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Chinese folk dance performances in the United States: opportunities and challenges faced by PR professionals

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Chinese folk dance performances in the United States: opportunities and challenges faced by PR professionals

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Content CHINESE FOLK DANCE PERFORMANCES IN THE UNITED STATES: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FACED BY PR PROFESSIONALS by Yunyun Li UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA A Thesis Presented to the   FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree   MASTER OF ARTS (STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS) December 2014 Copyright 2014 Yunyun Li ii Table of Content Abstract iv Introduction 1 Chapter One: Chinese Dance History and Varieties 5 The Variety of Chinese Dances 5 Chinese Dances Through Time 6 Chinese Modern Dance 7 The Communist Government’s Policies on National Dance 7 Chapter Two: Chinese Dance in America 9 Chinese Communities in the U.S. 9 Successful Cases of American-Chinese Dance Performers 10 Chapter Three: Why Examine Chinese Dance? 13 Chapter Four: SWOT Analysis of Chinese-based Dance Companies 15 Strengths 15 Weaknesses 15 Opportunities 17 Threats 18 Chapter Five: Identifying the Audience 20 Factors That Influence Attendance 21 The Relationship Between Art Education and Art Participation 22 Audience Research Implications for PR Professionals 24 Chapter Six: A Case Study on Shen Yun Performing Arts 28 Branding 29 Media Relations 31 Partnerships and Sponsorships 31 Content Creation 32 Chapter Seven: Interviews 33 Christine Chow, CICPA Marketing Director 33 iii Allison Friedman, PP Productions Co-founder/CEO 36 David Lin, ACCA President 37 Chapter Eight: Communication Strategies and Tactics for Modern Oriental Entertainment (MOE) 45 Statement of Problem 45 Statement of Opportunity 46 Communication Goal 47 Objectives 47 Rationale of Objectives 48 Strategies 50 Key Messages 51 Tactics 52 Evaluation 58 Conclusion 61 Bibliography 63 Appendix 70 Interview with Christine Chow 70 Interview with Allison Friedman 75 Interview with David Lin 76 iv Abstract This paper examines the presence and future of Chinese performing arts in the United States. More specifically, it looks at the history of Chinese dance and its varieties, Chinese governmental policies like Going Out Policies with an aim to succeed overseas, the perceptions of Chinese dance performances of American audiences including the Culture Omnivores, the Millennials, and families with young children, and studies successful Chinese dance troupes including the Shen Yun Performing Arts. The primary research includes three important interviews with cultural exchange experts from both China and the U.S.. The purpose of this study is to help Chinese folk dance companies to succeed in the United States with a well-researched, strategic and effective PR and media plan. 1 Introduction “Culture is the spirit of country and nation, giving a concentrated expression to the character and morals of country and nation.”(Outline of the National, 2006) The power of culture stems from its ability to unite people, establish national self-confidence, and act as the spiritual driver behind a nation’s economic and social development. The Chinese culture, with 5000 years of lasting splendor, has made enormous contributions not only to the prosperity of the country but also to the cultural progress of all humankind. Culture here is broadly defined as the Chinese civilization, especially its performing arts, history, language, literature and cultural values. In the present day, the power of culture is even more important as it becomes increasingly “mingled with the economy and politics and integrated with science and technology” (Outline of the National, 2006). For a nation to maintain the upper hand in the complex international environment, it is equally necessary to expand cultural power as it is to strengthen economic, scientific, technological and national defense power. Since the 1980s, China has transitioned from a planned economy to a market economy, making great advancements in economic, scientific, and technological power. However, from a cultural standpoint, most projects, such as Confucius institutes and cultural festivals ，are still state-planned and reflect the aspirations of the government (Wang). These efforts were helpful in the initial stages of China’s modern development; however, in the past ten years, the government has begun to realize the importance of growing a larger Chinese presence in international cultural markets and encouraging its enterprises to invest overseas. The Going Out Policy, also referred to as the Going Global Policy, was first discussed in 1996 and was officially launched by the 2 Ministry of Culture (MoC) in 2004 (Ma, 2012). The strategy proposes a comprehensive approach to popularize Chinese culture worldwide, particularly through exchange and cultural exports. Since 2004, this strategy has applied to media, cultural and creative industries (ibid.). There are nine cultural categories listed in the Outline of the National “11 th Five Year Plan” Period Cultural Development Plan (Outline of the National, 2006), including the performing arts sector, film production, publishing, distribution, printing and reproduction, advertising, entertainment, cultural exhibition, digital content, and a cartoon sector. In the performing arts sector, “Special Funds for Performance Industry Development” have been established to support original production, theater construction or renovation, and touring abroad, according to the “11 th Five Year Plan” (Outline of the National, 2006). Thanks to the Going Out Policy, there have been successful cases of China’s performing arts production companies traveling overseas in the past few years, including companies like the New Shanghai Circus, the Tianchuang International Performing Arts, and National Ballet of China. Each of these performing arts companies has toured more than 20 countries. The New Shanghai Circus is the first of its kind to invest independently in commercial performances abroad (Introduction to the Non-Stop, 2014). Instead of developing its overseas business through foreign agents, it started joint ventures with overseas companies and then set up its own company in America (ibid.). All these performances succeeded overseas by combining elements of traditional Chinese culture with a globalized mindset in their productions and their communication strategies. By doing this, Chinese cultural production is remade and repackaged with the addition of international elements. The success of these Chinese performing arts troupes overseas is a result of the implementation of “going out” culture programs and tremendous government spending. In recent 3 years, the scale of China’s foreign cultural trade is expanding, with an average annual increase of 17.2% (China’s Culture Exports, 2014). In 2013, the total export of China’s cultural products amounted to USD 25.13 billion, 2.6 times that of 2006. In the same year, China’s total export of cultural services amounted to USD 5.13 billion, 3.2 times that of 2006 (MOFCOM, 2014). Despite the increasing quantities of China’s cultural exports, the cultural trade deficits remain high. According to a report by the Ministry of Commerce People’s Republic of China (Xinhua, 2010), the price of artistic performances staged by foreign troupes in China is about ten times that of Chinese performances staged overseas. In 2009, a total of 426 foreign performing troupes or companies performed 16,373 times in China, generating an income of RMB 76.85 million yuan. However, China’s annual total income from overseas commercial performances is less than USD 100 million (State Council Report, 2010). As one piece of the Going Out Policy, the nation has been taking a series of approaches to reduce the cultural trade deficit by boosting the competitiveness of its artistic exports: implementing preferential policies encouraging and supporting cultural product and service exports; giving support in market expansion and technological innovation; heavily supporting music, dance and acrobatics, film, gaming and other product and service exports having ethnic characteristics; forging a batch of internationally famous cultural brands; encouraging cultural enterprises to set entities and establish branch offices abroad through exclusive investment, etc. (ibid.). However, individual dance and art companies should not rely solely on governmental policies to succeed overseas. In order to compete for audiences in international markets, it is crucial that companies position themselves well by having a deep and well-rounded understanding of their strengths and weaknesses while also carefully studying the social-cultural 4 environment of the country where they export their cultural products or services. A well-developed PR strategy is vital for the troupe to stand out from its competitors. The overall goal of this paper is to help Chinese folk dance companies succeed in the United States. The author will look at the history of Chinese dance and its varieties, examine how American audiences perceive Chinese dance performances in the 21 st century, and evaluate how successful the existing Chinese performing arts productions are in the United States. For the purpose of adding practical aspects to the paper and building the final conclusions, three interviews were included in Chapter Seven; these interviews involve cultural exchange experts from both China and the U.S. They are Christine Chow, the marketing director at the California Institute for Chinese Performing Arts (CICPA), Alison Friedman, the co-founder and CEO at Ping Pong Productions and Xu Lin, the founder of American Chinese Cultural Association. Finally, Chapter Eight will focus on how to use PR to promote and gain awareness for Chinese dance companies with an aim to succeed in the United States. 5 Chapter One: Chinese Dance History and Varieties “Dance is the art of portraying a certain state of mind through the ordered rhythmic actions and configurations of the human body” (Wang, 1985: 1). The Variety of Chinese Dances Unlike the dances in some other cultures, Chinese folk dance is highly varied. In this unified, multi-national country, there are very diverse cultures. The country is officially composed of 56 ethnic groups: There are the Han, which make up over 90 percent of the population, and fifty-five ethnic minority groups (Eun, 2010). Each of them has a culture that is characterized by a set of unique folk dances with a variety of styles and forms. Each ethnic group’s folk dances reflect the peculiarities of that group’s religious, cultural and historical narratives (Chinese Folk Dances, 1998). In their dance performances, the work, life, love and customs of these minorities are closely bound with their choreography and colorful costumes. The best-known dances are Miao dance, Mongolian Bowl dance, Uygur dance, Tibetan Cham dance. In the past, the only places that one was likely to view and appreciate ethnic shows and dances were where most Chinese ethnic people live: the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, bamboo houses on the southwest border areas, deep forests, snow-capped mountains and highlands. Most of these areas are located in China’s remote southwestern and northwestern frontiers, including Yunan and Guizhou provinces, and the Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous regions. Fortunately, many of these traditional dances were preserved and have been brought to the stage or recorded in motion pictures. 6 Chinese Dances Through Time Forms and styles of folk dance have also evolved over different periods in Chinese history. Some dances have still retained their distinctive traits while others embrace new forms. The early Chinese folk dances, like other forms of primitive art, were essentially ritual enactments of superstitious beliefs performed in the hope of a good harvest or closely connected with working life, such as hunting (Wang, 1985:2). For instance, dancing with long sleeves has been recorded since the very early periods, dating from at least as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1100-221 BC). The art of dance reached a peak in the Tang Dynasty (618-906 AD), which was seen as the golden age for dance in ancient China (Wang, 1958:49). The famous Tang forms are the “whirlwind dances” with four dancers standing in a line on a small round mat, raising both arms at the sound of the strings and drums and tirelessly whirling to left and right. Many ancient dances imitated the behavior of birds and animals, such as the peacock dance, halcyon dance, mynah dance, thrush dance, and of course the most famous lion and dragon dances. Many are still popular today. There is another old tradition that was passed down from the ancient Chinese: the large number of performers. This tradition dates back to the Xia Dynasty (2070 – 1600 BC), when dance artists were slaves who performed solely for the entertainment of the slave masters (Fayles, 2013). There is a famous story recorded in “Shiji” where the ruler at the end of Xia Dynasty – Jie – kept 30,000 dancing girls, and the performances were so loud they could be heard from afar. He thought dances should be “the bigger the better, the more the merrier” (Wang, 1985:11). Some other traditional dances are closely connected with martial arts, which train fighting skills as well as fitness (Wang, 1985:3), and some have to do with religion. For example, the Xianchi 7 dance was composed for the pleasure of God and performed as a prayer for good harvests (Wang, 1985:5). Chinese Modern Dance Chinese dances can also be divided into traditional and modern dance genres. The latter includes performances in opera and ballet, which is considered a derivation from