Scene / Asia’s Kick Off Event Held at Asia Cultural Complex, Gwangju, Korea

On 8 September 2015, Scene / Asia’s Kick-Off Event was held at a lecture room in the Asian Cultural Exchange Agency: one of the five institutions that make up the brand new Asian Cultural Complex (ACC) in Gwangju, South Korea. Eleven members of Scene / Asia’s curatorial team from five Asian countries participated in the event (Jason Wee joined via Skype). All members elaborated on their own objectives for taking part in a multi-national project such as Scene / Asia, while the Japanese members, including the Chief Director Kyoko Iwaki, introduced the upcoming projects and plans for the future. Since Scene / Asia is not a project that fits into an existing format—such as inviting overseas productions, launching co-productions, organizing residencies and cultivating young talent—it might have been difficult for the audience to grasp the entire project in only two hours. However, the fact that the Q&A session at the end planned for 15 minutes ran on for 45 minutes, suggested that certain producers, artists, administrators and researchers were genuinely interested in the future development of this project. The people who participated most proactively in the discussion were those professionals from Southeast Asian regions, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It is easy to see that these young people responded well to new ideas and actions, and yet were also likely to be considered as sort of outsiders in their respective regions. Their desire to connect with other Asian colleagues who think in the same way was evidently present. Since the meeting of IETM (Informal European Theatre Meeting) was organized on the same day as the launch event, many theatre professionals attended not only from Japan and Korea, but also from other Asian regions and Europe. However, for most of European theatre professionals, the Scene / Asia project possible … Continue reading Scene / Asia’s Kick Off Event Held at Asia Cultural Complex, Gwangju, Korea