給青少年及兒童的表演藝術—表演藝術中的行業細分
對許多表演藝術中心及團體而言，青少年及兒童是重要的觀眾層之一，因此，在表演藝術行業發展成熟的地區，不難看見這一細分領域的出現，這類節目亦成為重要的國際文化輸出產品。美國每年年初都會舉辦「國際青少年表演藝術」年會（International Performance Arts for the Youth，簡稱IPAY），展示一些大會推介的表演藝術項目，並提供交流平台。今年，筆者第二年參與這一年會，本文將分享一些會議上的觀察。
國際交流
IPAY是一個國際組織，宗旨為打造青少年及兒童表演藝術項目的專業交流及展示平台，成員包括全球的表演藝術家及藝術團體、演出場地及藝術節主辦單位、表演藝術中介等，目前會員主要來自歐美地區，但近年，韓國的中介機構在平台上引進了不少優秀的節目，亦有愈來愈多內地的表演藝術場地機構前來購買節目，可見亞洲區內的業界對這一平台的認識正在加深。
IPAY年會近年每年皆於年初在費城進行，為期約一週，集中呈現數十個精選的表演藝術節目，展示方式包括展位交流、節目推介、節選或足本的演出。對表演藝術的場地營運者來說，這是購買及引進節目的重要機會；今年與會者近五百人，包括國際上知名的表演藝術場所，如：紐約的林肯表演藝術中心（Lincoln Center）、華盛頓的肯尼迪表演藝術中心（Kennedy Center）等。許多美國的行內人士將會議視為年度的聚會，相比更大型的表演藝術交易平台，這個會議更能讓參加者形成密切的交流，亦讓筆者這樣的青年工作者能更多地了解美國表演藝術業的運作、文化及發展趨勢。
文化輸出
作為國際青少年及兒童表演藝術的交流及交易平台，IPAY亦是新舊文化輸出強國的比拼場所。會上除了有獨立參與的藝術家及藝術團體，亦有不少國家政府的身影，加拿大文化議會在IPAY成立之初已是主要贊助單位之一，蘇格蘭、荷蘭、澳洲等地的政府亦會專門贊助展位及交流活動，可見歐美地區對此平台的重視。而隨着亞洲業內人士的參與，IPAY將更能體現國際間表演藝術發展的多樣性。
而與往屆不同的是，今年IPAY大會加入了FITA CHILE的環節，在一天之內集中展示智利代表團的項目。FITA CHILE原是智利的表演藝術交易平台，但去年底的會議因當地不穩定的政治環境而取消，幸而部分節目得以移師IPAY上舉辦，算是不幸中的大幸。令人感慨的是，智利的代表在致詞時表示，三年前她第一次參加IPAY會議時，來自智利的表演藝術工作者只有她一人而已，她也沒想到，這次她能成功組織智利政府及業界共同參加IPAY會議，讓美國及世界各地的業界了解智利表演藝術的優秀項目。筆者不禁想到，近年正在向外拓展市場的澳門表演藝術業界，是否亦可以借助IPAY這類的平台拓展機會？當然，在跨文化輸出的過程中，需要深入認識目標市場的形態和運作，關於這些方面，筆者將於下期闡述。
Performing arts for children and teenagers—Segmentation of the performing arts industry
For many art centres and communities, children and teenagers are the main audiences of performing arts in the U.S. This is the reason why it is not uncommon to see segmentation of the performing arts industry happening in places where the industry is rather mature. Performing arts show is also an important part of the country’s cultural export. Every year, International Performing Arts for the Youth (IPAY) is held in the U.S. to promote performing arts shows that are recommended by the event and provide a platform for exchange. This year, I visited IPAY for the second time. And I wish to share some of my observation there through this piece of article.
International exchange
IPAY is an international organisation that aims to build a platform for showcasing performing arts for young audiences and professional exchange. Its members include performing arts artists and organisations from around the world, venue partners, art festival organisers, performing arts agents, etc. Currently, IPAY members are mostly from America and Europe. In recent years, Korean agencies have been importing quite a number of quality performances from IPAY. More art venue representatives from Mainland China, on the other hand, are also coming to IPAY to look for good shows. It is without a doubt that the art communities from Asia are recognising the importance of IPAY.
IPAY is held in Philadelphia at the beginning of every year. The intensive one-week event will showcase tens of quality performing arts performances, which will be shown through showcase exchange, show recommendations and selected parts of performances or full performances. For art venues that feature performing arts, IPAY is an important opportunity for them to purchase and import performances. This year’s IPAY attracted nearly 500 participants, including internationally recognised performing arts venues like New York’s Lincoln Centre, Washington’s Kennedy Centre, etc. Many American artists see IPAY as a great annual gathering opportunity because IPAY enables closer exchange between the participants when compared with other major performing arts trading platform. This allowed young industry workers like me to understand the operation, culture and trends in the performing arts industry in the U.S. more.
Cultural export
As an international performing arts platform for exchange and trade, IPAY is also a place where countries traditionally strong in exporting their culture and emerging newcomers to compete with each other. You can not only see independent artists and groups at IPAY but also representatives of state governments. Canada Council for the Arts, for example, is one of the main sponsors of IPAY since its founding. The governments of Scotland, the Netherlands, Australia, etc. have also been the showcase and exchange activity sponsors for IPAY. It is apparent that western countries think highly of this event. As more Asian artists start to participate in IPAY, the event will be able to show more diversity in the development of performing arts around the world.
Different from previous years, this year’s IPAY had a new session called FITA CHILE, which showcased performances from the Chile representatives in one day. FITA CHILE was originally an art performance trading platform in Chile but it got cancelled in late 2019 because of the political instability in the country. Luckily, some of the performances were able to happen at IPAY. A representative from Chile mentioned in her remark that she was the only artist from Chile to attend IPAY when she was here for the first time three years ago. To her surprise, she was able to get both the Chile government and art community to attend IPAY together, which allowed the U.S. and art communities from different parts of the world to see quality works from Chile. I couldn’t help but think that perhaps Macao’s art community, which is trying to expand to overseas markets in recent years, could make use of platforms like IPAY to go international. But of course, it is important to understand the targeted market and relevant operation well when exporting cultural products. I will make a further discussion on this point in my next article.