In cold days of winter, a fireplace shared with friends is the most welcoming sight. The
2022 Beijing Forum for Performing Arts will soon begin, when members of the performing
arts community all over the world would gather around this virtual “fireplace”, talking
about friendship and future. There is no distance too great between people with shared
mind and aspiration. Despite the mountains and seas separating us, we are closely
connected by our common concern for the future of the performing arts. On behalf of the
BFPA and China National Centre for the Performing Arts, I would like to extend warm
welcome and express our heartfelt gratitude to all friends, old and new, attending this
year’s forum.
As mankind’s precious cultural treasure, performing arts rely on tradition and innovation
to stay alive. As China’s top tier performing arts organisation, the NCPA has always
valued inspiration, preservation, innovation, openness and inclusiveness. Drawing from
artistic masterpieces and exemplars both home and abroad, we have furthered innovations
on multiple levels including creativity, operation, promotion and management and gained
considerable successes on various aspects such as online performance series, smart
organisation management, digital platform and technological empowerment, accumulating
precious experiences in broadening the industry’s scope of development during the
process. Not long ago, I led a delegation on a visit to Switzerland, Austria and
Germany, engaged with 17 arts organisations, 10 renowned agencies and 4 world-famous
artists in an effort to further mutual understanding and enhance friendship.
With the ongoing pandemic and great changes in the world not seen in a hundred years,
tackling the imminent challenges and drawing inexhaustible momentum from tradition and
innovation have become common and pressing problems facing our community. As the
standing exchange platform under the framework of the BFPA, the 2022 Beijing Forum for
the Performing Arts is themed “Revitalizing the Performing Arts: Tradition and
Innovation”. This year’s forum will focus on new cases of efforts made to facilitate the
development of the industry, promote trailblazing concepts that stimulate creativity,
and provide momentum for further communications between Chinese and international
organisations and the future of performing arts around the globe. Accompanying this
year’s event, there will also be the Taihu International Stage Art Forum. We have
invited a multitude of renowned stage designers and experts to share their newest ideas
in diversified expression and jointly explore new possibilities for stage art.
There is an old saying in China that “when people pull together, nothing is too heavy to
be lifted.” The realm of performing arts is our spiritual homeland, a realm that we
truly love and will spare no efforts to make it ever more beautiful. The NCPA is willing
to share its fate with the performing arts community, strive together for a bright
future and make its due contribution to the preservation of culture and progress of
civilisation.
We thank China Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the People’s Government of Beijing
Municipality for their close attention and generous support to our event. And we also
thank you, our honoured guests, for your support and contribution. I hope we will all
benefit from the sharing of opinions and joint exploration.
I wish this year’s forum a complete success!