outside of China. The first ballet school in China, Beijing Dance School, was established in 1954 (Theys, 2010). Although the school features productions like Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet, the most famous homemade ballets are The Red Detachment of Women and The White Haired Girl, which were the products of the period of the Cultural Revolution when the classical Western ballets were prohibited on the mainland for ten years (ibid.). What also disappeared during this period of time was ballroom dancing as it was not permissible for men and women of decent families to dance together. The Communist Government’s Policies on National Dance From the Ming and Qing Dynasties until just before Liberation, Chinese national folk dance went through a devastating period (Wang, 1985:100). Since 1949 – when the Communists came into power – special attention has been paid to minority folk dances to help the Chinese regain their unique modes of expressions. In fact, some national arts experts have conducted thorough research into the historical record, and the Communist government has encouraged folk dance performances. At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party and Central People’s Government worked out a policy for the development of national minority art and literature, which enjoyed certain success. During the 10 years of catastrophe – the Cultural Revolution – 8 this national policy was totally destroyed by the Gang of Four (Lin Biao, Jiang Qing and their cohorts). Back then, national minority art and literature were particularly hard-hit. After the Cultural Revolution, the government carried out the artistic policy of “let a hundred flowers blossom,” which led to the revival of China’s national minority art and literature as well as their entry into a completely new stage of development (MacFarquhar, 1960:3). Thanks to this policy, Chinese people have enjoyed large numbers of dazzling shows of different ethnical cultures staged at national theatrical festivals throughout the country, and dancers are carrying out stage performances at home and abroad (Mackerras, 1981:15). As time goes by, the richness of the Chinese dances, in all aspects – both in terms of choreography and repertoire as well as in terms of the exact replication of the original costumes – has slowly made a comeback and today is recognized beyond China’s borders as a world cultural heritage worthy of preservation. 9 Chapter Two: Chinese Dance in America “As these immigrants make sense of what it means to be Chinese and to do Chinese dance in American society, ‘they reinvent the content of their collective identity while hanging on the primordial understandings of ethnicity rooted in the constructed ideas of ancestry and homeland’” (Wilcox, 2009:1) Chinese Communities in the U.S. The United States has the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia. With a long history of immigration dating back to the 1840s, Chinese Americans are also the oldest and largest Asian-origin group in the United States (Zhou, 2009:43). Throughout American history, immigrants have contributed their distinctive cultures from their homelands to the States, creating flourishing subcultures and the diverse world of arts in America. While the Irish brought step dancing and Jamaicans imported reggae music, Chinese immigrants brought Chinese folk dances. In the Chinatown sections of major metropolitan areas and the new Chinese ethno-burbs, the past 30 years have witnessed the revival and rapid growth of ethnic institutions (including dance organizations), most of which are Chinese schools. In the summer of 2014, the Southern California Council of Chinese Schools listed 107 member schools, 8 in Los Angeles itself and 88 in Los Angeles suburbs (Websites of Member Schools, 2013). These “afterschools” offer ethnic-language instruction and elective classes such as Chinese geography and history, Chinese painting and calligraphy, kung fu and also performing arts. There are also Chinese dance schools where parents send their kids ranging from age 8 to 18 to practice weekly. These schools are formed with the purpose of bringing Chinese dance and culture to young Chinese Americans 10 growing up in local areas, along with sharing the beauty and richness of the Chinese culture, arts and heritage with the general public. According to the 2014 Southern California Chinese Consumer Yellow Pages listings, there are 48 art schools and 90 music / dance studios in all the Chinese communities combined in Los Angeles (Chinese Consumer Yellow Pages, 2014). In addition to schools, there are also Chinese dance organizations in many U.S. urban centers such as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, Phoenix, and Dallas. With the growing number of these organizations and institutions, Chinese dance makes its way into many events of the local Chinese immigrant communities: celebrations of Chinese New Year and Mid-autumn Festival, annual banquets of immigrant organizations, weddings, and fundraisers for victims of the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, just to name a few. Successful Cases of American-Chinese Dance Performers In addition to participating in dance organizations and schools, Chinese-American performers and choreographers are also actively bridging two cultures through the art of dance. The modern American choreographer H. T. Chen is known for his creative works that were derived from the experiences of the Chinese immigrants in America’s West as they toiled in the mines and on the railroads, served as strike breakers in Massachusetts and participated in civil rights demonstrations. His dance background is partly classical ballet, partly traditional Asian dance. However, it is also something new and different, and it serves to tell the history of Asians in America (Mellman, 2013). In July 2013, on America’s Got Talent (AGT), one of the most prestigious talent shows on TV, judges and audience members were dazzled by a rendition called “Thousand Hands Goddess Dance,” featuring a team of young female performers wearing golden costumes and extensions 11 on their fingers. In one of the dance’s most spectacular moments, more than a dozen girls in single file create a kaleidoscopic pattern with their arms that suggests the time-lapse blossoming of a many-petaled lotus. This was performed by the Mitsi Dancing School of Houston, an American-based dance institution that specializes in Chinese classical dance. “Thousand Hands” is just one of many pieces in their repertoire. The origin of the dance comes from China’s Dunhuang region, where Guanyin was depicted in paintings and sculptures over many centuries in the famous Mogao Caves. Why is the dance called “Thousand Hands Goddess Dance?” According to legend, Guanyin has 1,000 eyes to see sorrow, 1,000 ears to hear pain and 1,000 hands to help (Glentzer, 2013). The success of Mitsi Dancing School on AGT is a milestone for American-Chinese culture exchange, because it is the first time for a Chinese dancing troupe performing on a popular television show and receiving such widespread popularity in the USA. Another successful case of Chinese dance in the U.S. is the Shen Yun Performing Arts group. It is a New York–based Chinese Performing Arts and Entertainment Company. Founded in 2006, members perform classical Chinese dance, ethnic and folk dance, and story-based dance and have harmoniously combined a classical Western orchestra with classical Chinese instruments. So far, Shen Yun Performing Arts has toured to more than 130 cities in the U.S. and overseas. In 2013, Shen Yun toured more than 20 U.S. cities within a grand production that included nearly 100 artists, 400 costumes and the only orchestra in the world featuring both classical Western and Chinese instruments. It impressed American audiences with a performance of “consummate beauty, purity and goodness” that is said to be “a miracle by artists and theatergoers around the world” (TM, 2013). The author presents an overview of Shen Yun Performing Arts’ PR campaign and communication strategies in the next chapter. 12 There also are China-based performing arts companies coming to the U.S. Recently, in November 2013, China Arts and Entertainment Group and IMG Artists devised a joint venture that promises to expand opportunities for Chinese performing arts talent. This deal is said to focus on sharing resources and marketing expertise and creating new showcases for talent through art festivals and other events. The partners will focus on opportunities for classical music and dance performances (Littleton, 2013). According to a report on the IMG Artists website, this is “the largest private, performing arts partnership between the United States and China” (IMG Artists & China, 2013). It also showcases the growing presence of China-based performing companies that has been recognized by its U.S. counterparts and will undoubtedly contribute to the richness of American culture diversity. 13 Chapter Three: Why Examine Chinese Dance? “As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without cultivation, so the mind without culture can never produce good fruit.” – Seneca (ca. 4 BC–AD 65) Dance, as a form of cultural expression, helps individuals gain a deeper understanding of a foreign country without embarking on hard topics such as its social structure and foreign policies, especially when two countries have different political systems, historical and cultural backgrounds, and levels of economic development. Many Americans only have experience with different foreign groups through media (i.e., news, sports, music, and movies). Promoting Chinese performing arts, which play a crucial part in Chinese culture, will help break down stereotypes by introducing the significance of Chinese traditions that have helped shape world history and encouraging a positive understanding of global diversity. For some, this practice will gain them educational and personal benefits from exploring a culture where their families have roots in order to learn about their own ethnicity and explore their identity. Secondly, the timing is right to talk about Chinese performing arts in the United States. The history of Sino-American relations is a story of Americans looking to the East and interpreting a huge, complex and even confusing culture in a way that they see what they desire or fear the most. Today, the relationship between the two countries is tightened as they work toward a partnership that advances common interests, addresses shared concerns, and highlights international responsibilities (China-U.S. Joint Statement, 2011). As part of a larger effort to build a cooperative partnership, China and the U.S. have taken concrete steps to support a deeper and broader “people-to-people relationship” – which led to the successful launches of the USA Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010 and the China-U.S. Governors Forum (ibid.). Both countries are finding ways of expanding cultural interaction, including exploring an annual China-U.S. 14 cultural year event and other activities, with an aim of deepening understanding, trust and cooperation (ibid.). The past decade has witnessed a growing interest in Chinese-based dance and entertainment companies in touring abroad. At the same time, an increasing number of American audiences are going into theatres and watching Chinese performances. Lately, in the news, China Arts and Entertainment Group (CAEG) and IMG Artists have promised an investment of “several hundred million dollars” to support arts initiatives in China and the U.S. CAEG accounts for 50% of China’s foreign commercial performance business. IMG Artists is a talent agency that is actively coordinating tours and producing festivals. Therefore, the partnership is great news for Chinese artists and a cornerstone of their pursuits in the American market (IMT Artists Forges, 2013). Thirdly, there is an identified need for good PR talents and strategic communications for these dance companies. Years have passed since the first wave of Chinese artists and performers started to perform in the United States, bringing a mix of audiences – Asians, Asian Americans, and others, from all walks of life – to Asian society. While these dance troupes raised the public’s awareness of Chinese performing arts through show after show, many of them have struggled with expanding their audiences – their primary audiences were comprised older generations of Chinese immigrants and middle-class whites. Most of them are having difficulty reaching large groups of Asians and Asian Americans, especially those of younger generations (Redefining the Asia, 2014). 