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Door to Art and Music Opens Wider in Beijing
Beijing, China's cultural centre, is making its theatres and music halls more popular with ordinary people by reducing ticket prices and organizing more colourful performances.
Attending a performance or concert at weekends should no longer be a luxury, said Zhang Heping, director of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Bureau, at the bureau's yearly work conference Monday, February 26.
Zhang initiated a number of changes last year to increase audiences, such as designing some low-cost performances, the most popular of which was a show called "Open the Door of the Music," targeting students on summer vacation.
Previously, performances had tickets priced at above 100 yuan (US$12.1) - more than one 10th of the average monthly salary of a Beijing resident.
But the low-cost shows would limit prices between 5 yuan (US$0.6) and 30 yuan (US$3.6).
Zhang said the success indicated more similar shows should be staged.
He said it was wrong to believe that few people remained interested in cultural performances. Tickets had simply been out of most people's reach, Zhang said.
More than 10 Beijing professional performance bodies have gradually been stripped of government funding in recent years and have been left to fend for themselves. Zhang said "less profit, more audience" is better than "no profit and no audience."
Beijing has mapped out plans to become an international city, but needs first class cultural performances as well as first-rate infrastructure.
Zhang also highlighted the importance of large-scale activities, promising to organize more of them this year like open-sky concerts performed by various amateur groups.
Source: China Daily
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