Aims and Methods of the Festival of Asian Arts
As Artistic Consultant of the Festival of Asian Arts I advise the Urban Council, Hong Kong's municipal government, on the selection and presentation of groups considered for the Festival of Asian Arts. The 17th Festival of Asian Arts takes place 23 October to 14 November 1998.
My personal guideline has been to try to develop a distinct identity for the festival, beginning with a coherent definition of Asian arts. In this regard, it has always been my advice that the festival should focus on traditional arts originating in the Asian region, and contemporary arts with a significant input from people with training in these traditions. The aim is to show not only that the traditions are beautiful on their own, but that training in these traditions can also be relevant to developing new forms of contemporary expression.
In defining Asian art in terms of training I distinguish Asian arts from Asian performances. I don't make any claim that only Asian arts are relevant to Asia. Countless Asian performances based purely on training in Western art traditions have effectively expressed Asian concerns, and no Asian whose artistic training is purely Western should think that this prevents him/her from expressing Asian concerns in a distinctive manner.
However, since throughout the year the cultural establishment puts far more financial support into Western-based artistic traditions than into Asian-based ones, I would like to use whatever skills and influence I may have to remind people that there is something distinctive about arts based in Asian training, and that for artistic, cultural, political, and financial reasons Asian arts are also eminently worthy of support.
Any comments on our programming would be welcomed, as would be suggestions for future festivals. The separate list of past groups could be used as a reference.
The Urban Council's stated aim in presenting the Festival of Asian Arts is to increase Hong Kong people's awareness and appreciation of the arts of this region. Originally the program was largely folkloric. The Urban Council invited regional governments to participate, and generally accepted their nominations. It provided transportation, accommodation and daily expenses, while the governments which nominated the groups paid whatever fees were necessary. Most sent government or amateur groups.
As of 1996 all groups participating in the Festival must be seen as "based in Asia". In other words performers living outside of Asia, of any nationality, who would like to take part in the Festival must make a cooperative effort with a group or groups based in Asia. We have a particular interest in such programs.
Festival publications are all in both Chinese and English. I first worked for the festival in 1980 as English editor. I had studied ethnomusicology for two years at the University of Michigan, and had the idea I could suggest "better" programs. My main argument was that we could save money by selecting smaller professional groups instead of getting the "free" large music and dance groups. In between festivals I traveled to visit performers and organizers in Asia. After two years of doing this I was not re-hired. I heard that my approach was too academic.
In 1984 I came back again as editor with the understanding that I would be making suggestions about the program. This became my primary responsibility in 1986, at which time the festival, formerly annual, began alternating yearly with a Chinese arts festival.
The Asian region here means east of Suez, the Bosphorus and the Urals, plus Australia. The emphasis is not on people living in the region, or belonging to the ethnic groups of the region, but on people trained in the artistic traditions of the region. Thus, for example, from Australia it would mean people with training in the traditions of either Aboriginal or Asian peoples.
Hong Kong is an urban place. The festival is biased towards groups whose performances are already adapted for the stage. For non-urban traditions the people must have someone who can adapt the arts for the stage. I also try to make sure specialists are involved to assure accuracy. Many non-urbanized arts would be better presented in film/video than live, and I regret that we have not been able to include more of this.
As Asia becomes more urbanized, unless people see their traditions as relevant to contemporary expression, these traditions will die. During the 20th century in the West we have compartmentalized arts so that we have specific genres which are defined within relatively fixed parameters, and open styles which are still developing. Many artists in "popular" genres trained in "classical" traditions. There is no necessary conflict between the two.
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