China is flourishing, and so is art
China is in! The economy is growing rapidly and cultural life is flourishing in its
wake. The Amsterdam China Festival ties in seamlessly with it. The many ideas and
sponsors made it a much larger festival than initially thought.
“I’ve never had to put in so little effort to get so much sponsorship money,” says
Martijn Sanders, director of the Concertgebouw and organizer of the Amsterdam China
Festival, which starts on Sunday. In the past he already organized impressive musical
festivals in the Concertgebouw, but in terms of budget this is the largest he has ever
dealt with. “There appeared to be a huge interest in it,” says Sanders. “Six of the seven
companies I approached immediately agreed. This gave me a larger marketing budget
than we needed ourselves, so that I could offer other art institutions free marketing if
they would participate. As a result, we now have a broad festival with a very diverse
range.” You can also check hot Chinese women.
According to Sanders,
the overarching marketing campaign gets a lot out of the
capacities available in the city. Although there is also a risk: “The participating
institutions naturally have a free hand in the programming; you cannot impose anything
on them. But I think that everyone who participates has given an interesting
interpretation to the festival.
He had to lobby a lot for this concert. The tour of the Chinese orchestra was in danger
of being canceled. But after Sanders had personally traveled to China in June to explain
the festival, the Chinese government decided to send the orchestra on a trip after
all; and also came with money for travel expenses.
You can read article on: How to tell if a Chinese women likes you
The relationship between government and the world of art is very different in China,
Sanders explains: “It took us a long time to find the right points of contact at the
Chinese ministry. It was interesting to see how things went there. You cannot approach
authorities directly, because they cannot say yes or no to our ideas. The government
decides on this. They don’t understand that we are not part of the government. Only
when we were able to demonstrate that the authorities supported us directly and
indirectly did the misunderstanding disappear.”
Sander’s first contact with China dates back ten years, when he was traveling with a
small trade delegation. That first encounter was fascinating; he cycled, among other
things, with the wife of the Dutch ambassador through Beijing, which in Chinese eyes is
an absolutely plebeian activity. He came to old neighborhoods and slums, the so-called
hutongs. “When I come to China now, almost all of those hutongs will be demolished,
something that would disgust us with our historic preservation. Chinese are not very
attached to tradition. New is better than old. The disappearance of the hutongs can be
seen immediately, but authentic Chinese folk music is also disappearing at a rapid pace.
