Cultural exchanges

Art Midwest has brought an array of Chinese performing artists to the US, including Anda Union, a band from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and Beauty and Melody, a traditional Chinese music ensemble from Sichuan province. In March, it will organize a China tour of US rapper Dessa.

"Our goal is to ensure that, by removing as many practical barriers as possible, we will create a fertile ground for powerful cultural sharing and exchange between the touring artists and the communities they reach," Fraher says.

When the Silk Road International League of Theaters was launched at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing in October 2016, Arts Midwest was among the first batch of members to join. The first batch of members consists of two international organizations and 56 theaters from 33 countries and regions.

Initiated by the China Arts and Entertainment Group, the largest State-owned company in China in the field of entertainment and arts exhibition, which was founded in 2004, the Silk Road International League of Theaters serves as a large platform for performing arts that aims to promote cultural exchanges between China and other countries.

Li Jinsheng, president of China Arts and Entertainment Group, says 32 theaters from 13 countries have joined the league this year, including Indonesia's arts promoter institution Ciputra Artpreneur, Ivan Vazov National Theater of Bulgaria and Japanese ballet company Matsuyama Ballet.

"The Silk Road International League of Theaters offers a platform to our members from all over the world to communicate. Since the birth of the league, we have introduced many performances by foreign troupes and helped Chinese artists perform in theaters abroad," says Li, giving examples such as the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre's tour in China with the ballet, Romeo and Juliet, and Belarus Janka Kupała Theater's tour in the country with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull.

Song Guanlin, general manager of the China Oriental Performing Arts Group, which presented a show of Chinese folk dance and music at the Guangzhou event, says: "China is a big art market and the league fills in the gap between the art markets of China and the world."

"Chinese artists tell their own stories, which embodies Chinese culture. We need to work harder to reach out to the global audience."

Besides, the league members also have exchange programs, such as training actors and actresses and staging coproductions.