New Working Programme seeks even greater exchange between Flanders and China

  • February 14, 2012

On 2 February, Flemish minister for culture Joke Schauvliege welcomed her Chinese colleague, Cai Wu, to Errerahuis, the official residence of the Government of Flanders. The ministers reaffirmed the cultural partnership between Flanders and China. At their meeting, the 2012-2015 Working Programme was signed by senior officials from the respective ministries. The Working Programme implements the Cultural Agreement between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Peoples’ Republic of China.

Chinese Minister for Culture Cai Wu visited Belgium for 5 days, among others to open the EU-China Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2012 in the Bozar Centre of Fine Arts. The new 2012-2015 Working Programme was signed by Secretary-General Christine Claus of the Department of Culture, Youth, Sport and Media of the Government of Flanders and Xiang Xiaowei, Deputy Director-General of the Bureau for External Cultural Relations of the Chinese Ministry of Culture. With this working programme, Flanders and China aim to forge cooperation agreements and exchange expertise not only in the areas of heritage, arts and literature, but in youth policy, sports, film and media as well. The following Flemish-Chinese projects and initiatives are already in the pipeline for 2012:

  • Since China sits on the intergovernmental committee of the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Flanders would like to exchange expertise and good examples with the country. Parades and processions in Flanders are listed as UNESCO World Heritage.
  • Jan Hoet has been appointed coordinator of the Yinchuan Biennial for the autumn of 2012. The exhibition enjoys the patronage of British artist Damien Hirst.
  • The modern dance collective based around Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui has scheduled a number of dance performances in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre (www.east-man.be) in 2012.
  • Artist Gert Verhoeven has planned a working trip to the Chinese European Art Center in Xiamen in 2012 with support from the Government of Flanders (www.bamart.be).
  • To help boost the promotion of Flemish authors in China, the Flemish Literature Fund presented an English-Chinese brochure containing 36 Flemish titles at the Peking Book Fair in November 2011.
  • Last year, deFilharmonie toured China; Brussels Philharmonic is planning a number of performances in China in late 2012, and next year, in 2013, deFilharmonie will visit China again in the autumn (www.brusselsphilharmonic.be).

Flemish minister for culture Joke Schauvliege: “At the last European Council of Ministers of Culture, I expressed my enthusiastic support for the ‘EU-China Year of Intercultural Dialogue’ because I am convinced that Flanders has a role to play. After all, Flemish culture is already present in China, and to quite some extent. Individual artists, ensembles and companies are appointing themselves as Flemish and European cultural representatives. I took great pleasure in emphasising this during the talks with my Chinese colleague.”

Chinese Minister for Culture Cai Wu: “Active cultural exchanges further the mutual interests of both parties and offer greater prospects for continued development in a broad and bilateral partnership. I am pleased to be here today to witness the signing of the 2012-2015 Working Programme on Culture, Youth, Sport and media between the Peoples’ Republic of China and Flanders, which will set a new benchmark and open up new perspectives in these areas over the next 4 years. I wish Flanders a blossoming development of its cultural initiatives, and China and Belgium (Flanders) continued progress in their cultural exchanges and cooperation, through which an illustrious new chapter can be written in our cooperation.”