizer Address
Website
2. Interviewee Data
Name
Position
: Macao Arts Festival (Macao)
: Macao S. A. R. Government, China
: Special Project Division, Cultural Affairs Bureau of
the Macao S.A.R. Government
: Praça do Tap Seac, Edif. do Instituto Cultural
Macao
: http://www.icm.gov.mo/fam/16/indexE.asp
: Mr. Charles Lam
: Head of Special Project Division
3. Interview Report

The Purpose of the Festival
The Macao Arts Festival presented by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao
S.A.R. Government is a festival active in the East Asian region in March lasting
for almost 30 days every year. The Objectives of the festival are to promote the
Chinese Culture, to introduce the works of performing arts from all over the
world, and to facilitate the artistic and cultural development in Macao local
community

The Festival Features
The Macao Arts Festival is an international and interdisciplinary festival
comprising music, dance, theatre, drama, Chinese operas, puppet theatre, and
multi-media programmes in terms of performing arts activities. In order to
present the diversity of the contemporary arts and cultures, the festival also
includes exhibitions during the festival period, such, vision arts, digital arts, and
film. Meanwhile, all kinds of lectures, workshops, and master classes are
organized for the education purpose and to cultivate the knowledge of arts and
culture.
The programme characteristics of the Macao Arts Festival emphasizes on
promoting and educating due to the comprehensive nature of the festival.
Therefore the main programming shaft intertwines famous international artists,
large-scale production, and original production with talking-points. Furthermore,
the historical heritages showing the interaction between the eastern and western
cultures more than 400 years also become one of the important distinctive marks
in the Macau Arts Festival.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia

The Programme Issues
Because the local government presented the Macao Arts Festival, it was
important for the programmes to service and attract the interests of the
community and to focus on the wide coverage and popularity. The Special Project
Division subject to the Cultural Event Department under the Cultural Affairs
Bureau was responsible for organizing the festivals twice a year (including Macao
International Music Festival). The Special Project Division collected the
international and local information of performing arts and referred to other
similar festivals in the same region. The programme-makers collected the
information both by visiting the programmes directly and accepting
recommendations from other organizations, such as other festivals aboard.
Another resource of the programmes came from public submissions within the
fixed budget given by the Special Project Division. The selection was made by a
committee comprising president, vice president, and artistic advisers of the
Bureau, performing arts experts, and the programmers from the Special Project
Division.

About the Festival Organizer
The Macao Arts Festival was presented by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the
Macao S.A.R Government and organized by the Special Project Division in terms
of programming and administration. There were no volunteer organization.

The Festival Audiences
It was estimated that approximately 90% of the audience were from 20 to 50 years
of age. Furthermore 15% of Macao are come from China mainland. There were
audiences from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other Asian countries in the same
region.

Festival Financial Resources
The budget of the Macao Arts Festival was funded by the government and
regarded as special projects. 70% was funded by the government, 15% was
financed by the local corporation, and 15% was from the earned income, that is,
ticket box. The operational costs in terms of programme production, promotion,
international airfares, and performance fees were about MDP$ 550 to 600 (US$
1.00 = MDP$ 8.01).

Festival Financial Expenditures
Among the operational costs, 15% accounts for promotion affairs. There were
also sponsors from the foreign groups in terms of subsidies from the
ambassadors and cultural institutes, such as sharing the international airfares
fees. The administration fees and salaries of the employees did not include the
project annual budgets but were subject to the government directly.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia

Cooperation with Asian Parties
The Macao Arts Festival cooperated with other festivals in the same region very
often, including Singapore, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China mainland, and Hong
Kong. In addition to introducing new programmes, the festival also collaborated
with other performing arts organizations to commission original production
combining the contemporary Macanese Style.

Cooperation with European Parties
Due to the limitation of budget, the Macao Arts Festival rarely teamed up with
European performing arts groups or organizations. The professional performing
arts companies in Macao are still developing.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Appendix 6
: Tokyo International Arts Festival
Interview Summary
1. Festival Fact Sheet
Festival Name
Country of Origin
Festival Organizer
Organizer Address
Website
: Tokyo International Arts Festival
: Japan
: Arts Network Japan
: 4-9-1 Nishisugamo, Toshima-ku; Japan
: http://anj.or.jp/
2. Interviewee Data
Name
Position
: Ms. Chiaki Soma
: Head of the International Program
3. Interview Report

The Purpose of the Festival
The objectives of the Tokyo International Festival are to promote the Arts in Japan
from abroad and to promote local regional productions. They believe the festival
to be an interface between other cultures and the Japanese people.

The Festival Features
3 Types of Programs are offered each year at the festival.
First, the Theatrical Program, which provides theatre performances from
international companies, as well as regional Japanese programs. This year’s
international performances are represented by countries such as Tunisia,
Germany, and Palestine. Second, the Communication Program, which offers the
opportunity for the audience to meet with artists and staff in a setting that
provides the grounds to form a “creative relationship and in doing so offering the
chance to discover new, different perspectives in light of events and incidents
occurring all around the world, within our own community and it's people”55
And finally, the IVP – International Visitors Program. This program includes
professionals in the performing arts field to meet, gather and network, in the
hopes of establishing future international co-productions through open dialogue
and exchanges. 56

The Programming
2005 marks the 11th annual festival for the TIAF. The festival runs in March of
each year. The festival enjoys a very high reputation for its programming.
Especially after 9/11 the goal of the festival has been to create a bridge between
different countries and increase the awareness of other cultures’ arts in Japan.
55
56
Tokyo International Arts Festival (2005), Festival Program Brochure
Tokyo International Festival, International Visitor’s Program (online), cited on August 5, 2005
77
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Because of this, from 2003 – 2006 they are concentrating their programming on
performance groups from Arabic and eastern European countries. Their primary
concern is not an exchange of culture, but rather includes introducing arts from
other cultures to the Japanese audience.
Originality is very important to the programming of the festival. The festival was
the first to bring in a performance group from the Palestine region. For the
season of 2005-2006 the country is celebrating the German culture with a year of
“Germany in Japan” activities. Because of this, the festival has received funding
from the Goethe Institute to bring German productions to the festival.

About Festival Organizer
The festival is run by the Arts Network Japan which oversees the Tokyo
International Arts Festival as well as the Nishi-Sugama Arts Factory. The
employees of the festival are all employed by the Arts Network Japan. The
director of TIAF, Sachio Ichimura, has the final determination on what
programming will be offered each year.
There is a staff that makes
recommendations to him after learning and seeing productions abroad that could
be potential programs for the festival. He reviews all recommendations and
makes a final decision. There is a base of volunteer workers who contribute a
great deal to each festival. They utilize about 50 volunteers for each festival.
Many of the volunteers are university students from the area, interested in the
arts.

Festival Audiences
The audience is primarily Japanese. They do not focus on promoting the festival
to foreigners primarily due to the language barrier. They hope to promote the
message of cultural exchange to the Japanese audience. Their mission is not to
promote Japan outside of the country, but rater to promote other cultures to their
audience. Japan performances tend to be very expensive, therefore the attendees
tend to be in the upper middle and upper level classes. They tend to be higher
educated.

Festival Financial Resources
Financial Revenue comes from 3 sources. Government funding (40%), corporate
sponsors (30-35%) and ticket sales (20-25%). The financial structure is not stable
each year. Budgeting depends on the year. They calculate how much they can
use and what should be allocated to each programming, and change forecast ever
year. Budget for 2004 was a big budget and thus a smaller budget was available
for 2005. The money they receive from the government is under 2 categories.
The Japanese Agency of Arts gives money to the festival once every 3 years. They
have applied for another category for government support under the initiative to
support cultural exchange. Although they do receive government support, the
programming decision remains an independent function of the Festival.