15 Chapter Four: SWOT Analysis of Chinese-based Dance Companies In accordance with the Strategic Planning Model, the author conducted a thorough SWOT analysis of Chinese-based dance companies. Strengths High-quality productions. China is famous for its abundance of world-class dancers and musicians with the most complex dance techniques and diverse talents. The magnificent staging and costumes lend to the overall mystique and thrill of the performances. Cultural uniqueness. China’s cultural uniqueness is also one of the main strengths of an all-Chinese dance team. Music, costumes, and traditions are so unique that there is no other foreign dance team like them. American audiences have rarely experienced the type of storytelling and dance maneuvers that comprise Chinese productions, nor have they seen such elaborate staging. Reputation. With successful cases like the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremonies and ascenders like Shen Yun Performing Arts and Ping Pong Productions, many Americans have enjoyed watching high-quality shows. This has built a good audience foundation for future local companies to enter the market. Weaknesses Financial problems. It takes a lot of time and money to produce a Chinese dance performance. Very few organizations that are interested in Chinese performances would be able to afford to produce an entire show. An infographic made by Musical Workshop shows all the financial aspects of theatrical productions such as Wicked, Mama Mia!, etc. For Wicked, total 16 expenditures at the investment stage cost up to $14 million, with the on-going running costs totaling $80,000 per week (Production Costs and ROI, 2011). The production cost of Mama Mia! was $100 million (ibid.). In the theater business, directors earn an average income of $87,000 a year, and even a sound engineer earns $53,940 (ibid.). The industry usually pays the actors or singers $29 per hour. A report on The Producer’s Perspective indicates that in the 2010-11 season, there were 43 Broadway shows produced for a total of $209.7 million, or an average of $4,876,744 (What was Broadway’s economic, 2012). Chinese productions are done on a much smaller scale, yet the expenditures at each production stage follow the American standards, which are still hefty. Government Involvement/Regulations. Many of the dance groups are owned by the Chinese government under the Artistic Department, Ministry of Culture. They are under surveillance and have to follow the regulations of the Chinese government while performing in other countries. For example, the China Opera and Dance Theatre, a national-level troupe, has its most overseas performances organized by cultural authorities, with a cast of about only 20 to 30 performers each time. The size cast was enlarged to 100 when the troupe was touring in three cities in Australia in November 2013, which was purely the result of the government’s decisions, according to Fan Ming, deputy director of the troupe’s performance center (Chinese Artist Seek, 2013). Cultural / language barriers. Most dance companies lack people who are culturally savvy and speak good English. It can be problematic when it comes to communicating with locals, particularly when seeking media attention. 17 Inability to attract an array of audiences. To date, as indicated earlier, Chinese dance troupe productions have largely been enjoyed by older Chinese/Chinese Americans and White audiences. Opportunities America’s growing interest in Chinese culture. A growing awareness of China as a global economic force has led to the growth of Chinese language and culture studies in the United States. At the same time, more and more Americans are curious about Chinese traditions outside the spheres of economics and politics. Dancing is hotter than ever. With the popularity of reality TV shows like Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, interest in dancing and watching dance shows is spreading throughout the world, especially in the U.S. A dance performance would surely benefit from this trend and draw an audience who likes to watch dance shows to a live dance performance. Chinese government policies. At the same time, the Chinese government aims to improve its image, especially in the United States, where the country is viewed as a rival or a mystery. In 2004, the Chinese government devised its “going out policy,” also referred as “the going global policy.” The policy is perceived as having a critical role in gearing up China as an emerging soft power (Zhang, 2009). Successful cases are encouraging. Among China’s performing arts production companies, the New Shanghai Circus is the first of its kind to invest independently in commercial performances abroad. It started in Shanghai and has toured more than 20 countries. Similarly, the Tianchuang International Performing Arts Production and Exchange Co. Ltd. is another 18 representation of an overseas merger and acquisition. The company has staged 3,000 performances in more than 20 countries. The success of these performances encourages similar dance companies to take part in remaking Chinese cultural productions overseas and repackage them with additional international elements. The increasing participation of Americans in arts. According to the data collected by Scarborough in 81 metropolitan areas, the attendance at museums and at popular events was about 55.4 million in 2003 and jumped to 235 million in 2011 (Cohen & Kushner, 2013). Between 2005 and 2011, the number of new opera, theater, film and symphony works increased by 15% (ibid.). American audiences have been treated to over 1,000 new artistic works including opera, theater and film annually (ibid.). Threats The risk of losing authenticity. Most Chinese content presented in international markets focuses on traditional aspects such as Confucianism, traditional festivals, kung fu and acrobatics while ignoring the contemporary dimension. After becoming familiar with what Western audiences “expect” from Chinese performances, many productions are simply made to fit the imagination and aspiration of international audiences. Similar-looking performances proliferate, which reinforces stereotypical perceptions of China and diminishes authenticity. Work visas. Most Chinese artists need to apply for work visas, which are costly and very hard to obtain. The information of every performer in a dance team needs to be collected by the attorney who is hired by the organization. In addition, it has to be proved that every dancer is performing with the same dance troupe and going back to her/his own country after finishing the trip. 19 Weak economy. Economic downturns generally affect spending on activities such as art and culture. An overseas show can be more costly than a domestic production; hence, the tickets would be more expensive compared to a locally produced show. Personal consumption expenditures by consumers on arts and culture goods and services, which were measured by the federal government in 2013 on books, recorded audio and video media, tickets to live performing arts, and movies, increased by 29%, going from $119 billion to $153 billion, between 2000 and 2011 (Cohen & Kushner, 2013). However, the statistics show that spending has failed to keep up due to economic recessions, and the total expenditure declined through 2010, leveling off in 2011(ibid.). 20 Chapter Five: Identifying the Audience “The 20th century has been cursed with an art that cannot be understood. The decadent artists stand for themselves and their chosen few, laughing at and dismissing the normal outsider” (What Our Art Means, Gilbert and George). Knowing your audience is important. A successful public relations campaign relies on a close and sometimes intimate understanding of the audience – their backgrounds, tastes, motivations and life patterns. Without such knowledge, it can end up irrelevant and the efforts made by PR professionals can turn into a waste of financial and human resources. The segment of the public participating in and consuming the arts is ever-expanding. The “cultural omnivores,” who go frequently and enjoy multiple art forms (e.g. concerts, plays, operas, museums, etc.), amount to tens of millions of the population each year (Cohen & Kushner, 2013). When traveling across the country, one sees young people signing onto Pandora and plugging into all manner of mp3 players. People of all ages watch Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance; Netflix and YouTube allow all manner of film and media, past and present, to be consumed; and, Glee, the American musical-drama television series, has millions of devoted viewers of all ages. Despite the overall increased interest in the arts, it is not easy to connect with the audience and encourage them to attend the performances. In order to build audience appreciation and cultivate demand for rewarding arts experiences, the author looks at some crucial factors that closely relate to attendance in this chapter. Identifying these factors helps cultural institutions (museums, libraries, theatres, etc.) to pursue their audience development goals, often requiring them to find new ways of presenting and communicating (and maybe timing and locating) their cultural offerings, or even to re-shape 21 them altogether in order to connect the arts to the human experience of a larger number and range of individuals. Non-participation does not necessarily equate with a lack of interest. On the contrary, non-participants can highly value the existence of cultural venues and facilities. Factors That Influence Attendance After reading the research results, the author found out that psychological barriers are the main factor keeping significant numbers of people from going to certain arts performances. Ethnic minorities, senior citizens, mothers with small children, teenagers and other particular social groups share feelings of distance from mainstream arts and culture, with responses such as “the arts are too much of a risk, or are not for ‘people like me’” (Measuring Culture Participation, 2009:37). Furthermore, media and technology are changing audience engagement as well as the arts delivery model. The 2013 National Arts Index reports that digital downloads now comprises $2.9 billion of recording industry revenue out of a total $7.1 billion, while nearly 50% of the nation’s CD and record stores have disappeared since 2003 (Cohen & Kushner 2013). At the same time, music providers like Pandora and Spotify represent an additional 15% of recording revenues (ibid.). Movie theater attendance is decreasing due to legal and pirated digital formats. Technology, as a two-edged factor, has altered the business model for the art productions but at the same time has increased the number of non-attendees and decreased the live attendance rate. The report found that more Americans engage with performances through broadcasts or recordings than attend live arts event, with one exception: live theater is the only genre that still attracts more audiences, in percentages and numbers, than do broadcasts or recordings(ibid.). Most of the 2000s showed a steady increase in national arts participation, which indicates 22 attending at Broadway shows in New York City, live popular music, symphony, dance, opera and theatre (Cohen & Kushner, 2013). 2011 was reported to be the second year for an increase in arts consumption and participation, after the year of 2006 scored the highest of the 12 years of data collected and measured by the NEA report (Cohen & Kusher, 2013). There is another major factor that influences attendance: China’s growing importance to the United States is driving the boom in Chinese education across all levels, and at the same time, the Chinese government itself has put more effort into promoting Mandarin-language instruction in the United States. The number of U.S. students learning Mandarin Chinese has doubled from 28,456 (2%) to 60,976 (4%) from 1998 to 2009, according to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (Neely, 2011). American students who enroll in Chinese Mandarin classes in college went up 195%to 60,000 from 2004-05 with 2007-08, while the number of students learning Japanese went up 18%to 73, 000. The most popular language studied by Americans, Spanish, only went up 2%to 6.4 million, remaining the most popular second language in the States (Neely, 2011). Besides psychological barriers, technology and Chinese growing presence, there is factor that cannot be overlooked – the childhood education in the arts that is closely linked to adult arts participation. The Relationship Between Art Education and Art Participation According to a survey conducted by the National Endowment of Arts in 2012, nearly half of the nation’s adults (49%or 115 million) attended at least one type of visual or performing art activity, while in 2008, only 35% of all adults (about 78 million) did so (National Endowment for the Arts, 2013). Arts education in childhood is the most significant predictor of both arts 23 attendance and personal arts creation throughout the rest of a person’s life (Rabkin & Hedberg, 2011:5). Theater attendance is connected closely with participation in art education. This is because arts participation requires capacities for understanding and appreciation of the modes of expression, symbol systems, aesthetics, and cultural context in which the arts are embedded (ibid.:20). According to an NEA report, people who have not cultivated and developed these capacities are less likely to find arts experiences rewarding, and they are less likely to invest time and resources in the arts (National Endowment for the Arts, 2013). According to the NEA survey, as of 2012, roughly half of all adults had experienced some arts learning at some point in their lives, whether through classes or lessons, in or out of school, or outside of formal instruction. The most popular classes adults reported taking in childhood (in or out of school) were voice training or playing an instrument (36%), visual arts (19%), and art appreciation or art history (18%)(ibid.). A new, more inclusive question about arts education reveals more arts participants than before. Fifty-six percent of adults reported that they received arts education at some point in their lives – whether through classes, lessons, or through informal instruction (from friends, family tradition, or teaching oneself). This compares to 49% who reported having taken formal instruction (a class or lesson, in or out of school) at some point in their lives. Another study on U.S. cultural participation suggests a strong and positive correlation between the level of attendance at cultural events in adult life and the level of education and familiarity with the arts developed at a young age (Measuring Culture Participation, 2009: 36). 