Many of the leaders of China’s arts groups and organizations are artists-turned managers. This has somewhat slowed down the development of the country’s arts and culture industry, due to their lack of professional training in management and administration. To remedy this, and especially with the risk of foreign competition now that China has joined the World Trade Organization, Arts Management, a well-developed subject in the west, has been introduced to China in recent years. Some universities have established courses in this field of study, and some returned students have joined in the effort to help enhance arts management here.
The arts are flourishing in China. Arts management, however, is still a strange idea to many Chinese. I surfed the Internet to find some information on this topic and found very little in the Chinese language websites. It was very different with the English language websites: I found stacks of information. This reflects the fact that the management has a history of more than half a century in western country, whereas it’s very new in China.
But what exactly is arts management? Basically, it’s the management of orchestras, ballet companies, art galleries, theatres and cinemas and the like. Qiao Luqiang is the manager of an art gallery. He has an MBA, with a major in Arts Management, from the University of South Australia. Qiao Luqiang explains that arts management is a small part of business management.
"Arts management is a small branch in the scope of business management. Actually, if you describe business management as a big tree, then arts management, together with sports management, entertainment management and hospitality management, are just like flowers on big trees. They are small, but small doesn’t mean not important. Without these flowers the tree is not perfect."
Although Qiao stresses the importance of the arts management, the present situation in China is problematic. It’s easy to find dozens of examples of poor arts management, or even no management here.
For instance, some large theatres still follow the old Chinese, or the former Soviet, system of management, which was the norm in China for almost fifty years. The top managers of these theatres are usually in charge of everything：personnel, daily artistic design and operations, as well as finance. They are not likely to entrust several hundred thousand yuan to someone called a "producer" to look after the production of a drama, or an "agent" to handle the promotion. In fact, they have little concept of the role of a "producer" or "agent," because they are new titles in the world of arts in China. A few producers are now working in this field, but in general the reins controlling everything are still tightly clenched in the hands of one person, the manager, which is very different from the situation in western countries.
Another example is that we can rarely find a head of a theatre or dance company with professional qualifications in management, let alone the more specialized field of arts management. Before they became managers, most of them were performers, conductors, composers, or even playwrights. Most of them see management solely from the viewpoint of their own previous experience, rather than base it on broader, more scientific principles. Moreover, in China there is no clear, formal categorization of the various management positions within the artistic field. Various titles have been adopted from their western counterparts, like stage supervisor, stage manager, technical manager, artistic director or music director, but the definition of the scope and purpose of these jobs is still vague.
Seeing the need to address these problems, some colleges and universities in China have opened courses in arts management. As early as 1985, the Central Drama Academy started a course on stage techniques management, on the basis of which it started another course, on stage management, in 1990. After more than a decade of experience running these two courses, in 2001 the Academy finally established its own Arts Management Department. But although China’s academic and professional institutions have begun to pay attention to arts management, it doesn’t necessarily mean the future is bright for arts management in China. Qiao Luqiang expresses his opinion on this.
“In China’s universities, we have the education or subject of Arts Management. That’s a very exciting thing for Chinese people. For example, Beijing University, the China Academy of Drama, and some colleges or universities in Shanghai. But as far as I know, although the teachers and related authorities have a very strong desire to have this subject or course, the problem is that we don’t have enough professionally trained teachers now. The second is that we don’t have enough investment in it. The third is the big gap between the market and the human resource. The human resource means we don’t have enough professionally trained staff, or people with enough skills or with professional ideas or management methods to cope with the need in the market."
As Qiao mentioned, those colleges and universities offering a major in Arts Management lack professionally trained teachers in this subject. In an attempt to make up for this, they often invite people engaged in arts management or business management to give lectures or hold seminars. Qiao himself has given lectures at both the Central Drama Academy and Beijing University on arts management education in western countries. The students were very interested in what they learned from his introduction and about the differences between China and foreign countries in the situation of arts management education. Here’s what a freshman in the Arts Management Department of the Central Drama Academy has to say:
"In western countries, arts management is at the master’s degree level, while in China it’s for a bachelor’s degree. This means that arts management in foreign countries requires a wider range of knowledge and more working experience in this field. Moreover, artistic management in the west has developed much faster than that in China due to their comprehensive, complete system. But I don’t think it’s too late for China to start education in arts management. We can learn a lot from others and soon catch up with them."
With China’s entry into the WTO, arts management will have to be brought up to international standards, and foreign arts management companies will certainly compete in the Chinese market. Will they help or hamper the development of China’s own arts management professionals? Qiao Luqiang has this to say.
"China’s entry into WTO will have strong impact on the Chinese culture and arts industry, and also on China’s arts management education. As far as I know, several universities have expressed the intention to come to China to cooperate with the Chinese side on these kinds of subjects, because China is definitely a huge market.
One cannot expect everything to change overnight. For a certain period, our government or other authority should take measures to protect China’s own arts management industry, because at the moment it could not cope with a rapid influx of foreign competitors. We need time to educate and train our own qualified management staff in this field."
Qiao Luqiang hopes that more and more Chinese people who have been professionally trained in the field abroad will return to China to contribute their skills and knowledge to China’s arts management.
(CRI online January 25, 2002)