Festival Financial Expenditures
Not available
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia

Cooperation with Asian Parties
There is not a drive for TIAF to cooperate with other festivals in Asia. Primarily
this is due to the fact that the festival wants to promote originality of its
performances. They have participated in some co-productions; however it is not
their primary concern. They are members of the association that brings together
professionals from the Arts festivals 2 times a year. This allows them to see
colleagues regularly, share information and talk about prospective common
projects. At one time TIAF created a piece 100% produced the piece and offered
it to two festivals in Asia. These festivals put the production on in their own
festivals. Chiaki Soma The key to co-productions with other Asian Festivals is to
look for good artists. However difficulties arise because many of the other
festivals in Asia are government run and tend to be more conservative in the
programming. Chiaki Soma, of TIAF, is not very optimistic with co-productions.
She states that they are not easy to achieve. The interest is to share the financial
interests, however, if the resulting program is not interesting; it is risky to have
the performance as part of their programming.

Cooperation with European Parties
The TIF is very focused for the next few years on East Europe and Arabic
countries in order to maintain the goal of the festival. The Festival begins its
programming options by being very clear of regions or themes it wants to pursue
and then finding the performances that best fit the requirements of the festival’s
programming objectives. They tend to focus on contemporary theatre and dance
groups. These are essential to their festival. However other art forms are
interesting to them as well.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Appendix 7
: Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival
Interview Summary
1. Festival Fact Sheet
Festival Name
Country of Origin
Festival Organizer
Organizer Address
Website
2. Interviewee Data
Name
Position
: New Vision Arts Festival
: Hong Kong S.A.R. Government, China
: Festival Office, Leisure and Culture Service
Department of Hong Kong SAR Government
: Level 5, Administration Building,
Hong Kong Cultural Centre
10 Salisbury Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon,
Hong Kong
: http://www.icm.gov.mo/fam/16/indexE.asp
: Mrs. Elaine Yeung
: Head of Festival Office
3. Interview Report

The Purpose of the Festival
The “Theme Festival” was presented by the Leisure and Culture Service
Department, subject to the Government of the Hong Kong’s Special
Administrative Region. The main objective is to introduce the arts and cultures of
Asia, China, and Hong Kong region. The general public was offered to broaden
the field of vision in arts and culture by the means of performances, lectures,
demonstrations, forums, exhibitions, and other supplementary activities. The
festival also facilitated the goal to build Hong Kong as the Cultural metropolis of
Asia in terms of operating in the international frontier. Artists were encouraged
to pursue innovative and professional performances in order to promote the
artistic and cultural exchange.

The Festival Features
“The New Vision Arts Festival” in 2002 and 2004 was to foster the innovative
intercultural performances spirit by focusing on the Contemporary Asian
Performing Arts. Including music, dance, and theatre, the festival covered all
kinds of styles, such as contemporary, jazz, pop, crossover, and multi-media.
Meanwhile, the festival also acted as the producer or co-producer to commission
local and international artists to tailor programmes in accordance with the theme
of the festival.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
The principle of the new vision arts festival is innovation and unlimited vision,
emphasizing the boundless freedom in arts performances. The artists and
performers were encouraged to break the line and the boundary of the
interdisciplinary to create novel contents and style, to extend the arts forms, and
to offer richer and newer options of arts to the audiences.

The Programme Issues
The New Vision Arts Festival was organized by the Festival Office under the
Leisure and Cultural Service Department. It was the obligation and responsibility
of the Senior Manager to collect the information of performances, including those
proposals from the agencies and public submission. The officers often visited the
festivals outside Hong Kong to see the performance and decided if they will
make decision instantly. There was a budget for programme-makers to travel, but
sometimes there would also be invitations from other festivals. Only small parts
of the programmes were chosen by second-hand information based on strong
and powerful recommendations. A programme committee and a panel of expert
advisors in various disciplines of performing arts made the final selection. The
criteria regarding to selection included the professional and artistic merit of the
programme, artists and production personnel concerned, the relevance of the
proposed programmes to the theme and objectives of the festival, the overall
programme balance of the festival, financial implications, technical viability and
marketing consideration of the proposed programme

About the Festival Organizer
The Festival Office subject to the public authority, was in charge of the
programmes and organization of the festival. The part-time workers were
employed during the period of the festival. No volunteer organization was
involved.

The Festival Audiences
It was estimated in an audience survey of 2004, about 78% of the audiences were
20 to 59 years of age; 54% of the audience has attained tertiary education or
higher; Professionals accounts 28%, while managers 15%, and 86% were students.
About 57% of the audience had an income more than HK$10,000. Furthermore,
the average attendance of the new vision arts festival was about 86%.

The Festival Financial Resources
The festival was presented by the government; therefore the budget was funded
by the government 100%. All the income generated from tickets contributed to
the state treasury. In 2004, the annual budget from the government was HK$ 24
million for running two festivals, New Vision and Arts Carnival, and the daily
administration. And the income generated from the tickets was HK$ 5.5 million
with 86% sold tickets.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia

The Festival Financial Expenditures
Regarding to the expenditure, administration expenses accounted for 25.5% of
the total budget, including salaries and daily administration. Production was 60%
including performance fees and airfares, and promotion was 14.5 %. The
government allocated a budget based on last year’s actual expenditures and the
current year’s festival expense projections. It happened each year at the start of
the Financial Year in April and the festival operated on an annual funding cycle.

Cooperation with Asian Parties
The new vision arts festivals cooperated with other Asian performing arts
festivals very often, including Singapore, Korea, Japan, and Macau in terms of cocommissions, co-presentations and touring programmes. The international
traveling costs or cultural exchange of artists and sharing of programme
information were shared. The New Vision Arts Festival usually line up with other
festivals in the same region, such as Macao Arts Festival, Seoul Performing Arts
Festival, and Singapore Arts Festival, to share the international programmes in
order to lower the international travel costs.

Cooperation with European Parties
The interaction with European performing arts groups was one of the most
important aspects of the new vision arts festival through the introduction of the
European programme and art forms to Hong Kong.
The government offered opportunities for Hong Kong performing arts group to
perform overseas in special occasions, such as the Hong Kong week at a certain
city, which normally falls within a major tourism or economic campaign to
promote Hong Kong. The first criteria of selecting programmes were an artistic
standard and followed by financial feasibility. The government also took a
proactive approach to look for partners for presentations or encouraged the
group to find sponsorship for airfare etc. in order to lower costs.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Appendix 8
: Seoul Performing Arts Festival
Interview Summary
1. Festival Fact Sheet
Festival Name
Country of Origin
Festival Organizer
Organizer Address
Website
2. Interviewee Data
Name
Position
: Seoul Performing Arts Festival
: Korean
: Seoul Performing Arts Festival
: 4F. Sukma Bldg.
1-89 Dongsoong-Dong Chongno-Gu
Seoul, Korea (110-809)
: www.spaf21.com
: Ms. Soyoung Jang
: Overseas Programming Team
3. Interview Report

The Purpose of the Festival
The objective of the Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF) is to “establish an
international performing arts market which will introduce and dynamically
mediate contemporary artistic imaginations of the highest international
reputation”57 The festival pursues performances which are contemporary and
innovative, and promote programs which include interactivity within the genres.
SPAF is not designed to satisfy the citizens’ desire but was created by the
government to elevate the cultural level of Korean people. It was established to
celebrate and integrate the 2002 Korea Japan World cup with cultural events. The
festival is offered in the autumn every year.

