Hong Kong

Method: From personal relations to cultural exchange between nations. Theatrical collaboration started in 2012.

This project is a typical example of how to use cultural expressions of high quality to nourish and increase the value of personal-professional relationships in order to create new commercial and political relations. Shu-Wing Tang, at the time leader of the department for acting at University of Hong Kong, was invited to perform at the London Cultural Olympiad during the Olympic Games in London in 2012. Due to our professional connection to him, we were able to share expenses with the Olympic Committee and with Grotowski Theatre Laboratorium in Wroclaw, Poland and prepare a special program of intervention here in Fredrikstad. This program consisted of 1 day of workshops about running commercial activities in Hong Kong, about how cultural events are used to attract business and about how Mr. Wing’s company Theatre Studio participates in this «fabric» connecting commerce and art together. In addition to this, the company was able to present, for a full house in St.Croix-huset in Fredrikstad, the very same play by Shakespeare (the play was 2 hours long and performed in Cantonese), which they performed in «The Globe-theatre» in London the week before. All of this was supported through the budget of Studium Actoris, the British council, Hong Kong’s chamber of commerce in London and the Chinese embassy in Oslo. For many years after this the Chinese embassy invited Studium Actoris as guests for their yearly Chinese New Years- celebrations. There we were able to meet, together with politicians from Fredrikstad, Chinese entrepreneurs and cultural personalities.