China Culture Centre in Sydney signs agreement with Adelaide Festival Centre in Adelaide

Jay Weatherill, Premier of South Australia gives a speech

SYDNEY, Feb. 7 (People’s Daily Online) -- On Feb 5, 2016, China Culture Centre in Sydney signed a cooperation agreement with Adelaide Festival Centre in Adelaide. Zhao Li, Director of China Culture Center in Sydney and Douglas Gautier, CEO of Adelaide Festival Center signed a memorandum of understanding, witnessed by Rao Hongwei, Chinese Consular General in Adelaie and Jay Weatherill, Premier of South Australia. This cooperation will bring more Chinese visual arts and performances to Adelaide, South Australia.

The inauguration of the China Cultural Centre in Sydney was witnessed by Chinese President Xi Jinping on his first visit to Australia in November 2014. It is one of 25 such centres around the world that aim to foster friendship between China and other countries as well as to promote awareness of and appreciation for Chinese culture and art through cultural events and activities.

“The agreement will ensure that some of the very best arts and performances from China will be seen in Adelaide,“ said Douglas Gautier, CEO and Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival Centre.

“This agreement is also an acknowledgement of Adelaide’s standing as a city of culture which is significant as Art and Culture are very highly valued in China,”he said.

Jay Weatherill, Premier of South Australia said, "Building the link between South Australia and China cannot solely be about two-way investment and boosting imports and exports – though those things are obviously important. It’s also crucially about improving our people-to-people ties – such as in the field of the arts.

“It is agreements like this one that add substance and breadth to the long-term relationship between China and South Australia,", he said.

Ms. Zhao Li, Director of the China Cultural Centre said, "We are very excited to enter into a partnership with the Adelaide Festival Centre to promote awareness of and appreciation for Chinese culture and art through cultural events and activities. The agreement will see the presentation of programs that aim to enhance the existing friendship, to encourage dialogue and foster mutual understanding between China and Australia.”

The agreement was signed at the opening of Stories of Life, an Australian premiere exhibition of contemporary artworks by some of China's most fascinating artists, showing in the Artspace, Adelaide Festival Centre. Taking in painting, sculpture, video and multimedia works, Stories of Life explores, in vivid detail, what daily life is like in rapidly changing Chinese society from the artists' own personal and spiritual points of view.