The Festival Features
The festival’s programming consists of Music, Dance, and Theatre productions.
The goal of the festival is to offer programming that is interdisciplinary in
content. For example, the mixture of dance with theatre, and the combination of
music with theatre could be portrayed in the performances. In addition the
festival showcases programming in the individual genres as well. Innovation is
the key factor with regard to the programming criteria of the festival.

The Programme Issues
Programming is determined by the Artistic Director (Kwang Lim Kim). In
addition to the Artistic Director, there is the Associated Artistic Director, the
Planning Team and Abroad Programming Team. For the 2005 season, there are
twenty three performances being offered or sponsored by performing groups
from countries including Korea, Tunisia, Canada, Spain and Belgium.
57
Seoul Performing Arts Festival 2005, Website Main page (online), cited on August 5, 2005
83
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
The festival works toward the promotion of innovative interdisciplinary
contemporary performances. They aim to accomplish strong collaboration
for joint-productions with festival organizers, artists and performing arts
organizations.

About the Festival Organizer
The Organization is comprised of the Artistic Director, Associated Artistic
Director, the Planning Team and the Abroad Programming Team. Volunteers
total 50 to 60 for each festival. The volunteers are involved in ushering, stage
crew, ticket office, photography as well as video recording.

The Festival Audiences
The audience for the festival is made up of two groups. It is made up of
primarily university students in their 20s as well as individuals who work in the
performing arts industry.

The Festival Financial Resources
The Revenue Sources: The festival was established by the government; therefore
it is almost fully supported by government funds. There is private contribution
factor equals about 12% of their total budget. They have worked with individual
sponsors who have wanted to sponsor individual “events”; however, this is an
exception, and is not done with the main programming that is sponsored at the
government level.

The Festival Financial Expenditures
The expenditures are broken down in the following manner; 70% of the budget is
used for the programming, 10-15 % is used for PR and Marketing and 10-15% is
allocated for other operational expenses.

Cooperation with Asian Parties
SPAF is a member of the Association of Asian Performing Arts Festivals. At this
time they are working with members of this association in the hopes of
establishing relationships with other performing arts festivals. Through these
relationships they are hopeful to co-produce productions in the future.

Cooperation with European Parties
Types of European Performing Arts that are favorable for the Seoul Festival
include interdisciplinary performing arts; exhibition and theater, Music and
theater, and exhibition and dance. The most important factor in the selection
criteria of the European groups is the performance itself. They look for works
that are innovative and modern. The budget is the next important criteria.
Factors such as staging costs and transportation are taken into effect of the
decision
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Appendix 9
: DaDao Live Arts Festival
Interview Summary
1. Festival Fact Sheet
Festival Name
Country of Origin
Festival Organizer
Organizer Address
Website
: DaDao Live Art Festival (DaDao)
: China
: DaDao (private person)
: n/a
: http://www.araiart.jp/dadao3.html (non-official)
2. Interviewee Data
Name
Position
: Mr. Shu Yang
: Founder, presenter, artist
3. Interview Report

The Purpose of the Festival
Presented by independent artists, the DaDao Live Art Festival (DDLAF) is the
first international festival in the field of live arts in China. Started in 2003, the
objective of DDLAF was to present live arts in terms of individual performances,
mainly focusing on visual arts. It was also the vision for DDLAF to provide
opportunities and build up an environment for live arts artists to continue to
perform and create new works, to promote the professional performing
standards, and to educate the public since live arts are not recognized in China
and oppressed by the main stream.

The Festival Features
The major presentation form of DDLAF is currently in visual arts and most of the
artists realize their ideas with bodies rather than other materials. The acceptance
of the general public restrains the development of live arts in China; therefore,
the vivid types of live arts have not been obvious in the festival yet, such as the
forms integrated with dance, theatre, and music.
Because of specific political issues and social situation that the live arts confront,
the programmes of DDLAF are characterized by small productions, easy to
complete, and high artistry with relatively lower managerial coordination. The
organizing team intends to exclude all the pressures from different stakeholders,
such as the media, sponsors, and government, and to fulfill the purpose of the
festival. In addition, apart from those live art performances deliberately made to
attract the media attention, DDLAF looks for works, which doesn’t employ social
events, but with concerns of the environment of a human being’s life.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia

The Programming Issues
Three to four independent live arts artists, including the director, are in charge of
programme’s process. The sources of the programmes are the result of two steps,
i.e. visiting other festivals and activities, and proposed by other artists and
organizations based on the common consensus, whether locally or
internationally. The director and co-producers visit festivals abroad and attend
performances in other cities to seek the interesting pieces which comply with the
theme of the DDLAF. Since 2004, Live Arts Development Agency in UK has
contacted the director and visited DDLAF, and 18 artists were introduced to
China. Consequently, Live Arts Department Agency and it members have been
the main resource of foreign programmes for DDLAF. Another way that also
comprises a part of the programme of the festival will be based on video
selection.
Location is an important consideration in the decision of the programme. It is one
of the elements of the performances while the artists emphasizes on making a
connection with the environment with their own bodies. DDLAF first step is to
survey for the suitable place and then decide where the festival will be located.

About the Festival Organizer
The DDLAF was started by the current director and organized with other
presenters. There is no official organization behind the festival for the reason that
it is not allowed to form independent associations in China unless it is a
commercial corporation. All the administrative and coordinative work is done by
individuals, by several presenters. Volunteers are involved as translators for the
foreign artists and mostly consists of students from the college of foreign
language.

Festival Audiences
Lacking a legal status, DDLAF can only perform without charging tickets form
the audiences. According to the location where it was conducted, the number of
the audience ranges from 500 to 1,000 per performance. There is no systematical
survey of audiences.
The director said that most of the audiences are young, from 20-30 years old. The
audiences were also composed by a large portion of artists.

Festival Financial Resources
Being a young festival and an unofficial organization, the DDLAF was not able to
provide the complete financial figures. Although the government does not
recognize the DDLAF, there are sponsorships from corporations who would like
to associate with the “novel” art, such as companies with a city lifestyle and fast
moving consumer suppliers. In 2005, the sponsors included SOHO China - a real
estate company providing innovative living spaces and creating fashionable
lifestyles, SUNTIME – an international wine corporation, and Colorfulness, a
fashion magazine publisher in China. Some of the sponsors are contracted via
personal network. Individual donations (angel sponsor) were also the main
income since the DDLAF is not allowed to sell tickets. A small portion of earning
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
income comes through selling T-shirts. Providing performing venues and its
equipments for free is another important mode of sponsorship. It is the strategy
for DDLAF to find the resource for every expenditure according to the needs.
The annual budget is about US$4,000 to US$6,000 covering production, local
transportation, and administration and is changed with the different presentation
spaces. There were no performance fees for the artists. However, the foreign
artists, private funds and public subsidies from their countries were necessary in
order to cover the airfares and hotels.

Festival Financial Expenditures
Not available

Cooperation with Asian Parties
The DDLAF has invited Asian artists, especially from Japan, Thailand, Hong
Kong, and Taiwan. The director started the festival 3 years ago while attending
the Nippon International Performance Art Festival and has been supported by
them in terms of inviting international artists and funding for the festival. Due to
the style of individual performance and the limitations of the budget, there is no
co-production at this moment. However, symposiums and workshops are held
for the discussion of the current situation, exchange of ideas, and network
building.
The director and other presenters have also attended international meetings to
share the information on live arts in China.

