(July 4, 2016) The cultural cooperation between Italy and China makes important steps in Umbria. After the experience of Umbria Jazz who brought Italian artists to perform in major Chinese cities, another cultural promotion project is in the pipeline: introduce Umbrian cultural events in China to an audience composed of 90% young people who are particularly interested in innovative and high-quality works. Director Meng Jinghui, accompanied by the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijeng’s director Stefania Stafutti aim to start a new collaboration between the Umbrian and Chinese festivals. Jinghui is one of the most representative voices of Chinese avant-garde experimental theatre met with the director and artistic director of the Two Worlds Festival in Spoleto, Giorgio Ferrara, representatives of the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale of Spoleto, Teatro Stabile of Umbria and Stefano Lazzari from the Umbria Jazz Foundation. Ddirector of the Institute of Italian culture, an advocate of these meetings and an important figure of Umbria Jazz’s debut in China has commented that “in China, Umbria is known for its artistic beauty, but less for its festivals and cultural events. There are huge opportunities for growth in theatre and other cultural events given the interest of the Chinese public: after Umbria Jazz’s in China, it encouraged meetings between Chinese and Umbrian cultural representatives to talk about strengthening ties and to create opportunities for exchange and co-productions “. The potential of this partnership are significant, director Jinghui specifies that “in addition to the exchange of productions we are also thinking about joint workshops with young writers, actors and directors and about potential co-productions focusing on new works as the audiences of young people demands, to an exchange platform for theatre criticism theory “. Finally, the director concluded that “we would like to define with joint document for a more complex project and that is long term”. (Sip)
