The International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) Congress came to a close in New York, the United States, on Jan. 12. The three-day event was joined by Taiwanese independent project manager Hsu Tzu-yin (許慈茵) and co-founder and creative producer of the Small Island Big Song (小島大歌) project BaoBao Chen (陳玟臻), who were selected for ISPA’s "Taiwan Fellowship Program" last year. In addition, executive director Kathy Hong (洪家琪) of the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan and deputy general director Raymond Wong (黃國威) of National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts were invited to attend the annual meeting.
At the event, the Cloud Gate delegates presented their new production proposal, which is a collaborative work between Taiwanese choreographer Cheng Tsung-lung (鄭宗龍) and Japanese media artist Daito Manabe, seeking opportunities for international cooperation and performances in 2024.
In a collaboration between the Taipei Cultural Center in New York (TCC) and ISPA, the fellowship program has participants from Taiwan for the first time.
Independent project manager Hsu Tzu-yin said, through the meeting as a way of getting the partners from different countries together to meet one another, establishing a wide network of artists is important. Being chosen for ISPA's three-year "Taiwan Fellowship Program," Hsu stated that she will focus on providing Taiwan’s viewpoint to raise the profile of Taiwanese artists. Meanwhile, creative producer of the Small Island Big Song project BaoBao Chen pointed out building relationships between people requires constant efforts. She thanked ISPA's fellowship program for giving her three years to carry out tasks in different phases.
TCC director Chang Hui-chun (張惠君) stated that, joined by many talented Taiwanese artists, this is the first physical ISPA annual meeting after the COVID-19 pandemic. Chang noted that ISPA's fellowship program has received enthusiastic responses from the performing arts circle in Taiwan, which shows the performing arts ecosystem needs more new blood to raise Taiwanese performers' international visibility.
The ISPA Congress takes place in New York every January. This year, under the theme "Urgency of Now," 540 performing arts professionals from 51 countries/regions and 203 cities gathered together to discuss the latest issues, including supporting the voices of ethnic minorities and the disabled and debating the impact of digital tools, non-fungible tokens, and climate change.