24 Audience Research Implications for PR professionals Here the author shares a few thoughts on the audience identification research, which are influential to the PR strategies and tactics in Chapter Eight. (a) Knowing that psychological barriers keep a large proportion of the U.S. population away from going to arts performances, the author believes arts groups need to think harder about what their audience members are truly seeking when they are engaging in arts experiences as well as the kind of lifestyles they lead and identify with. This can be backed up by the theory of the “hierarchy of needs” that people ascend in their pursuit of well-being by psychologist Abraham Maslow. At the lowest level of that hierarchy are basic needs, like food and shelter. The next steps up are comfort, belonging and self-esteem. At the top is self-actualization – the point where an individual feels like the person he or she aspires to be. This theory should inspire arts presenters to look beyond merely providing amusement to their audience and focus instead on creating meaning, in other words, focusing on how to better translate the values of the shows to your target groups, meet their higher-order emotional needs and help them gain a deeper self awareness. For example, when people turn up for a Chinese dance performance, some are probably looking for an opportunity to feel part of the Chinese community and others may want to an experience that says something about who they are and who they wish to be – a culture omnivore who seeks unique arts experiences and embraces culture diversity. Figure 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 25 (b) The importance of the psychological factor also indicates that PR campaigns should also concentrate on the experiential appeal of the arts. Arthur Cohen, the famous arts marketing expert, once said in a conference: “When people say, ‘I don’t get art,’ or ‘It’s boring to me’, what they mean is, ‘It makes me feel stupid’” (Szanto, 2008). It should be made clear that people go to arts events because they make them feel good, not because they feel they are supposed to attend or because this is good for them. Therefore, successful arts groups are the one who opens up and speaks to their audience using a tone and an attitude that avoid arrogance or exclusivity. Some of the tactics can be utilizing word-of-mouth information, engaging arts critics who are still 26 important in choices about performances, and giving away discount tickets, which especially works for core audiences. (c) Advancing the brands of your arts organizations is also important because it makes you part of popular culture and relevant to the public. Branding is neither about a logo nor about the advertisements on the side of a bus. The successful arts group brand should connect with its audience on an emotional level. When thinking of a brand, the audience would immediately associate it with the unique experience that it brings them and what type of person it makes them feel they are. (d) Young people are flocking to the arts. However, it does not necessarily mean they are attending traditional arts performances. With their often-short attention spans and eclectic tastes, the younger audiences are the demographic which the traditional performing arts find the hardest to woo. It is essential for arts group to make meaningful experiences appeal to the values of younger audiences and send the message that the performances have power to make an impact on the world. One attempt could be finding a way to connect new cultural experiences to familiar ones. Sketching activities, Instagram photo contests and live concerts, for instance, offers a mixture of art, informal, self-directed learning and socializing actives, which appeal particularly to younger demographic. Also, the publicity for these types of events should make fully use of digital media, including text messaging and social networking sites like Facebook. In general, the programming of the show should be fun, informal, frequent and can be joined at various points in an evening to appeal to the Millennial demographic. 27 (e) Knowing that the childhood arts education is linked closely with the adult arts participation, the author believes it is important to connect with the youngest audiences - children under 18 - to grow their aesthetic side. In order to reach them, arts group need to convince their parents to devote family time and resources to cultural pursuits. The trick is keeping all family members, including the child, the older sibling and the parent, happy, which means each individual has to find something worthwhile in the experience. Questions like why a child and parent should choose to spend a weekend afternoon inside a theater and how marketers child-size an arts work need to be answered. For example, a good practice could be designing a short and affordable Peking Opera show that is to help people get past the perception that Peking Opera is difficult, and maybe have the artists sing in English, prove to both children and adults that Peking Opera can be fun. The study of the behaviors of American audiences provides insights on the ever-changing climate of the U.S. market. However, a successful performance for mainstream America with a high attendance rate not only requires a clear understanding of the targeted audience but also a well-researched SWOT analysis and successful PR strategies. Shen Yun Performing Arts is one of the largest and most influential U.S.- based Chinese entertainment companies. The following section focuses on the study of the marketing and branding approaches conducted by Shen Yun’s PR professionals that make the show successful both in the United States and overseas. 28 Chapter Six: A Case Study on Shen Yun Performing Arts Shen Yun Performing Arts, formerly known as Divine Performing Arts, is an entertainment company based in New York. Shen Yun, the Chinese phrase “ 神韻”, was translated by its website as “the beauty of the divine beings dancing” (What Does “Shen Yun” Mean, 2010). As one of the largest and most influential U.S.-based Chinese entertainment companies, Shen Yun was founded in 2006 with the mission of reviving “the essence of 5,000 years of Chinese culture” (This Is Our Story, 2014). It is, in fact, a composition of three performing arts companies: The New York Company, the Touring Company and the International Company. A total of 200 performers are available for large productions of classical Chinese dance, ethnic and folk dance and are usually accompanied by orchestral and solo performers. With its business strategy and communication campaigns, Shen Yun enjoys great success both in the United States and overseas. For seven months a year, Shen Yun Performing Arts tours to more than 130 cities across Europe, Asia, North America and Oceania. Its shows have been staged in some of the world’s leading theaters, including New York’s Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, London’s Royal Festival Hall, Washington DC’s Kennedy Center and Paris’ Le Palais de Congres. Shen Yun’s repertoire draws on stories from Chinese history and legends, such as the legend of Mulan, Journey to the West and Outlaws of the Marsh. In addition to classical Chinese dance, Shen Yun also draws inspiration from the spirit of various ethnicities, including Yi, Miao, and Mongolian dance (Dolnyckj, 2014). These beautiful dances are usually accompanied by a Western philharmonic orchestra, which integrates several traditional Chinese instruments, including the pipa, suona, dizi, guzheng and erhu (ibid.). Shen Yun’s beautiful and intricate costumes are intended to imitate the dress of various ethnicities, while others depict ancient 29 Chinese court dancers, soldiers, or characters from classic stories. Props include colorful handkerchiefs, drums, fans, chopsticks, or silk scarves. Each Shen Yun piece is set against a digitally projected backdrop, usually depicting landscapes such as Mongolian grasslands, imperial courts, ancient villages, temples, or mountains (ibid.). Not all the backdrops are static; some contain moving elements that integrate with the performance. In the sections that follow, the author examines the outcomes of Shen Yun’s outstanding PR initiatives and campaigns as they are used to influence and impact opinions and strengthen this dance organization. Branding Shen Yun’s PR professionals have done an impressive job in brand management. They use every opportunity -- including Shen Yun’s website, Facebook and YouTube pages, promotional materials and posters, news releases and press section -- to effectively promote the organization and establish a strong brand image. First, Shen Yun has successfully branded itself with a recognizable logo. It changed the company’s name from Divine Performing Arts to Shen Yun Performing Arts and uses the Chinese characters “ 神韻” for its logo, which makes it clearer that it’s a company of Chinese arts and culture. Then, on the website pictured below, under the ABOUT section, it explains the meaning of Shen Yun – “the beauty of heavenly beings dancing” and the story of the company – “a group of Chinese artists came together in New York pursuing one dream: to revive the true, divinely inspired culture of China that is almost lost and share it with the world” (This Is Our Story, 2014). The website also showcases photos and videos of dozens of dancers and musicians flooding the stage in a parade of brightly colored, intricately detailed silken costumes, which tell 30 stories about how Shen Yun has managed to draw top talents around the world and demonstrates its expertise in bringing out the best dance, music and choreography. Figure 2. Screenshot of the official website of Shen Yun Performing Arts with its interactive content listed on its main webpage, March 2014 Secondly, instead of relying on a celebrity or top management person, Shen Yun features its performers as spokespersons to bring their company’s stories to life. On its website and YouTube page, clips of 10 principal dancers talking about their stories and their daily lives with Shen Yun are featured; the performers express the freedom of arts they enjoy in Shen Yun. This strategy also personalizes the performers by letting them writing blog posts on Shen Yun’s blog page. Thirdly, Shen Yun never misses a chance to promote the organization and its news and achievements on a constant basis, and it does so passionately and professionally. For example, it maintains a blog with articles about stories of the Shen Yun group on tour, Chinese arts, classical music and couture wrote by its artists. 31 Media Relations Shen Yun successfully maintains an effective and stable relationship with journalists from an array of cities and every type of media outlet out there. It does a wonderful job of maintaining its press section on its website that lists all the company’s latest news (from newest to oldest). It also makes it easy for reporters to download items like press photos, headshots, logos, and anything else they may need. Shen Yun doesn’t just promote its next upcoming show, but distributes press releases on everything of note, from seasonal announcements, to new hires of performers, fundraising events and interviews. Shen Yun places initial stories on its website which allows media outlets to see the stories and create their own versions. It proactively uses the media clips in its pitches to media outlets to consider a similar story tailored to their unique audience. In this way, the PR team creates editorial opportunities in outlets like newspapers, magazines, newsletters, radio, television, etc. Numerous media outlets have featured Shen Yun performances, including newspapers such as the New York Daily News, the Buffalo News and the Seattle Times; magazines such as the Sound Waves Magazine, San Diego Magazine and Washington Life Magazines; and also local TV stations such as Houston TV and Tennessee TV. Apart from countless features on its performances both nationwide and internationally, Shen Yun also manages to get journalists writing full-page reviews in prestigious newspapers such as the New York Times. For example, the article titled “5,000 Years of Chinese Music and Dance, in One Night” appeared in print on page WE9 of the New York edition of the New York Times and online version was also made on its website (Hodara, 2010). Partnerships and Sponsorships Shen Yun is a not-for-profit organization which relies on donations and sponsorship from its fans and like-minded institutions and organizations. Since 2006, the organization has established 32 win-win partnerships with local, state and federal agencies, non-profits and faith-based organizations as well as theaters, including some very prestigious theatres, such as Lincoln Center in New York. Another example is the FeiTian Academy of Arts, located in Cuddebackville, New York, which helps train many of Shen Yun’s members for years before they join the company (Schwyzer, 2014). Content Creation Shen Yun has developed creative content that attracts and engages its audience. It offers readable and persuasive content on its website and other social media platforms that encourage visitors to explore Chinese arts and culture through Facebook posts, blog articles and more. What’s more, it has built a community of Chinese culture devotees with whom it can exchange ideas, review the shows, learn knowledge and make friends. 33 Chapter Seven: Interviews To further understand the challenges and opportunities Chinese-based performing arts organizations face and build knowledge for a PR strategy that is going to help future Chinese performing arts troupes entering American markets, the author conducted interviews with three leading authorities on the subject. Highlights from the interviews are summarized as follows. Christine Chow, CICPA Marketing Director The first interviewee is Christine Chow, the marketing director at the California Institute for Chinese Performing Arts (CICPA). CICPA is a non-profit organization with a mission to bring Chinese opera (also known as Peking Opera) and other traditional Chinese opera culture to the United States. Christine Chow is considered an ideal interviewee for three reasons. First, CICPA, the institution for which she works, is one of the largest and most influential Chinese performing arts troupe in Los Angeles. It has connections with China-based Peking Opera performers and more than two decades of experience of bringing them to the United States to perform for both Chinese immigrants and American audiences. In order to discover the practical obstacles faced by people with real-life working experience in putting on a Chinese traditional performance in the United States, getting her insights is crucial. Secondly, as a marketing director, Chow has hands-on experience in promoting Chinese opera through mainstream media, local newspapers, and social media, which is very valuable for this research. Thirdly, the secret to the lasting popularity of CICPA shows would offer important lessons for future Chinese performing arts troupes seeking success in the States. Peking Opera, along with other Chinese art forms, is very hard for Chinese audiences to comprehend, let alone their American counterparts. CICPA is successful in translating Peking Opera to an easier language for its international audiences. 34 Her most important comments are: (a) CICPA takes a creative approach to engaging the youth audience by working with schools and other educational institutions. For years, CICPA has been working with professors from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Cal State University and Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC). According to Chow, they work closely with these artists, musicians and art educators because they know how important it is to preserve Peking Opera and to appreciate it. CICPA has also achieved a mutually beneficial agreement with the Confucius Institute at UCLA. CICPA brings Chinese opera to the school for students to see it live. In the meantime, the school helps promote the show. Students receive discounts and school credits for attending a Chinese opera show. Chow said this is a very meaningful and effective practice as ultimately, the goal of her organization is to promote Peking Opera to younger generations and preserve this distinctive art form. (b) Chow, as the marking director, shared some CICPA marketing practices to promote the shows. Mei Baojiu – the son of the godfather of Peking Opera, Mei Lanfang – is the first person to bring Peking Opera to the States, and now he brings his team of 65 artists with him to put on a show of high-quality production. CICPA features the legendary Mei Baojiu as a selling point. Professors and students are one of its target groups. CICPA gives away tickets to professors and students who work on projects on Chinese performances, so these individuals will have free access to the show and obtain school credits. 35 The commercials in Chinese newspapers and the demos and pictures online have also helped attract the attention of a small percentage of the audience. One of the most interesting points raised by Chow is the help of the president of CICPA, Rosanna Huang, who is a well-established local Chinese Opera lover and a successful businesswoman. She has a large fan base and friends who are interested in listening to and performing Chinese opera. A large percentage of the audience has been gained though Huang’s personal connections when Huang invites them to experience something they are passionate about. (c) CICPA believes people need to be educated about how to appreciate arts. Learning about Peking Opera helps children grow their artistic sides. CICPA creates a team of amateur performers and visits high schools and language schools in its several local communities. Most of the time, CICPA has to subsidize these performances because most of the schools cannot afford the entire four-hour show, which costs thousands of dollars. Chow also used herself as an example of someone who cultivated herself to appreciate Chinese opera: “Peking Opera is an acquired taste, like wine. At first, wine tastes bitter and nasty. But the more you taste it, the more it refines.” She used to be embarrassed when talking about Peking Opera with her friends from other countries because she thought it was for old people. As an Asian American, she admits that it used to bore her to death and she used to fall asleep at the theater. After seven years working with CICPA, she feels very proud of being Chinese. 36 Allison Friedman, PP Productions Co-founder/CEO The author conducted the second interview with Alison Friedman, the co-founder and CEO at Ping Pong Productions (PPP). PPP is a catalyst based in Beijing, China, that brings China and the world together through the performing arts. PPP develops cultural exchange projects and facilitates creative collaborations between Chinese and international artists, scholars and audiences. The purpose of the second interview was to gain the insights of this cross-cultural connector, who is from America and based in China, on her own working experiences. Her company, PPP, is the representative of the Chinese-based dance troupes that have been well-established and enjoy a certain degree of popularity overseas. Friedman graduated from Brown University with a degree in Chinese Literature/Literary Translation. She has worked in the performing arts in China for more than a decade. Besides PPP, she also served as international director of the Beijing Modern Dance Company, general manager of Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun’s company Parnassus Productions, Inc., and as a producer and host on Chinese national radio and television programs. There are two very interesting points that she raised: (a) Friedman identifies a need for a bridge that could use the performing arts as a way to show different aspects of cultures. Before PPP, there was a lot of interest from American companies that wanted to tour in China – and Chinese companies that wanted to tour abroad – but the models that existed to facilitate these trips were all commercial booking agencies. Friedman said in the interview, “ That was buying and selling a show that would often be a one-off. They’d come on tour, check the box and think, ‘We are done.’” She believes that was commerce, not cultural exchange. In the 37 21 st century, the role of China on the international stage is key, and yet there are still so many misinterpretations and misunderstandings of China and vice versa. After years of living in China, she found out that within this country, people have access to information about the West, but it also can be very one-sided. (b) Friedman disagrees with the popular saying that dance and music is a universal language. She admits that some elements of the saying are true as arts can bring people together regardless of their culture and background. However, a lot of art is like a spoken language, which has a historical context and a cultural context. “If the audiences don’t understand the signs and meanings behind the performances, they will find it hard to understand or appreciate the language,” she says. She mentioned the Mark Morris Dance Group, which is well-respected in America, but which is unheard of in China. She argues that it requires a lot of contextualization for the audiences to understand and appreciate foreign art works, which she also believes is a multi-layered process – the audience expands over time. “You do it one year with a medium-sized audience and come back a few years later, hopefully with a bigger audience,” she says. David Lin, ACCA President David Lin, the president of American Chinese Culture Association (ACCA), was the third interviewee. Formally established in 2005, ACCA is a nonprofit, grassroots, first-generation Chinese immigrants’ organization devoted to the preservation of Chinese culture and heritage and promotion of community harmony. Its administrative office is located in Arcadia, California, and its more than 200 members live throughout the San Gabriel Valley. Most members are lovers of arts and culture. ACCA comprises three types of members: first-generation immigrants, 38 second-generation Americans – the so-called ABC (American Born Chinese) – and new immigrants, most of whom are international students. ACCA has the largest number of members and has the most popular types of events among over 20 Chinese communities in the Greater Los Angeles area, subordinate to two big Chinese associations. The ACCA’s study on its creative cultural performances and inspirational promotional campaigns has helped move the research forward as it is very inspiring for the future dance troupes. ACCA is comprised of a waist drum team, an arts ensemble and a small studio crew specializing in audio and visual production. The dance troupe of ACCA gives out two to three public performances at various occasions each year in the Greater Los Angeles area, mostly the new-year celebration galas. ACCA has successfully stirred the attention of American mainstream. Its renowned waist drum (Yao GU) team was the largest in Southern California and performed at the 2005 Fiesta Bowl Parade in Phoenix, the NBA All-star basketball game at Dodgers Stadium and the 4 th of July celebration at the White House in Washington, D.C. in 2013. According to Lin, ACCA is very different from other volunteer organizations that are based on faith and profession, as it is the only Chinese immigrant organization that goes beyond the usual organization articulation. The four principles of ACCA are to establish and maintain a social network, to build a sense of belonging, to provide leisure or recreational opportunities, and to foster cross-cultural awareness. ACCA sees itself playing an important role of promoting cultural exchange and cultural understanding. It is not satisfied with one-dimensional cultural showcases in festivals during ethnic or cultural holidays. Its vision is to institutionalize a mechanism that helps connect real people, build real networks, and foster harmony and solidarity. It sees itself as an ideal social action group that pursues storytelling to initiate social change. 39 In the interview with David Lin, he told a story that demonstrates this difference and the uniqueness of ACCA very well. In 2007, he noted, ACCA held a digital storytelling event in San Gabriel Valley. After securing financial support from the California Council for the Humanities (CCH), it created, produced and exhibited 12 digital stories about a particular generation of Chinese immigrants, the “Zhiqing” (Educated Youth), living in the San Gabriel Valley. The “Zhiqing” generation of Chinese immigrants experienced the “Cultural Revolution” in their young age and came to the U.S. after China first opened to the outside world in 1979. The purpose of the event was to promote cultural understanding and exchange in ethnically diverse urban communities. In order to coach the participants, ACCA formed a team of trainers including a project manager, a script expert, a video editor, IT support and a creative director. The trainers taught the participants to discover the story, to script and storyboard it, and to produce it on commonly used computers. The team followed them for weeks, observed their daily lives and conducted a couple of one-on-one interviews. ACCA chose to hold the screening events in major bookstores in two Los Angeles suburbs with the largest Chinese communities, Alhambra and San Gabriel Valley. Prior to the events, two press conferences took place to raise awareness, targeting Chinese and American presses, respectively, and generating news coverage in the Los Angeles Times, World Journal, Chinese Daily and others. In order to keep up the post-event momentum, the rest of the funding was spent on the making of DVDs, which were given away for free to the libraries and other educational institutions in the San Gabriel Valley and some other Asian societies. Its influence grows as ACCA members promote the group in their own social circles. They brought the DVDs and materials to their own communities and had similar screening events on a smaller scale. Because 40 of that, ACCA’s influence had expanded to a much larger area, including Pasadena, West Covina, Santa Monica, etc. This case demonstrates a good example of how ACCA is building a cultural community shared by its participants and the audience, regardless of their nationalities and cultural backgrounds. Through the process of the producing and viewing of the stories, they became fully connected to the specific culture and values of China. This is a valuable case for future dance troupes to learn. The other noteworthy item Lin mentioned in the interview is his view on getting into the American mainstream. As the president of ACCA, he never feels the urge to enter the mainstream. He said it is important to inherit the uniqueness and at the same time adjust the content to match the tastes and preferences of Americans accordingly. “You do your job and do it well and wait for larger opportunities,” says Lin. “Actively participating in local community activities and this has gained us a solid reputation for offering high quality cultural presentations.” Further, he says, I remember vividly when NBC called me one day because they saw our performance for the spring festival gala and loved it. They wanted us to perform at a Dodgers game. And when we participate at the Rose Parade in 2008, it was historically significant moment – Chinese immigrants had never participated in the Rose Parade before. Being the best we can be in our own field is how we get to integrate into the mainstream, which showcases that we, the various Mainland Chinese immigrant organization, have grown strong enough to stir enough attention. 41 As CICPA and ACCA are both U.S.-based Chinese Performing Arts institution, some of the comments from Christine Chow and David Lin are remarkably similar. A few points worth noting have been arranged and listed as follows. Firstly, there are common difficulties among most U.S.-based dance troupes. Both CICPA and ACCA have admitted their financial struggles. CICPA has shows in Kodak Theater with high renting expenses and high attendance rates. However, when tracking the ticket sales, CICPA mostly finds that its tickets cannot be sold at the price that covers its expenses. Both institutions have identified problems with new immigrants being reluctant to spend money on watching on a local performance. David Lin, the president of ACCA, subsidizes 70% of expenses. Only 20% is from ticket-selling, and the rest comes from advertising and sponsorship from partner organizations. Chow from CICPA said she always had the experience of having people asking for free tickets or trying to sneak in at the entrance. Secondly, it is difficult for both organizations to form a team of local artists. At this stage, CICPA is hiring artists directly from Mainland China while planning to have a stable troupe. While its dream is to have its own troupe so they can tour around LA or even the States with the same artists and orchestra, the resources are limited; first, it’s hard to balance the costs and benefits when it comes to the affordability of the troupe’s salary. Chow made the following calculation: “Maybe we only get one performance per month but we have to pay them 30 days a month. Musicians cost about 120 dollars an hour and they usually have a full-time job, which means they only help us out at weekends.” Secondly, Chinese performing arts require experts with special skills who can hardly be found in the United States. CICPA has been having this problem with make-up stylists. There are only a couple of people in the United States who can 42 style make up for Peking Opera. It is very costly when an organization needs to fly a stylist over each time there is a show. For ACCA, according to Lin, it takes a lot of courage and perseverance to create a show by all non-professional performers. Jessica Feng, who is the 2006 Miss Asian American, is the only professional dancing instructor in the troupe. Lin said it was a miracle to put 50 people from all walks of life in one show, especially when they are not making money out of it. Thirdly, both teams have a very clear positioning. They are not trying to be anyone but themselves. In the interview, Chow was asked to compare CICPA with the renowned Chinese dance troupe Shen Yun. She said it was like comparing Italian Opera and America’s Got Talent. CICPA positions itself as more high-end than Shen Yun because Chinese Opera is an art form, not entertainment. According to Chow’s experience, most people don’t know what Beijing Opera is, which makes it hard for CICPA to market its show, as it wants it to be original and authentic. The only thing it adds on to the show is the subtitles. It provides Chinese and English subtitles for people to understand. She says: Most people’s ears are trained to listen to Western music. Asian people are colonized, as they are trained to appreciate the Western beauty more than the Asian beauty. So what we do here is [make] the trend, which will let the Western world see that [China] also has its own opera that is as good as Italian opera. For ACCA, it also has its own style of performing. ACCA used to struggle over its own artistic trajectory – should it follow the high-art trajectory with high-quality, classic performances, or should it stick to the mass line where most ACCA members can lead the show? Then the leaders realized that they cannot compete with professional arts companies that present 43 high-art programs. It gained a practical understanding of its strength. As other arts and culture organizations usually invite programs from China or other states, ACCA’s biggest selling point would be that it is the only show that is locally directed, locally produced, and locally performed by purely local people. Regarding this, Lin says: We have our own niche. It’s like the Feiyang Express vs. FedEx; or our own multimedia stories (mentioned above) vs. Blockbuster movies. Our show should stick to our own community, our own lives, reflecting our own spiritual outlook and creative potentials. Our show reflects what new Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles area can do. Last but not least, both institutions are experiencing the difficulty of expanding their audiences to include younger generations. Most of their audience members are first-generation, which is to say, the older crowd. CICPA and ACCA are trying hard to create and maintain a stable audience base with a higher percentage of the youth audience. The audiences for CICPA shows are mainly fans of Chinese opera – which is to say, the older generation. The second-largest part of its audiences is friends of the opera fans. They have never seen opera, but their friends drag them to the show. The rest are the small percentage of people that are gained through marketing promotions and through pictures and demos on the CICPA website and Facebook page – students, professors, Chinese culture lovers, etc. The age group of ACCA ranges from 45 to 70. In order to keep its organization young and energetic, it has formed a Youth Club to recruit young members aged 18 to 35. They are responsible for coming up with creative content that caters to a younger audience base. The other approach that ACCA takes is focusing on two-way communication on its social media platforms instead of one-way. Lin indicates that word-of-mouth is the best advertising as it’s free and 44 effective, and social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter, when boiled down to the essentials, are no different than the old community word-of-mouth system. According to Lin’s observations, most Chinese immigrant organizations ignore the powerful role of the social media as being not only a communication tool but also an important listening tool. The common practice among these organizations is that when promoting Chinese cultural heritage, they tend to push it into people’s face and force them to like it. CICPA encourages its young members to develop with interactive content catering to this specific segment on its social media platforms. Lin says: “they will be more engaged and responsive if we are really listening to them instead of thinking that we are educating them.” On the other hand, Chow admits CICPA is not successful on its social media platforms. In the interview, she expressed the difficulty of maintaining social media pages with a short-staffed organization. It usually takes CICPA so much time and energy to organize just one show. It’s hard for the organization to promote constantly on its websites or other platforms. Chow says, Even though we are rarely on Facebook, we do get messages from people who are saying: “My dad is an opera fan. When is your next show?” or “I want to take my mom to your show for her [70 th ] birthday.” But often, I have to tell them either they’ve missed it or we don’t know when our next show will be. 45 Chapter Eight: Communication Strategies and Tactics for Modern Oriental Entertainment (MOE) In this section, the author shares a few suggestions based on the research for those people who find themselves responsible for the Public Relations and communication of a Chinese traditional dance troupe with a mission in China and Western cultural exchange. Also included are some PR objectives, key messages, strategies and tactics that are designed for Modern Oriental Entertainment (MOE), a hypothesized, brand-new Chinese dance troupe, which is striving to break into America. After conducting SWOT analysis and identifying the audience, the four target groups are chosen: 1. Culture Omnivores (people who go frequently and enjoy multiple art forms e.g. concerts, plays, operas, museums, etc.) 2. Millennials aged 18 to 35 including first-generation Asian Americans 3. Families with children aged under 18 4. Lovers of Chinese arts and culture; amateur artists interested in Chinese Performing Arts Statement of Problem People growing up in the Western world are used to watching Western performances and find it hard to understand Chinese music and dance, which requires MOE to work on the contextualization of its artworks and the delivery of the historical and cultural context behind the show. Most Millennials spend more time engaging in art activities online than attending actual performances in person. They hold the view of Chinese dance is an art form they are either not 46 familiar with or have no interest in. Most of the time, they only go to the show when their family or friends drag them to. Most of China-based dance companies are experiencing or have experienced different levels of unfamiliarity of the rules and regulations in the media and entertainment industry in the United States. The financial struggles are also a big concern when these companies are trying to match up to the standards set by its Broadway counterparts. Statement of Opportunity In the United States, the segment of the public participating in and consuming the arts is currently expanding. Each year, tens of millions of the population go frequently to concerts, plays, operas and museums, etc. Families with young children are not frequent arts attendees. However, the potential to expand this demographic is huge if appropriate facilitates, scheduling and communication channels are in place. China’s growing importance to the United States is driving the boom in Chinese education across all levels. The number of U.S. students learning Mandarin Chinese increases rapidly, making it one of the most popular second languages in the country. The successes of Mitsi Dancing School on America’s Got Talent and Shen Yun Performing Arts have also established a solid foundation for future Chinese troupes to enter the U.S. market. 47 Communication Goal The overall communication campaign aims to make MOE successful in the United States in terms of obtaining high attendance, engaging audience and fostering cross-culture understanding; inform Culture Omnivores that MOE is a colorful and unique experience and Chinese dance performances are worth seeing in-person; motivate Millennials including second-generation Asian Americans to attend the shows and eventually raise the general awareness of Chinese Performing Arts in the United States. Objectives The four main objectives (both short-term and long-term, regional and national) are: 1. By the end of 2015, raise the awareness of MOE among American Internet users (especially the Millennials) by 15% through its social media engagement on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+, etc. 2. By the end of 2015, increase the participation of Chinese arts lovers and the amateur artists in cities of Los Angeles, New York and Chicago by 10% in community activities and social media campaigns to generate buzz at both local and national levels. 3. By the end of 2017, increase the percentage of families with children aged 18 and less attending MOE performances at a rate of 1%. 4. By the end of 2017, increase the number of Chinese art learners who are exposed to Chinese folk dance by 5 % through after school and out-of-school programs in cities of Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, as measured by their knowledge of Chinese folk dance in a survey conducted by MOE marketing research group. 48 Rationale of Objectives 1. According to a report on liveinternetusers.com (2013), as of July 2014, there are 280 million Internet users in the United States, contributing 86% of the total population. Two groups of age profile are most predominant in the US, the 18-34 years old and the 45-64 years ago (Teen and Young, 2014). As of 2014, the Internet penetration among 80 million members of the Millennial generation (born 1977 to1995) is about 93%, which is around 74 millions (Teen and Young, 2014). The MOE campaign aims to reach 15% of the total Internet users in the US including the Millennial generation, which looks at around 42 million US Internet users including around 11 million Millennial users (Teen and Young, 2014). Shen Yun Performing Arts has more than 2 million search results on Google and on the day of September 1, 2014 , it has 155 tweets using the hashtag #ShenYun and 177,047 impacts and 91,865 reach in one day on Twitter alone (Figure 3). This objective is aiming to make MOE have at least the same level of influence as Shen Yun on its social media platforms. Figure 3. Screenshot of Shen Yun Report on Tweet Binder as of Sep 1, 2014 49 2. In Los Angeles, there are 48 art schools and 90 music / dance studios in all the Chinese communities combined (Chinese Consumer Yellow Pages, 2014). There are twelve universities, colleges and schools offering Chinese courses are 12 (Xie, 2012). There are over 20 Chinese communities in the Greater Los Angeles areas, including amateur groups with aim of pursuing interests in all kinds of Chinese art forms, with the size range from 30 to 200 (Xie, 2012). The campaign aims to increase 10% of people from Chinese institutions in cities of Los Angeles, New York and Chicago as well as their influencers, which include people attending their events and performances and subscribers to their social media platforms. Among them, the campaign also strives to increase Chinese art learners who are exposed to Chinese folk dance by 5 % through after school and out-of-school programs. 3. In 2014, the number of children under age 18 in the United States is 72 million, which contributes to 23% of the total population (Number of Children, 2014). At the same time, there are around 37 million American households with children under 18 50 (America’s Young Adult, 2014). Therefore, the goal of our campaign is to make 370,000 families with children under 18 to attend MOE performances by the end of 2017. Strategies The overarching strategy is to position MOE as a unique and colorful experience; a performance worth seeing in-person. Next, stay connected with locals and collaborate with organizations or communities of local Chinese immigrants. This ensures MOE to be mindful about the regulations and rules of the American government and be comfortable with American cultural norms when they go about conducting entertainment business. Third, embed educational elements into the audience experiences with MOE performances. Common practices could be pairing dance tours with discussions and lectures; providing extensive program notes and behind-the-scenes essays that audiences can literally take home with them; and uploading scripts online in English so that universities can use it for their curriculums. According to a survey conducted by the National Endowment of the Arts, the connection between U.S. cultural participation and the level of education on the arts is a strong and positive one (National Endowment of the Arts, 2013). Therefore, it is important to do anything that fosters the interests of the general public in cross-cultural activities. In the long run, MOE could also consider collaborating with local museums (e.g. Getty Center and Pacific Asia Museum) with Chinese collections to present exhibitions, performances, lectures, classes, workshops, and festivals that have a purpose of promoting the arts and cultures of China. 51 Fourth, build campaigns in local communities to encourage lovers of Chinese arts and amateur artists to volunteer and give money; engage them in every stage of pre-event promotions as well as post-event activities. Fifth, utilize the power of word-of-mouth to educate the uninformed and disseminate information. According to a Nielsen and Roper report, 92% of all consumers admit that a word-of-mouth recommendation is the leading reason they buy a product or service. Chinese communities are interrelated. It is important to turn members of the community into advocates who would recommend the show to their relatives, families and acquaintances. Last but not least, create a streamlined, consistent and engaging message and utilize trendy media platforms with a focus on digital and tradigital media to raise awareness of the beauty of Chinese arts and culture among Millennials; embrace social media as a powerful communications and listening tool to expand the audience base to include the younger generation. This seems to be a common practice; however, it is often overlooked by Chinese PR professionals. In Chapter Seven, this problem has been identified by marketing professionals at both CICPA and ACCA, who realize the importance of engaging Millennials on their social media platforms. Key Messages 1. Culture Omnivores (people who go frequently and enjoy multiple art forms e.g. concerts, plays, operas, museums, etc.) Modern Oriental Entertainment (MOE) shows are refreshing, unique and educational. They are a great alternative for you and your loved ones to take a break from Italian operas and Broadway musicals. 52 2. Millennials aged 18 to 35 including first-generation Asian Americans. Modern Oriental Entertainment (MOE) shows are trendy and entertaining. They offer a delightful experience like no other. The best way to appreciate the show is to go to the theater and see it in person with your friends. 3. Students studying arts-related courses. China’s traditional arts command a great part of the country’s rich heritage and developed its own styles and forms over centuries. Modern Oriental Entertainment (MOE) shows celebrate this humanity’s treasure through breathtaking dance and music. It is a must-see for art students. 4. Lovers of Chinese arts and culture; Amateur artists interested in Chinese performing arts. Modern Oriental Entertainment (MOE) provides you with a great opportunity to help create your dream show and celebrate your passion and make friends with like-minded people. 5. Families with young children. Modern Oriental Entertainment (MOE) creates a delightful and educational experience for you and your children. The show is not only fun but also family friendly. It is an affordable yet meaningful weekend activity for families with young children. Tactics  Work closely with local authorities and councils American local authorities and councils are devoted to integrating immigrants and often show interest in attending cultural exchange events and activities. Having a Chinese ambassador or local mayor coming to an event always gets an organization’s stories covered in the press.  Social media promotion to grow fan base and be influential Most of the Chinese dance companies lack a social media presence. The first thing for MOE to do is to create a Facebook page, a Twitter handle and a YouTube channel to share content, build its online fan base and a community for Chinese culture advocators. Also, social media will 53 help organizations connect with others in the industry who are helpful for cross-promoting with other brands. This will help organizations to get more performing opportunities. Here are specific tactics for each social media platforms. Facebook. This is one of the strongest platforms being used to connect with fans in the most creative and diverse ways. Upload sharable content such as exclusive videos, performer interviews and backstage photos. Create a sense of exclusivity by offering giveaways (e.g. coupons, free tickets, etc.) sorely on its Facebook page. Add links to all social media platforms in which MOE engage and included in About Section. Start a Facebook ad campaign targeting audience aged 18 to 35 (the Millennials) with an aim to increase the clicks to MOE websites and its fan page likes. The beauty of Facebook ad campaigns is that they are relatively inexpensive and can grow a brand’s fan base in a very targeted way quickly and efficiently. Plus, promoting special deals online will also attract the demographics of families and young children. Most young families are very concerned with saving money on purchases and social media savvy and therefore, are likely to look for deals online. When trying to attract parents, MOE can consider providing special offers like a free kids’ meal or Chinese zodiac toys with purchase. Blog. Start a blog and let MOE performers write posts about their stories and daily lives with links to each individual’s own Twitter and Facebook fan page. This blog will personalize these performers as strong spokespersons for MOE and therefore increase the feeling of likeability of its audience to the brand. Engage theater/culture/arts bloggers or writers for theater/culture/arts websites. Invite them to the shows and ask them to write about their experiences. Examples include the culture section in traditional newspapers and its websites like the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and 54 Chicago Sun Times; culture blogs like Art Forum and theartblog.org, which have a stable of versed bloggers who discuss and promote art-related themes. Instagram. Instagram is a medium to connect the MOE audience with a mixture of photos and behind-the-scene videos. The content should be shared on Facebook and Twitter in order for the brand to obtain the highest SEO reach. From there the content will be liked on Facebook and Twitter and can be embedded into a tweet, retweeted and favorited by its fans. Twitter. The strategy should not be mostly geared toward tweeting out. Interactions with followers are important. The author recommends encouraging fan engagement by, for example, conducting a hashtag contest, following and commenting other dance troupes and celebrities, and participating in live chats. Hashtag contest examples are as follows: What’s your favorite quote by a Chinese philosopher? Tell us by using #MOEquote and win a free ticket to our December show at Los Angeles Kodak Theater. How did you like our last show in Vegas? We would like to hear about your feedbacks. Tweet with #MOEperformances and have a chance to win our latest behind-the-scene DVDs. Just 10 mins before the show starts! Are you here with us? Post a photo by using #bestMOEphotos and we will select 15 luckiest fans and invite them to our exclusive after-show party on December 31. Website. On MOE’s official website, a steady stream of content from its blog would provide more SEO visibility for the brand. The website should include created content that are sharable on all social media platforms and reshared by fans, resulting in fan retention and recruitment. Google+. The author believes Google+ is good at handling a two-way dialogue between the brand and its fans and keeping the page fresh and interesting. Modern Oriental Entertainment 55 (MOE) should repost all its blog content through their Google+ account for utmost visibility because this will help the brand with SEO and will increase the amount of content for followers to view, and is one of the key benefits of using Google+ pushing the most engaging content from all other platforms (Instagram pictures, key tweets, etc.) through the Google+.  Collaborate with Chinese communities and non-profit organizations with the same mission to promote cultural exchange Local Chinese communities and non-profit organizations usually have strong ties with the target audience organizations want to reach out to – local newspapers, schools, government officials, the non-Chinese communities (e.g. Hispanic, White, etc.) and more. They usually have large group of local supporters who will help spread the word. In return, they will also benefit from the performances because integrating immigrants and cultural exchange is also part of their mission. Here are some simple but effective ways to work with local communities and organizations to achieve mutual benefits: 1. Sponsor and take part in local events, sports teams, etc. 2. Support and sponsor local schools (Chinese language schools, etc.) 3. Hold charity and fundraising events to raise money. For example, organize a 40-mile cycle challenge or a 10k run that crosses cities with the largest Chinese population (e.g. San Gabriel Valley and Temple City in Los Angeles). 4. Donate tickets to local non-profit organizations or raise money for institutions that are dedicated to the culture and arts of China, e.g. Pacific Asia in Pasadena.  Create educational workshops at local schools (e.g. Chinese Cultural Summer Camp; backstage tours) 56 Chinese schools often run summer camps every year. Workshops on Chinese arts education will help them feel proud of their heritage and learn to appreciate the beauty of 5,000 years of civilization of China. Also, organizations can take them to the theater and backstage and give them a little tour to show them all the costumes and how dancers prepare and put on their make-up before the show. Through learning about Peking Opera, Chinese acrobats and traditional folk dance, kids will be more interested in going to a Chinese performance, which will certainly involve their parents, to help reinforce cultural growth and protection.  Engage local fans of Chinese performing arts and the amateur groups Giving up their time and energy to contribute to the artform or craft that stirs their passion, local fans and the amateur groups play an important role in the popularization of Chinese arts and culture. Keeping a close relationship with them is important. In the United States, there are a lot of local amateur groups who meet regularly to practice Peking Opera and other forms of Chinese arts. When touring to a city, MOE could consider bringing local Chinese cultural lovers together through various community events and social activities: 1. Peking Opera singing competitions or prize-winning quizzes on Chinese folk dance; 2. Educational outreach programs, for example, workshops and lectures in Chinese schools; 3. Stage performances at a smaller scale in Chinese communities, schools and summer camps; 4. Chinese Voluntary Arts Week, which includes exhibitions and performances with an aim to support, celebrate and promote cultural activities and inspirational amateur arts projects that reach out to local communities and beyond. The winners and runner-ups of those competitions mentioned above are to earn free tickets to the show or actually have the chance to go on stage and perform with the real artists. 57 Three reasons to explain why MOE should engage local fans and amateur groups: First, Chinese arts amateurs and fans are perfect brand advocates and spokesperson. Information is disseminated through word of mouth, as they will help sell tickets by exchanging information and inviting their families and friends with similar interests. Second, amateur groups usually have deeper roots in America and are more experienced in communicating with both Chinese immigrants and local Americans in a cross-cultural environment than most of the China-based dance troupes, including MOE. Third, this practice will help establish a close and symbiotic relationship between the amateurs and the professional artists. The MOE performers will benefit from this relationship. It adds value to their career portfolio, as they will be able to have more exposure and gain popularity among Chinese arts and culture lovers in the United States. On the other hand, amateurs have the chance to invite the professionals to conduct and accompany their groups, to join them as soloists, to star in their dance society’s series. This mutually beneficial practice engages a very large audience segment and therefore will eventually contribute to the overall PR campaign.  Collaborate with professors at universities and build connections with college students; Create educational animated content, brochures and flyers about Chinese folk dance in English PR professionals should establish good relationships with college professors, especially those who are in East Asian Studies, arts, music, etc. These professors could encourage their students to do a project on or volunteer for Chinese arts and performances or go to a live show. Modern Oriental Entertainment (MOE) could also invite students to go to backstage tours to observe how to do Peking Opera makeup and try on some costumes. They could also send artists to be the guest speakers at lectures and workshops. 