Cultural connections, artistic exchanges

Three WA arts organisations have performed a series of firsts on tours to Asia this year, building on business and diplomatic strategies that highlight the value of cultural exchange. 

The WA Symphony Orchestra, Black Swan State Theatre Company, and West Australian Ballet took their art to the world this year, with international tours, artistic exchanges and co-creative collaborations.

Last month, WASO ended its 10-year international touring hiatus when 89 of its musicians performed at the Abu Dhabi Classics Program, the Beijing Music Festival, and the Shanghai Symphony Hall.

WASO chief executive Craig Whitehead said it was the first major Australian performing arts company to visit the United Arab Emirates, and the first time Australia was represented at the Beijing festival.

“This tour came about as a result of asking how we could engage with an important neighbour and how we could do it in a multi-meaningful way to create a legacy for the orchestra,” Mr Whitehead told Business News.

“For us, we took the longer approach and built a relationship.

“This was strategic; China is the fastest and the largest growing market for classical music in the world.”

Mr Whitehead said there was no local connection or engagement when the orchestra last toured, WASO played to half-empty halls in China as a result.

“This time it was about building a relationship in China based on a development of an equal partnership, to exchange ideas, talent, and interests in music,” he said. 

“We started a relationship with the China Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) in late 2014 through a series of musician exchanges.

“The ultimate goal was to tour but we were prepared to wait for the relationship to develop.”

The October 2016 tour sponsors included Rio Tinto, Singapore Airlines, Barbagallo Motors, COMO The Treasury, Metals of Africa, and Pierro Wines. The state government also made a $250,000 commitment.

It was the first occasion WASO had toured in response to invitations to represent Australia abroad.

The opportunity to play in Abu Dhabi came about through networks with CPO, with WASO already having received invitations to return to Abu Dhabi and China.

The tour is a key milestone in the Symphony Cultural Bridge project – a three-way partnership between the two orchestras and the Australia China Business Council (WA).

“We collectively thought this project could be a way to use music as a cultural bridge to connect on a human level not just on an economical commercial level,” Mr Whitehead said.

“The way in which Chinese do business is very much relationship first, business second.”

Building ties

With support from the City of Perth and the state government, Black Swan State Theatre Company has also elevated its international theatrics this year with the delivery of Caucasian Chalk Circle – a play based on a Chinese fable (and the first project to come out of its partnership with the National Theatre of China).

Black Swan executive director Natalie Jenkins said the first step was starting a relationship.

“It’s the first time we’ve gone down that collaborative route internationally,” Ms Jenkins told Business News.

“Traditionally a lot of organisations look towards European cultures. Given our WA business, economic, and tourism ties to Asia, it made a lot of sense for us to look toward that side of the world.

“We’re also geographically closer and on the same time zone, which makes a huge difference in terms of negotiation.”

Ms Jenkins said the total project cost around $800,000, of which additional funding, specifically for this project, of around $220,000 was raised.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle co-collaboration featured Black Swan performers, but was directed by Wang Xiaoying from the National Theatre of China, joined by several members from his creative team.

“As WA is so isolated, the opportunities to collaborate with other artists from other cultures are rare,” Ms Jenkins said.

“This was an opportunity to give our WA artists a chance to push boundaries, work with something new, and get out of their comfort zone.

“Cultural collaboration is important for sharing, growing, developing and exchanging.”

Cultural diplomacy

Negotiations are under way for the play to tour six cities in 2017, including Beijing and Shanghai, the City of Perth’s sister city Chengdu, and to Hangzhou, which is located in the Zhejiang Province in one of WA’s sister states.

“Next year, that (sister state) relationship will celebrate 30 years,” Ms Jenkins said.

“This is big for cultural diplomacy; it’s different to the ways we engage with trade or on an economic basis.”

Ms Jenkins said the federal government also funded the work through both the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia China Council, which will celebrate its 45th anniversary of Australia-China diplomatic relations next year.

“You realise how important it is for these things to pave the way for relationships in different countries, especially for government to government exchange; they open up new doors from a cultural perspective,” Ms Jenkins said.

“Arts organisations are a reflection of culture, so it’s also about getting our culture and what’s unique about Australia and WA out to the rest of the world.”

The Commonwealth and state government also invested in the Western Australian Ballet’s tour to Jakarta in August this year – its first performance in Indonesia in 20 years and its first international tour in more than a decade.

Additional sponsors included Woodside and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.

Prior to departure, the ballet hosted the Indonesian ambassador to Australian for a celebration of cultural exchange. 

Like WASO and Black Swan, WA Ballet executive director Jessica Machin said the company had facilitated cultural exchange programs in the lead-up to the tour with its Indonesia partner, Ballet ID, a not-for-profit ballet foundation.

“Classical ballet is the art form of the rising middle class in Jakarta, but there aren’t many opportunities there as there is no classical ballet company,” Ms Machin told Business News.

“We were interested in a model of engagement not just to take a show, but to engage with the people on the ground and build on their skills as well as our own.”

In 2015, the WA Ballet’s access manager and one of its choreographers worked with Indonesian youth studying ballet and developed a junior and senior ensemble – both performed with the WA Ballet as part of its season tour.

Ms Machin said plans were under way to find an Asian partner to continue the ballet company’s international expansion strategy.

“Woodside has business interests in Indonesia, so that side of corporate hospitality and networking is important to consider as well,” she said.

“We’ll be looking to find like-minded corporate business partners who might have interests in Hong-Kong or Malaysia.”

WA Ballet also plans to continue the skills and cultural exchange program in 2017 and tour Jakarta again in 2018.

“A company that tours is attractive – talent wise, as a way to internationally benchmark against other companies, and as a means to shape our profile and our brand,” Ms Machin said.  

“We are building our resilience at the moment in a tight fiscal and funding environment.

“So we have to explore new ways of doing things.”