Cooperation with European Parties
Live Art Department Agency in UK has been working with DDLAF since 2004. 18
artists and 10 presenters visited the festival in 2004 and 5 presenters in 2005. And
mutually, Live Art Department Agency has also invited Chinese artists, mainly
those in the DDLAF, to perform in UK in October 2005.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Appendix 10 : Jakarta International Arts Festival (JakArt)
Interview Summary
1. Festival Fact Sheet
Festival Name
Country of Origin
Festival Organizer
Organizer Address
Website
2. Interviewee Data
Name
Position
: Jakarta International Arts Festival (JakART)
: Indonesia
: JakART
: Jln Lebak Bulus II no. 20 A, Cilandak
Jakarta 12430, Indonesia
: www.jakart.org
: Mrs. Ary Sutedja
: Founders, Government Relationship Officer
3. Interview Report

The Purpose of the Festival
“JakArt@2001 is the result of combined efforts of an impressive number of individual
artists and concerned citizens who have collectively come to realization that some action
is called for imminently. These same individuals have struggled for many years and to
various degrees of success to address the concern of the lack of adequate educational and
financial support (often due to lack of understanding of the important links between the
arts and our everyday economic and social activities). In our city of 15 million people,
most of the cultural projects and events address themselves to narrow and specialized
audiences and seldom reach the wider public. What makes JakArt@2001 different is that
for the first time in many years a consensus has emerged that if all these noble efforts in
the various fields and disciplines can be pooled together for one moment in time (June
2001) and in just one space (Jakarta), then perhaps we can create a monumental event
that will reach a wide audiences and draw attention to a number of important issues. We
hope that this will start an on-going dialogue that will develop into a deeper level of
understanding.” 58
JakArt is a society movement festival, to bring cultures and arts closer to the
society since Indonesian people tend to ignore cultures and arts in their daily
lives. JakArt wants to facilitate intensive cultural campaign as far and as wide as
possible, and to encourage a greater participation of the population, both as hosts
and active participants.
JakArt also wants to demonstrate our (artists) capabilities and show how we act
through creativity to encounter numerous challenges, and do something for
Indonesia with our style. To wrap-up, JakArt wanted to state the importance of
CREATIVITY in our social, economic and cultural activities.
58
JakArt (2001), Preface statement in JakArt@2001 Festival Guide
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia

The Festival Features
JakArt featured overseas and local artists, both professionals and amateurs
through a diverse selection of arts programmes. JakArt programmes include
exhibitions, architecture, happening art, live action events, workshop and
seminar, theater, dance, food festival, music and film.
In 2001-2003, JakArt hosted over than 1,000 events. The events were held in over
300 venues, ranging from conventional venues (concert hall and theatres) to the
alternative venues (park, street, mosques, church, bus, dockyard etc.). JakArt
transformed the city of Jakarta into a huge stage for a whole month.
In 2004, JakArt presented “Festival a la Carte”, a unique traveling festival visiting
cities in Java and Bali, with the participation of over 150 traveling artists (from
Indonesia and overseas) and over 500 Indonesian artists. This happened because
JakArt was not get officials’ permission because of high political tension since
Indonesia will be holding a general election to choose new president.
In August 2005, JakART planned to conduct an “Imaginary Festival” in Jakarta.

The Programme Issues
JakArt festival programme was decided by the JakArt artistic division, who
worked under the supervision of the JakArt board. Concerning the festival
performers, it divided into three categories; professional artists, amateur artists
and international artists.
Professional Indonesian artists were asked to contribute their talent in the
festival, based on personal network and recommendation from influential artists..
Simultaneously, JakArt artistic division will choose and decide which amateur
artists we will present and support. In addition to these artists, JakArt also
presented international artists through collaborations with foreign embassies and
international organizations in Indonesia and personal network.
Some international artists that participated in JakArt were Rene van Helsdingen
(Jazz/Dutch), Hye-Sook Yang (Flute/Korea), Giorgio de Chirico (Sculptures/Italy),
Maximiliano Guerra (Ballet/Argentina), Luciano Bellini (Conductor, composer/
Italy), Oswin A. Schneider (Guitar/Austria), Theatre Knossos (Greek), Carrousel
Dance Group (Russian) and many more.
JakART offered various programmes to cultivate the interests and appreciation of
culture and arts among the general public. 90% of JakArt events are free of
charge.

About the Festival Organizer
JakArt was established in 1999, as a grass root organization to demonstrate,
exposes, share, encourage and promote:
 The benefit to be gained from development and promotion of the arts
 The importance of creativity in our social, economic and cultural activities
 The significance of Human Value and Freedom of Expression in development
 Indonesia’s image internationally by placing it on the cultural map of the
world.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
JakArt is a voluntary based organization, with 300 members from various
backgrounds (artists, bankers, auditors, lawyers etc.). Each member is assigned
according to his or her specific fields. Moreover, to become JakArt members, the
candidate should take a psychological test in order to know the candidate’s
personality and motivation.
To conduct the festival, JakArt acquires more volunteers mostly from college and
university students. In 2001-2003, JakArt used at least 1,000 volunteers. However,
JakArt does not give any financial rewards, even for meals or transportation. In
exchange, JakArt gives their volunteers a unique experience, challenges and
freedom to solve the problems.
JakArt organization model is based on collaboration among its members and
project stakeholders. For instance, to re-paint kampoeng (i.e. an Indonesian word
for under-developed neighborhoods/villages) JakArt organized the painting
artists, provided paint applicator, utilized organization network to find sponsors,
while the local neighborhood provided meals and volunteers to help the artist.

Festival Audiences
Concerning the audiences, JakArt didn’t have a specific target audience. JakArt
aimed to bring cultural campaign to as many people as possible. JakArt used
Jakarta as our stage and artists can select their own venues as their stage.
Therefore, everyone who passed by these venues and anyone who was interested
became our target. However, to communicate the festival, JakArt provided
festival guide book and brochures. It distribute freely to the public.
In 2001-2003, the majority of JakArt audiences (95%) came from Jakarta and the
surrounding areas. The number of audience was diverse for each performance,
but there is no actual data. In 2004, our audiences depended on the size of the
visited cities; a bigger city meant more audiences.

The Festival Financial Resources
JakArt major financial resources were donations (80%) from artists, foreign
embassies and personal donations. Our philosophy was from the society, by the
society, to the society. Artists present their talent, and some of professional artists
cover their own performance costs. The foreign embassies provided us with the
infrastructure (concert hall), foreign artists and (or) some money for donations.
For foreign artists JakArt usually only cover their accommodation and meals by
use our network to provide it. For instance, if JakArt need paints or
accommodations, we ask our “friends” to provide it for free or with significant
discount. Another significant contribution was from the neighborhood
community who provided meals, accommodation and tools.
Another 20% comes from the government and private sectors. However, we faced
some problems with them. With government, JakArt received some support in
the form of obtaining event and security permits. However, we did not receive a
lot of funds since the officials wanted to keep some of the money for themselves,
and JakArt rejected those kinds of deals. Concerning private sectors, our
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
definition for private sectors is if the companies want to sponsor our project
without influence from our network However, if we talk with middle
management in the company, they tried to squeeze us, and ask almost 70% of the
sponsorship back to marketing and promotion tools in mass communication,
such TV and newspaper. Problems that occur included inaccessible luxurious
marketing and promotion tools since JakArt was working under very tight
budget.
JakART budget in 2001-2003 was roughly around $250,000 each year. In 2004, for
Festival a la Carte, our budget was around $150,000.

Festival Financial Expenditures
It is hard to separate JakArt expenditure because of our unique models. JakArt
spent 90% of our fund raising activity to cover the programmes and
infrastructures (hall rent, sound system, lighting etc). These costs are incurred
because JakART programmes were usually conducted in outdoor stages. Another
10% was for administration and printing expenses.

