Asia New Zealand Foundation Networking Tour in China
November 4-13 2016: Ping Pong Productions hosted a group of three theatre artists from New Zealand - Alice Canton, Ben Crowder and Chye-Ling Huang - on a research and networking trip in China. The tour, which included Shanghai and Beijing, was part of a larger Asia research tour supported by the Asia New Zealand Foundation’s annual Performing Arts Tour program. Ping Pong was commissioned to curate and manage the China tour. We connected the artists to 16 leading arts organizations in China and more than 20 artists, producers and programmers based in Shanghai and Beijing.
About the Program
In curating the tour, Ping Pong emphasized introductions to the more progressive and experimental contemporary Chinese artists and their curatorial practices while providing an overview of the ecology of the performing arts industry in China. Through in-depth exchanges of experiences, practices and ideas, the visiting artists and their local counterparts gained insight into the conditions and trends of professional developments under the policy and cultural climate in each other’s countries.
The tour opened up multiple avenues and perspectives for the visiting artists to access and understand China’s dynamic contemporary performing arts scene, and also laid a solid foundation for long-term partnerships and future collaborations between Chinese and New Zealand artists and arts organizations.
Where We Went
- Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai
- Grass Stage Theater, Shanghai
- Art Space for Kids, Shanghai
- Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre
- Shanghai Pingtan Troupe
- 1933 Micro Theatre, Shanghai
- Maleonn Studio, Shanghai
- E Theatre, Shanghai
- Shanghai International Arts Festival
- Frontier Cultural Center, Beijing
- Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, 798 Art District, Beijing
- Drum Tower West Theater, Beijing
- Penghao Theatre, Beijing
- Tianqiao Arts Centre, Beijing
- Red Gate Residency, Beijing
- Paper Tiger Theatre Studio, Beijing
- Forbidden City Museum, Beijing
- China National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing
- And countless live performances, gallery events, and exhibitions!
We visited studios and had meetings with artists and arts organizations in Beijing and Shanghai: