20 December 2019
Since October 2018, the postgraduate education of Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) has been guided by the outcome-based direction of multi-location touring performance and commercial public performance (screening) of graduation works of Master of Fine Arts (MFA) students to further deepen the formation of performance brands of MFA graduation works and strengthen the connection with the needs of Shanghai's cultural development, so that the graduation works of STA’s MFA graduation works can directly serve the development of Shanghai's city culture and serve the cultural and artistic life of its citizens. To that end, the STA Graduate School carried out the specific initiatives from the following three aspects in 2019, which have achieved remarkable results.
"Wisteria Blossom" MFA Performance Season 2019
In the middle of March 2019, the nearly month-long “Wisteria Blossom – Shanghai Theatre Academy MFA Graduation Performance Season” opened, presenting eight MFA graduation works, two graduation exhibitions and one graduation screening on the STA campus. As an important part of STA’s MFA training, the graduation works demonstrate the learning results of the three-year MFA studies, and serve as a test bed for the professional learning, accumulation and improvement during the three years of MFA studies.
Off-campus public performance system for original works of STA’s MFA students
In June 2019, we launched the off-campus public performance system for the original works of STA’s MFA students, and successively funded four outstanding MFA original works for off-campus performances. In addition, a joint production by Chinese and foreign MFA students was invited to perform in Peking University, and a play created and performed mainly by MFA students won the Youth Performance Competition Award of the 7th Wuzhen Theatre Festival. MFA students took the initiative to connect with performance resources in the market and went out of the campus with the courage to accept the test of more audiences, showing the ability and level of STA’s MFA students in the new era to actively explore the practice of artistic innovation.
The 1st "Wisteria Cup" MFA Original Script Competition
The first "Wisteria Cup" MFA Original Script Competition is an important initiative under the First-class Postgraduate Education Leading Plan of STA. After expert evaluation, 15 outstanding original scripts written by MFA students were finally selected, of which two have been staged for public performance, and six will be incubated for performance or public screening in 2020. It is commendable that during the establishment period of first-class postgraduate education, a number of MFA students won various awards at domestic and international film competitions and film festivals, such as the 3rd Socialist Core Value Microfilm Collection and Display sponsored by the Publicity Bureau of CPC Central Committee’s Ministry of Publicity, the 6th New Concept International Film Festival in San Francisco, the 15th Chinese American Film Festival in Los Angeles, and the 9th Macao International Film Festival. In addition, the graduation works of several MFA 2016 students won awards at the 2019 Shanghai Degree Project Competition for Art Degree Postgraduate Students.
The First-class Postgraduate Education Leading Plan of STA is based on the concept of training first-class postgraduate students, which emphasizes on process tracking and result implementation as far as management is concerned and aims to improve the influence and sociality of the performances of MFA works as far as the goal is concerned. It aims to meet the new requirements for high-level talent training in the economic and social development of China and Shanghai in the new era, and is committed to developing a first-class postgraduate education system that matches with Shanghai’s status as an international cultural metropolis, and to cultivating innovative, applied and compound art talents that the society urgently needs.