Cooperation with Asian Parties
JakArt is still in the early stages of cooperation. Although JakArt has several
networks such Association of Asian Performing Arts Festival (AAPAF), we
needed to shift the cooperation level to another level. Currently, East Asia festival
organizers have tried only to promote each other, and share some information
and knowledge. However we needed to break the wall, since we have different
purposes of the festival and different attitudes. In the short term, commissioning
work (one production that can be play together) is the most feasible one; it also
can strengthen an Asian collaboration.

Cooperation with European Parties
JakArt cooperation with Europe was initiated with the cooperation with foreign
embassies and foreign culture centers in Indonesia. In JakArt festival, we worked
together with the British Council, CCF (French), Goethe Institute (Germany),
Erasmus (Netherlands), Russia and Greece. Presently, our cooperations were
limited to arranging workshops or conducting European artists’ performances in
Indonesia. However, JakArt also have some good personal connection with
European artists which brought international flavour in our festivals.
On the international level, in August 2004, JakART was the representative of
Indonesia in the Cultural Olympiad, offering Festival a la Carte, The Stage Bus
from Indonesia, Touring the Peloponnese, visited 15 cities and municipalities in
Greece. It was a government-to-government programme in order to
commemorate and support the Olympics in Athens.
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Appendix 11 : The Member List of Asia Europe Foundation
Asia
Brunei Darussalam
China
Indonesia
Japan
South Korea
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam
Europe
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Great Britain
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Appendix 12 : East Asia Festivals’ Programmes List
Hong Kong Arts Festivals
Hong Kong, 16th Feb. – 20th Mar. 2005 performance
Type / Style
Opera
Chinese opera
Classical Music
Contemporary
Theatre
Puppet Theatre
Contemporary
Dance
World Music /
Jazz
Programmes / Performers
Otello, Polish National Opera
Cantonese Opera – Masterpieces, Tong Tik-sang
Kun Opera – The Palace of Eternal Youth
Beethoven Symphonic Cycle,Orchestra of the 18th
Century, Frans Brüggen
Leif Ove Andsnes & Norwegian Chamber
Orchestra
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
Mozart Requiem, Hong Kong Philharmonic
Orchestra, Guben kian Choir
Tenor Recital, Wei Song, Hong Kong Philharmonic
Orchestra
Esemble Antipodes
Ysaÿe Quartet
Brazilian Guitar Quartet
Piano Recital, Fazil Say
Piano Recital, Rachel Cheung
Russian Orthodox Choir
The French Kiss
Amber, National Theatre Company of China
Johan Padan and the Discovery of America,
Compagnia Thetrele Fo-Rame
Vassa Zheleznova, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre
Perchance to Dream, Footsbarn Travelling Theatre
Jesús Betz, La Troppa
Kazahana, Saburo Teshigawara, Karas
Béjart Ballet Lausanne
Compagnia Aterballetto
Nederlands Dans Theater III
Little Prince Hamlet
Regina Carter Quintet
Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band
All the Shanghai Jazz
Brad Mehldau Trio
The Blind Boys of Alabama
Lila Downs
Divana, Musicians and Poets of Rajasthan
Nationality
Note
Poland
Hong Kong
China
Netherlands
3 shows
5 shows
3 shows
4 shows
Norway
2 shows
German
Hong Kong
1 show
1 show
Hong Kong
1 show
Switzerland
France
Brazil
Turkey
Hong Kong
Russia
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Italy
1 show
1 show
2 shows
2 shows
1 show
3 shows
5 shows
7 shows
3 shows
Hong Kong
Britain
Chili
Japan
Switzerland
Italy
Netherlands
Hong Kong,
Indonesia,
Malaysia,
Korea, Japan
United States
United States
China
United States
United States
Spain
India
3 shows
4 shows
5 shows
2 shows
3 shows
3 shows
2 shows
3 shows
2 shows
2 shows
2 shows
1 show
2 shows
2 shows
1 show
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Type / Style
Entertainment
Pop music
Entertainment
Music, Theatre
Circus
Programmes / Performers
Nationality
Note
The Fresh Air Brass Quintet
I-City
Come Out & Play
The Nightingale
L'Oratorio d'Aurélia
Material Girls
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
France
Hong Kong
2 shows
6 shows
2 shows
12 shows
3 shows
2 shows
Collectif AOC, La Syncope du 7
France
4 shows
Source : Hong Kong Arts Festival website
Macao International Arts Festival
Macao, 7th Mar. – 2nd Apr. 2005
Type / Style
Programmes / Performers
Chinese Opera
Kun Opera – The Peony Pavilion, Suzhou Kun
Opera Theatre of Jiangsu Province
Cantonese Opera – The Jade Hairpin, Macao U
Lok Iao Chinese Opera Performance Association
Yue Opera – Excerpts: Farewell, from The
Butterfly Lovers, The Nine-Catty Girl, Xiaobaihua
Yue Opera Company
Yue Opera – The Story of the Livrary of the Fan
Family, Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Company
Mozart Series, The Macao Orchestra
Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, The Macao
Orchestra, the Shanghai Opera House and the Macao
Conservatory
Pilobolus Dance Theatre
Leitmotiv, Les Deux Mondes
China
2 shows
Macao
2 shows
China
2 shows
China
1 show
Macao
Macao, China
1 show
1 show
United States
Canada
2 shows
2 shows
A Mermaid from Heaven, Theatre in Patois Dóci
Papiaçám di Macau Drama Group
Our Life, Musical Theatre, Farmers Theatre Group
The Wedding of the Mice, TTT Puppet Centre
Commemorative Concert of the 100th Anniversary
of Chinese Cinema, The Macao Chinese Orchestra
Sérgio Godinho
Divana, Musicians and Poets of Rajastan and
Dulsori, Sound of Nature
Elba Ramalho
Retrospective of 100 Years of Chinese Cinema
Macao
3 shows
Macao
Taiwan
Macao
2 shows
2 shows
1 show
Portugal
India, South
Korea
Brasil
Macao
1 show
1 show
Classical music
Dance Theatre
Multi-media
music theatre
Theatre
Puppet theatre
Entertainment
Pop music
World Music
Nationality
Note
1 show
1 show
Source : Macao International Arts Festival website
94
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Shanghai International Arts Festival,
Shanghai, China, 18th Oct. - 17th Nov. 2005,
Type / Style
Opera
Classical music
Ballet
Contempoary
Dance Theatre
Dance theatre
Dance Gala
Show
Dance
Symphony
Theatre
Jazz
Pop music
Chinese opera
Programmes / Performers
The Barber of Seville
Sir Roger Norrington, Stuttgart Radio Symphony
Orchestra
Myung-Whun Chung & Tokyo Philharmonic
Orchestra
Cello Concerto, Yo-Yo Ma
Chord of Prague, Suk Chamger orchestra
Clarinet Due, Michala Petri, Lars Hannibal
Amsterdam Piano Duo
Requiem, Shanghai Opera House
Cairo Symphony Orchestra
Chamber Orchestra
Berlin Philharmonic Soloists
Raymonda, Bayerische Staatshalleett
La Boheme, West Australian Ballet
The Dream of the Fed Chamber, The Cloud Gate
Dance Theatre
Mulun, Shanghai Song & Dance Ensemble
Egyptian Night, Cairo opera Ballet Company
Song & Dance Ensemble of the Ukrainian Armed
Forces
Burn the Floor
Leningrad Symphony, Shanghai Opera House
The Taming of the Shrew, Teatr Dramatyczny in
