New theaters raising the bar for quality acts

By Zhang Kun ( China Daily) Performing arts centers are springing up all over China, but audience demand for quality means a greater investment into the cash-strapped industry is desperately needed, reports Zhang Kun in Shanghai.儲存Big investment is pouring into live show productions, and new theaters have sprouted like mushrooms in the second- and third-tier cities of China. As the theater world takes its "great leap forward", quality has become the winning ticket.Wu Promotion, one of China's first private performing arts promoters and event organizers operating since 1991, has found that more venues with state-of-the-art theaters are being built in China's second- and third-tier cities. And the public has become more appreciative, raising their demand for quality, according to Zenaida des Aubris, director of International Relations for Wu Promotion Co. Ltd.China now has an unparalleled collection of imposing performing arts structures, starting with the famous "egg" housing the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing."It seems that every city now has a performing arts center designed by a famous architect. These cities also are starting to have the potential clientele in terms of interested audiences," Wu Jiatong, president of Wu Promotion, told China Daily."When Wu Promotion started more than 20 years ago, we had two to three tours a year, mostly to Beijing. Now we have about 40 tours per year and about 400 to 500 performances all over China," he says."The interest in Western classical music has grown exponentially over the past 30 years." As with everywhere else in the world, quality always sells. And that is what the public wants - good quality shows, good quality interpreters. That works both ways: from China to the world and from the world to China, says Wu.Wu says it is not enough to just build the buildings, providing the shell so to speak, yet not give the organizations running the halls any substantial budget to work with."They might be able to pay the basics, upkeep the electricity and some personnel, but they don't really have any means to put on quality shows," he says.He says that the Chinese government spends a lot of money on the cultural front, but it could be spent better, on better-quality programs.The buildings are there, but there is no infrastructure there to carry out the plans. The performing arts centers do not have adequate financial resources to fill the halls with shows. In Europe, the local or state governments give a substantial subsidy. In the United States almost all the financial resources come from private sources.But in China, there is little communal or state support and even less private support for programming. This is partly because corporations and individuals lack the incentive to donate or sponsor performances. There are no tax incentives in China to support cultural projects - in fact, culture is only taxed in China and many countries in Africa, most other countries have some sort of tax break to support the arts, Wu says.Wang Hongming, general manager of W Squared Entertainment, a promoter and producer of musical theater shows based in Shanghai, makes similar complaints about the lack of government support and the he迷你倉vy taxing system in China. For example, the ticketing channel alone is faced with an up to 20 per cent taxation rate, she says.Shanghai has been holding a performing arts fair during the annual Shanghai China International Arts Festival (SCIAF) since it was launched 15 years ago. This year for the first time, Wanda, one of China's largest real estate companies held a pavilion at the fair.Wanda is China's largest landlord of hotel chains and builder of Wanda Square commercial complexes in many cities of China. It is only in the past two years that it has turned its attention to the field of arts and entertainment. Last year, Wanda acquired AMC, the world's second largest cinema line in the US.Wanda has planned a top-notch live theater show for its mega-estate development project in downtown Wuhan, capital city of Hubei province.British architect, the late Mark Fisher, who designed stage sets for Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Lady Gaga, built the stage for Wanda. Franco Dragone, a theater director from Italy, has been hired to create a site-specific live show for the new venue, temporarily named The Han Show. Dragone came to prominence for his work with Cirque du Soleil and Celine Dion.Wanda plans to invest a total of 2.5 billion yuan ($411 million) in the project. The Han Show will have its grand premiere at the new theater on Dec 20 next year, according to Xiao Ke, vice-director of the marketing department, Wanda Arts and Entertainment Management Co. Ltd.Xiao and her colleagues were in Shanghai to promote two other big-budget musical theater shows by Wanda, a play named Heaven and Earth: Epic of Changbai Mountain, and Spiral Show, a multimedia musical, which cost 60 million yuan to produce. Spiral Show started as a resident program at Haitang Bay Theater in Sanya, Hainan province. Wanda has taken it on tour, and given more than 20 shows all over China."We have our main business in real estate, so we don't judge the performance of our cultural programs by the ticket income alone," Xiao told China Daily.For example, the new theater in Wuhan will be part of the new Wanda City compound, which integrates lifestyle, shopping, star-rated hotels, a park and entertainment facilities."Cultural and arts programs will help raise the value of the property," Xiao says.Songcheng Tourism Development Co. Ltd based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, is expanding its tourism business to theater too, planning to open seven new theaters by next spring, when the China Performing Arts Valley is launched at Songcheng. By next October a theater festival will be held there. Songcheng has provided the first-phase funding of 30 million yuan in support of new theater."We are China's one and only listed performing arts company," says Tang Xiaohui, general manager of China Performing Arts Valley with Hangzhou Songcheng Tourism Development Co. Ltd. "We feel responsible and believe it's profitable to invest in theater - especially since Songcheng already has a successful large-scale live show targeting a tourist audience." More theater shows will attract tourists to stay overnight in the area, and that will bring profit to the tourism business, he says.Contact the writer at zhangkun@chinadaily.com.cn.儲存倉