“Art and Culture in Shaping the 21st Century”
Speech by Tisa Ho
Executive Director of the Hong Kong Arts Festival
It is a great pleasure and privilege to be invited to contribute to the JakArts@2008 International Conference, in the context of the 2008 APAAF annual conference in Indonesia, so warmly hosted by JakArt.
The subject is very broad in scope; and the implications go far beyond the daily pre-occupations of Festival management: of programming and the delivery of these programmes, of caring for artists and audiences, and of course, those funding and financial matters on which we all seem to expend an inordinate amount of time and energy! This discussion is therefore a very welcome opportunity to revisit the significance of what we do, and to remind ourselves of why we persevere, even sometimes fighting against the odds in pursuit of our mission.
To address this subject fully is to endeavour no less than an examination of the nature, meaning and purpose of arts and culture, and its place in human civilisation. I cannot pretend to offer a study of these themes. My comments today are offered simply as observations for discussion amongst colleagues and friends, with the purpose of learning from their comments and responses.
Each year, when I write the introduction in the Hong Kong Arts Festival’s booking brochure, or on the HKAF website, I am given the opportunity to set the year’s programmes in context and to indicate special highlights or major thematic strands. By this time, the programming is all settled, and it is up to me to describe what we offer, mentioning important anniversaries observed, notable events or milestones in Hong Kong to which we refer, creative initiatives and trends which we support and hope to catalyse. This part is not difficult, because it is simply outlining the specific ways in which we have addressed the mission of the HKAF.
For example, in 2009, for the 37th HKAF, there is a special focus on baroque music, both to mark the Haydn/Handel (200th and 250th) anniversary, and as an opportunity to present a ‘new’ opera experience, moving away from the Classical and Romantic repertoire which has been the mainstays of opera in Hong Kong.
Baroque Opera had fallen into neglect for a long time but there is a revival of interest in major houses around the world. So, in 2009, HKAF presents its first baroque opera, globally one of the most produced works in this repertoire: Handel’s Alcina. In context and providing connectivity, there are concerts by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and an organ recital by Ton Koopman; the Northern Sinfonia performs Haydn’s Mass in B flat Major with its Chorus, as well as Vivaldi’s Concerto for 4 violins. Wang Jian plays the complete Bach cello suites over three evenings, and pianist Sergio Tempo nods in this direction by opening with a Bach Partita before racing forward through the great Romantics to finish with Prokofiev in his debut recital in Hong Kong. Taking the exploration of this music to another dimension, the Hong Kong ballet presents an all Bach programme with choreography by Balanchine, Welch and Forsythe.
Other interlinked programming in this Festival explores the Chinese theatre experience, from classic Yueju performed by nationally top-ranking Shanghai Yueju Opera theatre, to edgy, sometimes confrontational contemporary theatre with Beijing’s Paper Tiger Studio, and the National Ballet’s new take on the Kunju classic, Peony Pavilion, in its new ballet.
In the English literary tradition, the English National Ballet brings Alice in Wonderland to life, and Peter Hall revives Shaw’s Pygmalian for us in an exclusive production. Taking the theme of identity and personhood from these
masterpieces, we push the exploration further: to definitions of humanity in the surreal world of Franz Kafka with Vesturport’s Metamorphosis; to witness one man pitting his will against the forces of history in The Emperor Jones by the Wooster Group; and into the dark heart of desire in the great 20th Century masterpiece, Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk.
I could go on: two major visiting orchestras, the Chicago Symphony with Maestro Haitink and Berlin’s Deutsches Symphonie directed by Maestro Metzmacher, cover Brahms, Bruckner, Berg, Webern, Strauss and Mahler. Voice is an important dimension of the 2009 Festival – in choral, orchestra and recital performance, as well as in Opera – and of course, and in our offerings in world music and jazz.
As I said, I could go on, but there is a limit to the amount of space I can occupy – and my struggle in drafting these messages is to hold back from these descriptions, to refrain from getting carried away by my enthusiasm for specific programmes or sets of programmes in order to address something more fundamental - something to do with why the arts are important, not only to the people who are already interested and will buy a ticket if they like the programme or artist, but to the community as a whole, bearing in mind that this is an opportunity to make a case, not only to our potential audience, but also to anyone who picks up a brochure or surfs the HKAF website.
Speaking in the lecture series “Arts and Public Life” organised by Currency House in Australia, Justin Macdonnell, Executive Director of Anzarts Institute said: “We seek the public’s investment. It may be in money through asking them to buy a ticket or share their tax revenues with us; it may be through attendance, volunteering, participating or getting to know what we do and why we think it is valuable. It may be in skill or talent, time or energy. But it is investment. And what do we give back? Well, you could say it’s a transforming insight, an uplifting experience or just a good night out. We have a unique capacity to tell the stories of those around us…Artists have been doing it since Homer.” [1][1]
I entirely agree with Justin’s view that we constantly ask people to invest in what we do, and that we have a very special ability to tell stories. But I would say that these are not just stories of those around us, but also stories about the possibilities of those around us. Therefore the journeys of the imagination, whether they take us to Alice’s Wonderland or Alcina’s enchanted island or the dark wood of The Emperor Jones, or whether we follow Homer on his wanderings for that matter – all these journeys take us back to ourselves and to the potential in ourselves and those around us.
