Revisiting 2015 AAPPAC Tongyeong Conference

As a new venue and a fairly new member of AAPPAC, Tongyeong Concert Hall was excited to host the Annual Conference of the Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres (AAPPAC) for the first time. We were honoured to welcome well over 100 performing arts leaders from 16 countries.

DESTINATION 2020 – Perspectives, Visions and Potentials for the Performing Arts

As a new institution, we felt compelled to reflect on current trends, developments and directions to map the road for Arts Centres in Asia Pacific during the next years, to shape and define the role of our institutions in their national, regional and global context.

Hong-Koo Lee, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea

Giving a powerful impulse at the beginning of the conference, former South Korean Prime Minister Hong-koo Lee reflected in his keynote speech on the importance of arts and arts centres in reaching out to neighbouring countries and overcoming political differences. Citing the post-cold war Olympics of 1988 in Seoul and the first jointly-held soccer World Cup of 2002 in Japan and Korea (Mr Lee was significantly involved in the preparation of both events), he portrayed the cultural potentials and challenges of his country in the ever-changing multicultural environment of the Asia Pacific region.

The keynote speech was preceded by a short ceremony: former AAPPAC chairman and Esplanade CEO Benson Puah was presented with the first ever AAPPAC Achievement Lifetime Award, acknowledging his great achievements for the Association. The other award recipient, Ms Sue Nattrass A.O., who played a key role in establishing the Association, was unfortunately unable to attend the Annual Conference.

Theodore Wiprud, Vice President for Education, New York Philharmonic, with Violinist Daniel Hope

Focusing on young audiences and arts education, Sessions I and II offered a number of different perspectives and backgrounds. Introduced by Tongyeong CEO Florian Riem, longtime Artistic Director of Patch Theatre Company Dave Brown presented his new project the paperboats– a unique theatre-making platform designed to create new works for children through international partnerships. His counterpart, Sung-hye Joo of the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service gave an interesting outline of her organisation and its endeavour to support and present educational projects in local communities.

The next session featured well-known international artist Daniel Hope together with New York Philharmonic Vice President of Education, Theodore Wiprud, in an exciting discussion about educational systems and new concepts contributing to creativity and personality development. Both of them are pioneers in music education and together with moderator Cecilia Heejeong Kim gave a fascinating account of their experiences with children, the Very Young Composers project, and the impact of social media and digital technology on artistic experiences.

Session III focused on two leading Korean arts institutions, their history and their role in the local community: the National Theatre of Korea, represented by CEO Hosang Ahn, and LG Arts Center, represented by CEO Paul Chung. In conversation with AAPPAC chairman Douglas Gautier, both reflected on current perspectives and developments of their centres.

In Session IV, Hong Kong Arts Festival Executive Director Tisa Ho introduced two festival directors to discuss the relationships of festivals with their venues: both Joseph Mitchell, Director of OzAsia Festival, and Jae-jin In, Director of the Jarasum International Jazz Festival, have close associations with arts centres supporting their events.

Hakchan Ko, CEO, Seoul Arts Center, with Louise Herron, CEO, Sydney Opera House

In a much anticipated session on corporate sponsoring and private donorship, longtime head of Corporate Cultural Sponsorship at Credit Suisse Toni Krein introduced Sydney Opera House CEO Louise Herron and Seoul Arts Center CEO Hakchan Ko. The two leaders gave fascinating accounts of the renewal and restructuring of their institutions, both of which are considered national icons.

Professor of Art Management at Korean National University of Arts Annette Eunkyung Kang moderated Session VI, presenting new potentials in Ticketing and Database  Marketing. Sharing insights on how to capitalise on new marketing tools and advanced software, her guest speakers were Singapore-based ticketing agent, SISTIC CEO Kenneth Tan and Director of Ticketing and Venue Sales at Adelaide Festival Centre Greg Adams.

Apart from dialogue sessions and meetings, delegates were treated to a number of music and dance performances; among them The last Tango in Berlin, a musical journey through Cabaret, Chanson and Tango by German artist Ute Lemper, and a concert of the Orchestra L´Arte del Mondo with Daniel Hope, presenting Vivaldi´s Four Seasons and its award-winning modern rendition by composer Max Richter.

All of us at Tongyeong International Music Foundation would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all delegates, associates and guests for visiting our conference, and to all our sponsors and supporters who helped us to make this event possible.

To view more photos from the conference, visit the AAPPAC Facebook photo album here.

The next AAPPAC conference will be held in Adelaide, Australia, from 28 – 30 September 2016.