Warsaw
Mime Theatre – Sit, Tricicle
Magnate KK
Liquid Blue
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
BLOU Band
Dianju opera – Tong Xin Jie, Yunnan Dianju Opera
Guangxi Caidiao Opera, Liu San Jie
Shaoju Opera – True and Fake King Monkey,
Zhejiang Shaoju Opera
Jinju Opera- Fanjin Passing the Imperial Exam
Shanxi Jinju Opera
Ganju Opera – the Peony Pavilion
Kunju opera – The Palace of Eternal Touth
Suzhou Kunju Opera House
Peking opera – Tales of Hunchback Liu
Beijing Peking Opera Theaere
Peking opera – Struggle for imperial Power
Shanghai Peking Opera Theater
Nationality
Note
China, others
Germany
2 shows
2 shows
Korea, Japan
2 shows
United States
Czech
Denmark
Netherlands
China
Egypt
Switzerland
Germany
Germany
Australia
Taiwan
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
3 shows
2 shows
2 shows
China,
Australia
Egypt
Ukraine
3 shows
Australia
China, Russia
3 shows
2 shows
Poland
2 shows
Spain
Icelandic
United States
United States
Canada
China
China
China
3 shows
1 show
3 shows
1 show
1 show
2 shows
3 shows
2 shows
China
2 shows
China
China
2 shows
3 shows
China
1 show
China
3 shows
2 shows
1 show
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Type / Style
Chinese opera
Chinese Opera
Gala
Ethnic Dance
theatre
Ethnic Gala
Show
Children’s
theatre
Multi-media
Musical
Puppet Show
Theatre
Acrobatic Show
Programmes / Performers
Nationality
Note
Huqiju opera – Han Fei, Shanghai Huaiju Opera
Yueju opera – The Butterfly Lovers
Shanghai Yueju Opera Theatre
Yueju opera – Jade Love, Shanghai Yueju Opera
Theatre
Rendezvous in Shanghai, Shanghai Peking Opera
Theater
Shaolin in the Wind, Zhengzhou Song & Dance
Ensemble
Visitor from the Ice Mountain, Sinjiang Song &
Dance Ensemble
Red River Valley, Wuxi Song & Dance Ensemble
Brilliant Lanterns in Yunling, Huadeng Song &
Dance theatre
Malan Flower, Shanghai International children
Culture Development Ltd. Co.
Wild Snow
China
China
2 shows
2 shows
China
2 shows
China
1 show
China
2 shows
China
2 shows
China
China
2 shows
2 shows
China
3 shows
China
2 shows
Ne Zha Defeats the Dragon
China
3 shows
The Lost Opera, Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center
Era, Shanghai Circus World, Cirque du Soleil
China
China,
Canada
4 shows
1 show
Source : China Shanghai International Arts Festival website
96
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Tokyo International Arts Festivals
Tokyo, Japan, 2nd Feb. - 28th Mar. 2005
Type / Style
Theatre
Programmes / Performers
The Wall, Stories Under Occupation II, Tokyo
International Festival, Al-Kasaba Theatre
Junun – Insanity, Familia Productions
Endstation Amerika, Volksbühne am RosaLuxemburg-Platz
Quaqua, Beckett Live, Vol.6, Produced by 3 points
Konsui (Coma), Creative network Committee, Ort-d.
Red Room Radio, Tobu-Gekijo
Barber Orchestra, Mugen-Jyokisya
Natsu-no Kumoyuki, Jinko-Shikuyu
Keppaku-shoujyo, Boshu-shimasu, TORIKO‧ A
SL (Steam Locomotive), SEN-NEN OHKOKU
Seikurabe (Competing the inches), The Osaka
Municipal Space of Art
Nationality
Note
Japan,
Palestine
Tunisia
Germany
8 shows
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
8 shows
7 shows
3 shows
3 shows
2 shows
3 shows
3 shows
4 shows
4 shows
4 shows
Source : Tokyo International Arts Festival website
97
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival
Hong Kong, 19th Oct. – 21st Nov. 2005
Type / Style
Contemporary
Chamber
Opera
Contomporary
music
Contemporary
Dance
Programmes / Performers
Nationality
Note
Opiume, Checkpoint Theatre
Singapore
2 shows
The Map & Paper Concerto, Tan Dun’s Organic
music with Symphonic Multi-media
Amplified, Sal Vanilla
Meeting with Vajrasattva, U Theatre of Taiwan
Spiritual Girl, Yeung Wai0mei
Lotus, Poetry Dance Theatre
Il n’y a plus de firmament, Theatre Vidy- Lausanne
E.T.E., Theatre de la Ville, Berliner Festwochen
China
2 shows
Japan
Taiwan
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Swiss, French
Germany
2 shows
2 shows
3 shows
2 shows
2 shows
Contemporary
Theatre
Rotate 270°, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre
E Never Forget, Theatre du Pif’s
12 shows
3 shows
World music /
Jazz
Around the Musical World in 2 Nights
Hong Kong
Hong Kong,
South Korea,
Japan
Hong Kong,
United States
Japan
Norway,
China
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
3 shows
Dance Theatre
Tamashy – Voices of the Heart, Yamat
Secret Garden, Ding Fei Fei, Ding Wei
Entertainment
theatre
Yan Hui Chang and Wang Yong in Dimensional
Pursuits, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra
The Great Entertainer, Edward Lam Dance Theatre
2 shows
2 shows
2 shows
2 shows
Source: Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival website
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Seoul Performing Arts Festival
Seoul, South Korea, 23rd Sep.-16th Oct. 2005
Type / Style
Dance
Programmes / Performers
Do we Ever Know?, La Cie Michele Noiret
W; Encountering Revolution, Shin-hea Jung,
Yoon0Jin Kim, Hyo-Jin Kim
H2- 2005; Break Dancers Keen on Philosophy
Grupo de Rua de Niterói
Twin Houses, Mossoux-Bonté Company
Terminal, Sam-Jin Kim Dance Company
Little from Tentland, Project Group
Blue Stone, Cance Theater CcadoO
Three Colors from Modern Ballet, Seoul Ballet
Theater
Let me change your name?, Eun-Me Ahn Company
Dance Theater
Dance Music
Theater
Music Theater
Back to the Present, Dorky Park Company
The Two, Kyung-Eun Lee, Evis Sammoutis
La Historia de Ronald el Payaso de McDonalds,
La Carnicaría Teatro
School for Fools, Formalny Theatre
Junun, Familia Productions
K, NUID (Not Yet It’s Difficult), Dolgoji Theatre
West Pier, Theatre Golmokjil
Terrorists, Performing Art Group Party
Red Demon, Seoul Performing Arts Festival
2191 Nuits, Les Deux Mondes
Romeo and Juliet, Mokwha Repertory Company
Sadari Movement Lab’s Cherry Orchard, Sadari
Movement Lab
Tolstoy in Music, Korea Festival Ensemble
Nationality
Note
Belgium
Korea
2 shows
2 shows
Brazil
3 shows
Belgium
Korea
Iran,
Germany
Korea
Korea
2 shows
2 shows
2 shows
Korea, Multi
National
Germany
Korea, France
Spain
2 shows
Russia
Tunisia
Korea,
Australia
Korea
Korea
Japan, Korea
Canada
Korea
Korea
3 shows
3 shows
5 shows
Korea
2 shows
2 shows
2 shows
3 shows
1 show
3 shows
6 shows
5 shows
6 shows
3 shows
2 shows
6 shows
Source : Seoul Performing Arts Festival website
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
DaDao Live Art Festival
Beijing, China, 18th - 22nd May 2005
Type / Style
Live Art
Programmes / Performers
Geographic Discovery, Shu Yang
Joy is Fleeting, Wang Ting
Big Family-Fire, Fu Yu
Soul, Li Haijun
Bind, Xu Dian
Beautiful Coat, Yang Jiaoyong
Ritual, Tang Limi
Endless Climbing, Yang Quihong
Water Writing, Hu Geping
Addition and Subtraction, Zheng Yong
Blind Chess, Li Yang
Becoming a Butterfly, He Liping
Perspective, Dai Na
1+1+1, Du Qiuye
Edible Human Nature, Zhou Yuechao
Communication Barrier, Chen xi
Deer, Li Yan
Untitled, Chen Si
Taoist Priest and Leaves “, Hao Lei
Complement and Eliminate, Jia Qianlan
Reason Why?, Paisan Plienbangchan