I have long thought that the very special appeal of Tolkein and a mark of his genius and deep understanding of the nature of humanistic value in artistic impulses lies in the simple sub-title to The Hobbit: There and Back Again. It is also contained in slightly more expanded form in TS Eliot’s immoral lines: “We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” [2][2]
At its best, a great performance is satisfying on emotional, intellectual and aesthetic levels – and that makes a very good night out indeed, to return to Justin MacDonnell’s words. But in addition - we emerge from it changed, charged with an enhanced awareness of ourselves and of our potential selves, or in other words with a more acute appreciation of humanity. The old adage of the arts holding up a mirror to society remains true, but in that reflection we see not only what is, but also what could be – and in this potential image, paradoxically, we see our actual selves more clearly. Having been ‘there’ in the imagined world created by our great artists and performers, we come back again to ourselves, outside the concert hall, the opera house or the theatre in some way renewed and seeing anew.
At a time when we are spending more and more time on the business of arts management and arts management is increasingly becoming a business, I feel it is really important to hang on to this understanding, and I am grateful to the organisers of the meeting for allowing the opportunity not only to remember but to articulate what is so important in what we do, and which informs our decisions and reasons at the most fundamental level.
More and more, in what is a natural outcome of endemic capitalism, we are seeing market forces at work, not only at the box office and in sponsorship discussions, but also in the structure and composition of cultural institutions and organisations. We spend our time examining demographics and audience percentages – not to mention currency fluctuations and fuel prices!
More and more also, the arts are pressed into service to deliver on a series of agendas that are extraneous to artistic interest. They would include considerations such as tourism, urban renewal, social welfare, competitiveness, diversity policies, cultural diplomacy, national image building, and economic development. Under this last consideration, which often presents one of the most compelling arguments to funding bodies, arts and cultural activity tend to be grouped with publishing and film, design and so on, and includes commercial as well as not-for-profit activity.
As part of the trend in mergers and acquisitions that were so prevalent before the current alarums in the financial sector, we are seeing this sort of re-grouping in arts and culture as well. One example is the GBP 7 million transaction in which Raymond Gubbay, generally accounted to be one of the most entrepreneurial arts presenters in the UK, transferred 75% ownership to Deutsche Entertainment, making Deutsche ‘the biggest classical promoter in Europe … pushing the firm’s expansion into further European territories, particularly Scandinavia and France. ‘Already concerts with Anna Netrebko, Lang Lang and David Garret, among others, are planned.” [3][3] This is language of the market place of course, marked out in geographic territories, rather like what the colonisers did in an earlier period.
If the Gubbay/Deutsche example is too commercial, then in the not-for profit realm, consider the proposed budget cuts to Scottish Ballet and Scottish Opera, which coincided with confirmation of a GBP 6 million investment in Edinburgh’s arts festivals through the Edinburgh Festival Expo Fund.[4][4] And in another example, Radio Orchestra of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, currently doing eight concerts a year, is at risk of being closed down.[5][5] Where economic consideration or accountability is a main driver, size does matter even in the arts, just as it does in business, in an increasingly globalized world.
This is not to say that very large companies or institutions cannot produce great work – certainly, the artists mentioned by Deutsche Entertainment are top of their fields. And major institutions, especially if there is a comfortable buffer in public funding, are often best positioned to take artistic risks.
But it does seem that the small, independent agencies may face new and rather daunting challenges. This is a pity because their contributions have been an important part of the sector. It is also possible that the business language prevails because we take for granted that we understand and value the content of the business – which is those journeys there and back again. But I think we do need to remember and to speak about it.
Which takes me back to those messages that I have to write. Do I need to explain to readers why we are presenting Baroque music in the 37th HKAF? What are our justifications in seeking official funding and corporate support in order to so? Perhaps I can add a few words of explanation here.
I have briefly mentioned Handel’s Alcina in the context of a global trend, of a major anniversary in the world of classical music, and in reference to prevailing opera activity in Hong Kong. Implied in the references is acknowledgement of the HKAF’s responsibility to act as a link between audiences in Hong Kong and the global arts scene. As a leading international festival in a globalised city, this is a role that the HKAF must play. As a responsible citizen, the HKAF must also take into account the state of development of Hong Kong’s own cultural and artistic initiatives. Thus extending the operatic repertoire with two new works – one baroque and one modern, we seek to stimulate and catalyse the appreciation of opera in Hong Kong. But over and above all, these are great works performed by excellent artist – and promise a great night out, with the important humanistic outcomes of that experience!
We could take other sample themes and clusters, but the thinking will be the same. We draw from, and relate to, our environment – social and artistic, global and local. We extend the boundaries of experience, acknowledge the facts of history, pay tribute to achievements of those who have gone before and observe the great traditions. These are impulses which we take from the environment to inform our choices and decisions, and which in turn will help to shape collective consciousness and guide future development, forming a continues cycle of cause and effect, of journeys there and back again to ourselves.
I hope that you will come to Hong Kong and join us on the many journeys in the 37th HKAF. We cannot match the hospitality that we have been offered here by JakArt, but the invitation is most sincere and our welcome will be warm. The journeys will be that much richer and more rewarding with your company.
Thank you!
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62-21-70830742,
email:
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