Report on the First “In Art We Trust” Chinese Opera in New York Forum, New York City, USA, 2016

Abstract

On October 12, 2016, the Flushing Town Hall in New York City held its first forum on Chinese Opera in New York entitled “In Art We Trust.” As a joint program cohosted by The Permanent Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature (CHINOPERL), the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts (FCCA), and Chinese Theater Works, the forum brought together the academic world and performance practitioners to discuss the state of Chinese opera in the Greater New York Area, to share their best practices, and to explore ways of leveraging their respective resources toward greater success. CHINOPERL is an academic association on Chinese oral and performing literature established by Yuanren Chao and other renowned American scholars in 1969. The FCCA, established in 1979, takes as their mission the presentation of multi-disciplinary global arts that engage and educate the international communities of Queens and New York City in order to foster mutual appreciation. Chinese Theater Works was created in 1995 and is known for their endeavor to cut across ethnic and cultural boundaries as well as their commitment to theater education. Three other organizations participated in the forum: Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Company (Qi Shufang Jingjutuan 齊淑芳 京劇團); New York Chinese Opera Society; and the Confucius Institute for Chinese Opera at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Professor Dong Sun 孫冬, who is the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute for Business at the State University of New York, as well as professor of Theater Studies at Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, moderated the forum. Fan Pen Chen, Associate Professor at University at Albany, State University of New York, presented opening remarks on behalf of CHINOPERL in which she briefly reviewed the organization’s history and mission. She further addressed two significant topics related to Chinese Opera in New York: modes of transmission of Chinese opera in the United States, and the status and performance of Chinese troupes in Greater New York. Michael Liu, manager of Chinese Community Initiatives at Flushing Town Hall, spoke next. He welcomed the guests and expressed his organization’s endorsement of the cultural programs and partnerships in Chinese communities in New York. Kuangyu Fong, co-director of Chinese Theater Works, concluded the opening remarks by stating her organization’s purpose in initiating the forum and its vision of increased mutual understanding and broader collaboration between scholars and performance groups in New York. For the event, the four theater groups and institutes produced four eight-minute video clips which were screened after the opening remarks. These videos not only CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral and Performing Literature 36.2 (December 2017): 120–122