6th Sense, Paivi Maunu
Red/Blue/56, Cang Ying
Abortion・Politics, Liang Tao
Hourglass, Hu Xing
The Suffering Tea, Mongkol Plienbangchan
Tourists #11, ARAI Shin0ichi
Smudging, Paivi Maunu
You Are My Shadow, Gao Na & Gao Ya
Xxxx Yyyy
The East Is Red, Qi Yang
Untitled, Li Mengyuan
Dialogue Beijing, Wei Wei
It’s Only Ketchup, Lennie Lee
Pacific Avenue, Marcus Young
Source : DaDao Live Arts Festival website
Nationality
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
Finland
China
China
China
Thailand
Japan
Finland
China
China
China
China
China
Britain
United States
Note
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
1 show
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Jakarta International Art Festivals (JakArt)
Jakarta, Indonesia, 1st -30th June 2003
Note:
 Regarding the special forms of programmes used as social movement, only some performing
arts programmes are listed in this table. In average, JakArt has held 350 events per year from
2001 – 2003. The sample was selected based on the types of performing arts with more detail
provided.
 In 2004, JakArt held a touring festival, in which 14 cities were visited in Java and Bali with
500 artists. JakArt 2004 presented music, dance, theatre, visual arts, architecture with
workshop and other educational activities.
 JakArt@2005 will be held in Jakarta in August – September 2005
Type / Style
Pop music
Programmes / Performers
Nationality
Note
Anggun and Guest Stars, featuring Anggun,
“Housy” Galleon, Julien Cely and Cyno
Musik Akustik, Street performers from Kampung
Melayu
Demi Cinta SEMESTA, Neo Progressive Rock
Indonesia
2 shows
Indonesia
6 shows
Indonesia
4 shows
Alternative Pop
Rock
Fusion Music
Neon Band
Indonesia
2 shows
Fusion Night with Cop
Indonesia
3 shows
Jazz Music
Adam Baldych, Young jazz violinist
Poland
5 shows
The Joona Toivanen Trio
Finland
6 shows
Today for Tomorrow, Nial Djuliarso Trio, Adam
Baldych
The Ronald Douglas Quartet
Indonesia,
Poland
Britain
1 show
6 shows
Jazz Night, Jakarta Jazz Society, Bimasena
Indonesia
1 show
Soesja Citroen and Her Piano Trio
Indonesia
2 shows
The Bill Heid Trio
Indonesia
9 shows
The Parahyang University Choir
Indonesia
1 show
Soprano’ Linda Sitinjak & Diani Sitompol
Indonesia
1 show
Soli Deo Family Choir
Indonesia
1 show
Shubert : Winterreise, Bertl Mutter
Germany
3 shows
Classical Music Recital, Students of the
International Music Foundation
Guitar recital, Ireng Maulana
Indonesia
1 show
Indonesia
12 shows
100 ABG Babu, Slamet Abdul Syukur & 100
teenagers from Jakarta Playing Kentongan
Indonesia
1 show
Rock Music
Classical Music
Contemporary
music
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Type / Style
World music
Film
Programmes / Performers
Nationality
Note
Guitar and Percussion, Reinkarnasi, Ghita, I Ketut
Budiyasa
Max Havelaar, Fons Rademakers
Indonesia
1 show
Netherlands
2 shows
French Film Festival
French
9 shows
Swiss Sensations Month, Galeri Manca
Indonesia
4 shows
Earth Song, Komunitas Hitam Putih
Contemporary Balinese Music, Dance and Perfromance
arts incl. 85 artists
Creative Art Workshops for Children
Indonesia
3 shows
Indonesia
5 shows
The Reda Folkoric Troup, Traditional Music and
Dance from Egypt
When Ratih Sang Recites Poetry, Ratih Sang
Indonesia,
Egypt
Indonesia
10 shows
Because of greed, The old man and the mouse,
Yayasan Anak Bangsa
Script of Mask, Teater Bambu
Indonesia
20 shows
Indonesia
20 shows
Peaceful Life, Teater Tukank
Indonesia
5 shows
Choice & The Hunter’s Machine, Hitam
Experimental Theatre with Verbal and Non Verbal
Expression
The Old Elections, Betawi Drama
Indonesia
5 shows
Indonesia
20 shows
Cockroaches, Teater Tiang Contemporary
Indonesia
20 shows
The Engagement, Sanggar Pondok Cipta Modem
Theatre
4 Madams with a Mission Tricks, Bengkel Lenong
Jakarta Drama-Comedy Theatre
Because Amoi is my name, Monologue by Teater
Kail
The Little Frog, Teater Cinta Lakon Music Drama
Indonesia
1 show
Indonesia
20 shows
Indonesia
10 shows
Indonesia
10 shows
Charlie & Charles, Teater Gerak Pantomime
Indonesia
20 shows
Song of the Nation, Sanggar Lentur Contemporary
Theatre
Aphrodite is Looking for Love, Kotak Pensil
Theatre Group Contemporary Theatre
A Small Hope in Facing Death, Teater Redam
Indonesia
8 shows
Indonesia
10 shows
Indonesia
4 shows
Robber Teater, Jakarta Timur Modern Theatre
Indonesia
20 shows
Music Dance
Theatre
1 show
Source : JakArt@2003 Festival Programmes Guide
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
8 Acknowledgements
The project team would like to thank the following individuals whose guidance
was critical to the success of our project.
Dr. Dragan Klaic who mentored the project team throughout each stage of the
project. From the beginning, helping the team focus the scope of the research project
by providing invaluable ideas and resources whenever possible, and providing us
with key contacts in the Performing Arts field. We thank him for his unending
support and guidance, and for his ability to not only share his vast knowledge but
also his enthusiasm for the performing arts.
Dr. Jacqueline Roeleveld whose continuous guidance of our team from the project
determination stage through the final draft presentation. For listening and offering
advice when we faced limitations in the projects, and for helping us focus the paper,
through editing of the drafts and providing us the opportunity to learn the process of
project management.
We would like to extend sincere gratitude to the following individuals in the
Festival Organizations, and Performance Groups, who gave of their time and
knowledge to help us gain a deeper understanding of the festivals and the context
of East Asian performing arts
Performing Arts Festivals
Mr. Xue Bin, Vice Officer for External Communication
China Shanghai International Arts Festival (China)
Mr. Roger Christmann, Administrator
KunstenFESTIVALdesArts (Belgium)
Mr. Douglas Gautier, Executive Director
Hong Kong Arts Festival (China)
Ms. Soyoung Jang, Overseas Programming Team
Seoul Performing Arts Festival (Korea)
Mr. Charles Lam, Head of Special Project Division
Macao Arts Festival (Macao S. A. R. Government, China)
Ms. Chiaki Soma, Head of the International Program
Tokyo International Arts Festival (Japan)
Mrs. Ary Sutedja, Founder, Government Relationship Officer
JakART Festival (Indonesia)
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Ms. Angharad Wynne-Jones, Director
LIFT - London International Festival of Theater (United Kingdom)
Mr. Shu Yang, Founder, Presenter, Artist
DaDao Live Arts Festival (China)
Mrs. Elaine Yeung, Head of Festival Office
New Vision Arts Festival (China)
Performance Groups
Mr. Reinhard Auer
Freies Theater Bozen (Italy)
Ms. Elona Bajoriniene, Artistic Director
International Vilnius Theatre Festival "SIRENS" (Lithuania)
Mr. Mingchang Hsieh, Theatre Manager
Performance Workshop (Taiwan)
Mr. Esper Linnamägi, Producer
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (Estonia)
Mr. Goh Boon Teck, Founder
Toy Factory (Singapore)
