Beijing cultural companies show new tricks overseas commercial performances are no longer just paying for rent venues

the Chinese side provides part of the funds, and foreign companies convert all aspects of venue rental, publicity, marketing and other aspects into joint costs, and both sides get box office revenue on a pro rata basis. It is understood that the proportion of foreign funds is about 30% of the whole project.

on August 11, local time, the Pula Arena in Croatia is covered with red Chinese lanterns and Chinese knots. Debussy's "Moonlight" and the surging Chinese music "Yellow River" have successively sounded in this 2000-year-old arena-- this is not an ordinary rental performance of Chinese culture "going out". But it is a new exploration for Beijing cultural enterprises to go overseas with commercial performance mode and carry out commercial cooperation and ticket sharing with local partners.

the Silk Road Chinese Folk Music Festival is not only sponsored by Beijing performance Co., Ltd., Hebei Foreign Cultural Exchange Center and other companies, but also hosted by a Croatian local cooperation company named MERITUM KOMUNIKACIJE D.O.O. With their simultaneous appearance, the performance is no longer as simple as renting a venue for the Chinese side.

in recent years, although there have been many performances of Chinese culture going abroad, most of them are exchange performances funded by the government and contributed by national theatres and troupes. In fact, as early as when the Beijing acting Company had just revealed its intention to perform with the Croatian side, the other side's first reaction was: "you have the government money, you can rent a venue in our place." But Zhang Haijun, chairman of Beijing acting Company, has been thinking, "there should be other models for culture to go out, cooperate with local companies, co-plan and market, in order to better integrate into the local performance market."

"Government funding is only used to start projects." "We also hope to break even through commercial development," Zhang Haijun explained to each other. " In the absence of a similar attempt, the Croatian partner was hesitant at first. From the end of last year to the first half of this year, Zhang Haijun communicated with local partners for many times, and the two sides finally reached a cooperation for the first time: China provided part of the funds, and foreign companies converted venue rental, publicity, marketing and other aspects into common costs. both parties get box office revenue on a pro rata basis. It is understood that the proportion of foreign funds is about 30% of the whole project.

Foreign companies cooperate with 30%, which may not look very high. "if it is a project with a total investment of NT $300,000 to NT $500,000 with an ordinary theater, 30% is indeed not high, but our investment in this project is about NT $3 million to NT $4 million. In other words, the amount of money involved is actually very large." Zhang Haijun said that the foreign side has to bear such a great pressure at the box office, and there are only a handful of Sino-foreign cooperation of this order of magnitude in previous business performances.

to make foreigners feel at ease to bear so much cost, they must have a great deal of trust in the performance. "at first, they suggested to me whether they could invite famous Western singers, such as Carreras and other international celebrities, to perform." Zhang Haijun understood this meaning, and the other party thought it would be more guaranteed at the box office, but he firmly rejected it. "No, we must invite domestic artists in China. This is our responsibility to do this cultural exchange performance. If we lose this premise, we can't talk about it."

in order to attract more foreign audiences, Zhang Haijun decided to hold a "Folk Music Festival" with a blend of China and the West. In the choice of programs, instead of pure opera or Western rock, Chinese pianist Wu Muye played Debussy's "Moonlight" and then played the Chinese repertoire "Yellow River". The HAYA Orchestra, which is Mongolian and well-known in the world, sang the sounds of nature on the prairie. On the day of the performance, Bao Yin, the drummer of the HAYA Orchestra, suddenly came down from the stage to the auditorium and uttered the bass of Humai in Inner Mongolia. The European audience followed suit, and the scene was filled with jubilation.

Zhang Haijun revealed that the box office of this trial can basically break even. "in addition to cultural exchanges and economic benefits, our brand has also gone overseas and achieved more than one stone." He admitted that since it was the first attempt, such a revenue and expenditure result was normal. In the future, the "Silk Road" series will continue to be performed in well-known foreign performing arts theatres. "in the future, if we are more familiar with foreign markets, our operating ability will gradually increase, and the result will be better."

Edit: mary