Art groups struggle to be independent in finance from govt

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-01 10:15

BEIJING -- "Walking onto the stage, I found it was beautifully decorated with colorful flowers and flags."

Chinese acrobat Wang Guiqin, 67, could not help skipping and turning around, while recalling her 1959 "Diabolo" performance to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

She now teaches for the China National Acrobatic Troupe which has 134 acrobats. Every year the troupe puts on more than 1,000 shows.

Since its establishment in 1950, the troupe has been funded by the government. Whatever money it needed to operate, the troupe was given. Then in 2005, thousands of arts and entertainment organizations across the country, including the acrobatic troupe, were told by the central government to become financially independent.

It means the troupe has been receiving a set amount of 18 million yuan (about $2.6 million) per year since 2006. According to the cultural bureau of the Beijing municipal government, those funds were set to expire in December 2008.

"Our tickets revenues aren't enough to pay our acrobats," said Wang Yinmei, financial director of the troupe. She said it takes about 38 million yuan a year to operate. "We need more time."

In preparation of the deadline, the China National Acrobatic Troupe invested in a marketing plan, redesigned shows, trained acrobats to dance and sing and concentrated on gaining an audience in the domestic market.

Sun Fuhe, was invited to be the artistic director of troupe in 2006. He had four years of artistic marketing experience in the US and implemented t-shirt and brochure sales. Sun also redesigned the show.

"In order to cater to the present-day audience, we employed a lot of elements such as modern dancing and singing," Sun said. "Our acrobatic play has become a comprehensive performance."

The marriage of acrobatics and dance gave birth to the troupe's new work, "Splendid!".

"It is incredible,every detail is so beautiful," said Nataliya Shcherbakova, a French ballet dancer who saw the show during the Beijing Gala of Traditional Culture.

"Spendid!" proved to be a commercial success. In 2007, it played 117 times in Japan and was shown during the 2008 Beijing Olympics in August.

"About ninety percent of 70,000 season tickets were sold out," said Yang Shuo, the troupe's marketing manager. "Tickets were priced around 300."

The troupe, which manages the Beijing International Arts School, set up in 1999, began separately training acrobats to dance and sing making them more versatile.

"Music became an integral part of the acrobatic performance, rather than working as background sound," said Wang.

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