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
9 Bibliography
Book References
Alain Charles Arts Publishing Ltd. (2003), Music, Opera, Dance and Drama in Asian, the Pacific
and North America 2003
Brockett, O.G.(1995), History of the Theatre, 7th ed, London: Allyn and Bacon
Carr, C. (2000) The Book of War, New York: Modern Library, 2000
Getz, D. (1991), Festivals, Special Events and Tourism, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold,
Greffe, X. (2003), Arts and Artists from Economic Perspective, Paris: Economica / UNESCO
Hagoort, G. (2003), Arts Management Entrepreneurial Style, Delft: Eburon Publishers
Friedman, T. (2005), The World is Flat: A Brief History of 21st Century, New York: Farrar, Straus
& Giroux
Meredith, J.R., and Samuel J. (2003), Project Management: A Managerial Approach. New York:
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Article References
Allen, K. & Shaw, P. (2000), Festival Mean Business: the Shape of Arts Festivals in the UK, British
Arts Festival Association. Available from www.efa-aef.org
Bachella, U., Bollo, A., Di Stefano, E., Klaic, D. & Hansen, K. (2004), Festivals: Challanges of
Growth, Distinction, Support Base and Internationalization, Tartu
Davis, E.L., (2005), Knowledge Continuity Management in Festival Organizations, Utrecht School
of Art
European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (June 2003), Study on Cultural Cooperation in Europe
(online). Available from http://www.efah.org/en/indexen.htm
Klaic, D. (2002), The Future of Festival Formulae: A Holland Festival Symposium in De Balie
Background Paper, Amsterdam
Online References
Tomlinson, J, Globalization and Culture (online), cited on August 15, 2005.
Available from http://www.optimistmag.org/gb/0014/one.php?id=1137
US Immigration, Singapore people (online), cited on August 8, 2005
Available from http://www.immigration-usa.com/wfb2004/singapore/singapore_people.html
National Arts Council, (2004), Arts Statistics (online), cited on August 10, 2005.
Available from http://www.nac.gov.sg/sta/sta01.asp
105
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
CIA Fact Book, Hong Kong People (online), cited on August 8, 2005
Available from http://www.classbrain.com/art_cr/publish/hong_kong_people.shtml
HK Leisure and Culture Service Department, (2005), Cultural Statistic Report (online), cited on
August 8, 2005
Available from http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/ppr_statistic_cs.php
HK Leisure and Culture Service Department, (2005), Ticket Info (online), cited on August 14,
2005.
Available from http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Entertainment/Ticket/en/index.php
Lynch D. (1999) The American Institute, Short-term Travel Grant Application (online), cited on
August 4, 2005.
Available from http://www.la.utexas.edu/research/mena/aims/samples/LynchAIMSPROP.htm
Reding, V., European Festival Association (EFA), (2000), EU Commission for Culture and
Education (online), cited on August 8, 2005.
Available from http://www.efa-aef.org/Archives/reding.eu.cfm
Live Arts Development Agency (2005), what is Live Arts? (online), cited on August 8, 2005
Available from http://www.thisisliveart.co.uk/about_us/whatisliveart.html.
European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (June 2003), Study on Cultural Cooperation in Europe
(online), cited on August 12, 2005
Available from http://www.efah.org/en/resources_for_culture/policystudy/interarts.htm
National Arts Council (2005), Financial Assistance: International Collaboration Grant (online),
cited on August 8, 2005
Available from http://www.nac.gov.sg/mus/mus02.asp#intc
United Singer International, (2005) Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, cited on August 8,
2005
Available from http://www.singers.com/choral/estonianchoir.html
The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (2005), what we do?
(online), cited on August 8, 2005
Available from http://www.ifacca.org/ifacca2/en/default.asp
The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (2005), Vision and
Objectives, (online), cited on August 8, 2005
Available from http://www.ifacca.org/ifacca2/en/organisation/page09_Vision.asp
JakArt (2004), Festival à la Carte (online), cited on August 14, 2004
Available from
http://www.luluk.com/2004%20Festival%20a%20la%20Carte,%20Java%20and%20Bali.html
106
The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Foxconn (2004), Enters European Motherboard Market: Expertise and Economies of Scale Bode Well
for New Venture (online), cited on August 14, 2005
Available from http://www.foxconnchannel.com/press_releaseDetail.cfm?pId=7
Mahbahuni K., AAPPAC (2005), The Elusive Asian Renaissance (online), cited on August 8
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Kompas (2005), Main News (online), cited on August 7, 2005
Available from www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0507/09/utama/
Asia Europe Foundation (2005), About the Project (online), cited on August 17, 2005
Available from http://www.culture-asef.org/english/about.html
Universes in Universe (2005), World of Arts (online), cited on August 17, 2005
Available from http://universes-in-universe.de
European Festival Association (2005), Organization brochure (online), cited on August 14, 2005
Available from http://www.efa-aef.org/Resource/brochure2005/EFA_en.pdf
China Government Popinfo, Shanghai Population (online), cited on August 3, 2004
Available from
http://www.popinfo.gov.cn/popinfo/pop_docrkxx.nsf/v_by4id/FBA1465B55ABB8A548256FE7
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Tokyo International Festival, International Visitor’s Program (online), cited on August 5, 2005
Available from http://tif.anj.or.jp/en/ivp/
Seoul Performing Arts Festival 2005, Website Main page (online), cited on August 5, 2005
Available from http://www.spaf21.com/eng/
Other References
JakArt (2001), Preface statement in JakArt@2001 Festival Guide
JakArt (2003), JakArt@2003 Festival Guide
JakArt (2004), JakArt Internal Publication
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The Programmatic Interests and Financing Modalities of Festivals in East Asia
Useful Links
Asia Europe Foundation, http://www.asef.org
Asian Culture Link, http://www.asianculturelink.net
Change This, http://www.changethis.com
DaDao Live Arts Festival, http://www.araiart.jp/dadao3.html
European Festivals Association, http://www.euro-festival.net/efahome/efa.cfm
HK New Vision Arts Festival, http://www.icm.gov.mo/fam/16/indexE.asp
Hong Kong Arts Festival, www.hk.artsfestival.org
Informal European Theatre Meeting, www.ietm.org
Jakarta International Arts Festival, www.jakart.org
Macao International Arts Festival, http://www.icm.gov.mo/fam/16/indexE.asp
Shanghai International Arts Festival, http://www.artsbird.com
Seoul Performing Arts Festival, www.spaf21.com
The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies, http://www.ifacca.org
Tokyo International Arts Festival, http://anj.or.jp
Tom Peters, http://www.tompeters.com
108