In the afternoon of 13 January, the closing ceremony of the 4th Winter Institute was held at the New Space Theatre of the Shanghai Theatre Academy. The professors and over 20 international students from the Brown University, Duke University, Yale University and New York University and over 70 Chinese teachers and students attended the closing ceremony. President Han Sheng, Vice President Gong Baorong and Professor William Sun of the Shanghai Theatre Academy attended the closing ceremony and gave speeches. The closing ceremony was chaired by Vice President Gong Baorong.
Mr Tobias, Director-General of International Theatre Institute (ITI), gave the first speech in which he expressed the congratulation on a successful Winter Institute. He said that Shanghai is a charming city where we deliver knowledge, share experiences and create the future. He said that while the cultural undertakings in China is attracting increasingly more attention of the world, it is expected that ITI would be relocated to Shanghai within this year, which is a huge development and a huge challenge.
For Prof Daniel Stein, this was his 3rd Winter Institute in Shanghai. He said that the Winter Institute is a good linkage which brings together the talents in theatre and education to meet here in Shanghai. Theatre and culture will spread like the ripples going out circle by circle to influence the others.
President Han Sheng made the concluding speech. He emphasized that although this year was the 4th year of the Winter Institute, there has been fresh elements every year and this year, in particular, featured an even richer program of activities. In regard to the curriculum, the lectures, symposiums and workshops of this year’s Winter Institute covered a wide range of specialty areas including creating theatre, play writing, acting and directing skills, media arts and intercultural performance etc. The activities during the past 10 days not only focused on the current interpretation of the world famous works, but also included the courses that explored the western classics. It is believed that all students of the Winter Institute have found these rewarding who are prepared to embrace the newer, richer and more splendid creation in the pursuit of their artistic careers going forward. This year, we also welcomed our new partners. It was the first time for the bachelor degree students of Harvard University to come to the Winter Institute as a group because their professors were preparing for establishing a new theatre major. And, the lecture on Chinese theatre given by Prof Conceison, who had undertaken advanced studies at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, made them strongly interested. This shows that the Chinese culture is very attractive to Western youths and that as long as the stories are well told, the diversified Chinese culture is widely liked and closely followed. Such an event as the Winter Institute enlightens the wisdom and intelligence of the artists and develops their skills and strengths. In the meantime, the participants of different countries demonstrate their respective cultural highlights. Together, they look for the brilliance, share the happiness and enjoy the great exposure to the arts and beauty during a cultural feast.