58 English brochures and flyers will help the non-Chinese speakers understand and appreciate the modes of expression, symbol systems, aesthetics, and cultural context in which Chinese arts are embedded easier. As previously discussed, theater attendance is connected closely with participation in art education. Therefore, we can expect a higher attendance rate if people have more knowledge about Chinese performing arts. Evaluation The overall outcome of this communication campaign will be assessed in the following aspects: 1. the return on investment (ROI) of time and money ROI analysis is a form of cost-benefit analysis that measures the costs of a program (i.e., the investment) versus the financial return realized by that program (Cavallo, 2006). The Standard ROI Equation: ROI = Net Benefits/Net Costs 100%. Evaluating ROI helps PR professionals answer the question, “Was it worth it?” Was the money invested in producing the show and conducting the communications campaign worth the outcome of changing the perception and behavior of your targeted audience? It is essential to those who develop, advocate and implement the communications campaigns have the knowledge and tools to address the questions relating to the financial impact of their initiatives. This also helps them to establish credibility with decision makers. 2. the audience attendance rate The total attendance in MOE events will directly reflect on the outcome of these communications campaigns and can be used to examine how successful they are. Attendee data 59 can also be broken down by type of event, race, education, age, etc. The trends in attendance can also be examined. 3. the number of hits on Facebook, the number of followers on Instagram, Twitter and other social media platform This helps MOE marketing team to have the metrics that measure and monitor the online activities of their targeted audience and learn what’s successful, what isn’t and how they can improve. In general, an effective social media measurement program should include both ongoing analytics and campaign-focused metrics (Davis, 2012). Ongoing analytics tracks activity over time and helps with the flow of general conversation about your brand of company. On the other hand, campaign-focused metrics can help you understand the impact of targeted marketing initiatives. 4. the results of audience survey and recall The results of audience survey and recall will measure how familiar their targeted audiences are with MOE shows. When writing a brand awareness survey, PR professionals can take two measurements. The first is brand recall, which is your target group’s ability to remember your MOE brand without help. A typical question is:“ When you think of Chinese performing arts, what brands come to mind?” The second is aided brand recognition. This helps to measure how MOE stacks up against its biggest competitors. Sample questions can be:  Have you heard of Modern Oriental Entertainment (MOE) shows?  How familiar are you with MOE shows?  Which of the following brands of Chinese shows have you heard of?  Which of the following brands of Chinese shows have you attended? 60 So your answer choices for the last two of your aided brand recall questions would be the following:  Mitsi Dancing School  Modern Oriental Entertainment  Shen Yun  Other (Please Specify) 61 Conclusion With the implementation of the Going Out Policy and tremendous government spending, China’s performing arts production companies have successfully started their journey of traveling overseas and popularizing Chinese culture worldwide. In the United States, where the largest ethnic Chinese population resides outside of Asia, the importation of Chinese folk dance performances enables Americans and second or third-generation Chinese immigrants to foster a deeper understanding of China. Promoting Chinese performing arts also helps break down stereotypes and strengthens the relationship between the two countries. China’s performing arts, with its high-quality productions, culture uniqueness and good reputation, are highly competitive among the countless arts works in the United States. With the expansion of national public participation and consumption in the arts, Chinese arts production companies are very likely to succeed in this country. However, several problems by these companies are identified through the author’s primary and second research: the financial problems within most Chinese entertainment production companies, the strict Chinese governmental regulations and cultural and language barriers faced by most China-based PR professionals. Apart from these interior barriers, Chinese organizations must also be aware of the difficulty of obtaining work visa, the risk of losing content authenticity of the show and the economy downturns, which generally affect personal consumption on art and culture. The author also shares a few suggestions, which are considered crucial to the success of a Chinese traditional dance troupe with a mission in China and Western cultural exchange. It is important for China-based PR professionals to be mindful about the regulations and rules of American government and to understand American cultural norms. This requires collaboration with organizations or communities of local Chinese immigrants. 62 Since theater attendance is connected closely with participation in art education, one of the most important strategies for Chinese production companies is to place the importance of arts education and Chinese cultural understanding above everything else when designing their PR campaign. 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Available from: http://www.theproducersperspective.com/my_weblog/2012/06/what-was-broadways-economic-i mpact-on-nyc-in-2010-11.html 69 Wilcox, H. N., 2009. “Movement in Spaces of Liminality: Chinese Dance and Transnational Immigrant Identities” , San Francisco. Online <PDF> Available from http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/3/0/7/5/0/pages307509/p3075 09-1.php [Jun 8 2014] Xie, T. Universities, Colleges and Schools Offering Chinese Courses, September 2012. Available from: http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/programs.htm. [16 May 2014] Zhang, X., 2009. Chinese State Media Going Global. Available from: http://www.eai.nus.edu.sg/Vol2No1_ZhangXiaoling.pdf Zhou, M., 2009. Contemporary Chinese America: Immigration, Ethnicity, and Community Transformation, Philadelphia: Temple University Press 70 Appendix: Interviews Interview with Christine Chow Q: CICPA has a lot of successful experiences with prestigious theaters in LA, such as Kodak Theater. How do you promote your shows before it goes onto the stage? A: There are a lot of event websites with free postings that help advertise art performances, such as [the] L.A. Live website. Most importantly, we did Chinese newspapers and American newspapers. We advertise on World Journal, China Times and TW Times. We work mainly with these Chinese newspapers but with Kodak shows, we also advertise [in] American newspapers, for example, the LA Times. You pay for the advertisement, and if you have a conference, the press will come. It is a business, a give and take. Q: What are the other ways of engaging local audiences, especially younger generations? A: We work with professors from UCLA, Cal State University, [and]Mt. SAC (Mt San Antonio College), because they understand the arts; they know it is important to preserve them. And they would promote it to the students. So we are talking about professors from Music School or East Asia Studies or any other Chinese Culture –related institutions. We also work with [the] Confucius Institute at UCLA. They also help us because they want us to bring it [Chinese opera] to their schools, and it’s rare for these students to see Chinese opera live. So for students who attend the events, we will give them discounts to the show. So we did a lot of student discounts. In the end, as a non-profit organization, our goal is not to make money but to promote it to younger kids and preserve this art form because Beijing Opera is really dying. But our ultimate goal is to make money out of art, but it is very difficult in the beginning. 71 Q: Even Chinese people find Peking Opera is hard to understand, let alone people from other parts of the world. Have you ever thought about making a variety show like Shen Yun Performing Arts, which incorporates Beijing Opera but at the same time is more accessible to the majority of people from both China and the U.S.? A: We haven’t thought about this. First of all, no one has ever approached us. Secondly, Shen Yun is more controversial. It is not the same kind of art form. Beijing Opera is more high-end. I’m not saying that Shen Yun is not good. For example, if you want to compare Italian Opera and America’s Got Talent, it is kind of weird. Shen Yun is catering to a specific need of their audience, which is different from ours. Our goal is to preserve and protect Chinese opera as the way it has always been. We see it as an art form, not as entertainment. So our focuses are very different. People come to us and say, “Why don’t you modernize it? Or [maybe] change the costumes a little bit to make it more accessible to the mass[es]?” But in fact we don’t want [to]change it. So all this has made it harder for us to market it [Chinese Opera] with the original form without any changes. The only thing you can do is the subtitles. We have Chinese and English subtitles for people to understand. Q: What’s the composition of your audience? A: Most of the time, here in the States, when we do our shows, mainly [our audience] is people who are already fans of opera. We actually have a lot of people who loves Peking Opera – the older generation. And then, we have friends of friends, people who have never seen opera but their friends drag them to the show. The small percentage of people that I’m trying to work with is through my promotions, through the pictures and demos [on the CICPA website and 72 Facebook page], I get younger people who are in their 20s – not college students but people who have graduated because tickets are not that cheap for students but we do offer student price[s] if only there are seats left. Otherwise, people will try to get student tickets and sneak in (laugh). The regular price for the tickets is $30, but for students we offer half price, which is $15. Through the Kodak Theater, we actually have people who came to the show and liked Chinese opera and they come to support us. So we have people who appreciate high art, world music or Chinese culture: professors, we have people in the community that never experience it and want to try something new. For example, there is a guy who comes to our shows a lot. He is a professor at UCLA, a Mexican guy. He plays Suo Na [a Chinese instrument]. I have some other friends who don’t know any Chinese, and they come to see the costumes. After watching the show, they said to me, “I want to know what it [Chinese opera] is.” You know there is a trend of people learning Chinese culture here in America. So we have a lot of those people coming to our shows as well. Q: Do you think CICPA is successful on its social media platforms? A: Unfortunately no. I think it needs to be updated. It takes so much time and energy to organize just one show. We don’t have a lot of shows every year – usually one or two shows in one year. So it’s very hard for us to promote our shows constantly on our websites or other platforms. Even though we are rarely on Facebook, we do get messages from people who are saying, “My dad is an opera fan. When is your next show?” or “I want to take my mom to your show for her [70 th ] birthday.” But often, I have to tell them either they’ve missed it or we don’t know when our next show will be. 73 Q: What’s your marketing strategy? A: We work [closely] with Baojiu Mei – the son of the godfather of Peking Opera – Lanfang Mei. Lanfang Mei is also the first person to bring Peking Opera to the States. And it was his son’s idea to have it back again [in] the States. So Baojiu Mei himself is a selling point. He also brought his team with him, 65 people in total. So it is a very big but high quality production. He has a huge fan base here, and he has his relatives and friends and every member of his team has relatives and friends. So this is an approach of word of mouth. Besides, we also work with politicians. We think they are connectors because they know a lot of people who would appreciate Chinese arts. And we have students, as we gave professors tickets to the show and students who do projects on Chinese performances will get extra tickets if they come [to] the show. Of course, we have a lot of people who just randomly found us online. And also, our president Rosana Hsu has a large fan base in LA. She is very established. She has a lot of friends, and her friends know a lot of people who are interested in Chinese opera. They invite them to experience something they are passionate about. So never underestimate the power of word of mouth. Plus, we have commercials, but only in Chinese. Q: What are the difficulties that you are facing as a non-profit organization that promotes Chinese culture? A: First of all, we have financial problems. Let’s say we have shows at the Kodak Theater. The seats look almost full, but if you track the ticket sales, you will find the problems. As a lot of tickets cannot be sold at the price that covers our expenses, you end up having a lot of people, but you don’t actually make money at all. Secondly, not many people know what Chinese opera is. Whenever people ask me what I do for living, I said I promote Beijing opera. I usually get a 74 pause, because [most people] don’t know what it is. It is so difficult for people to understand it. In fact, I found out that [most people’s] ears are trained to listen to Western music. It is so sad that Asian people are colonized. We are trained to appreciate the Western beauty more than the Asian beauty. It is really sad. So we are making a trend. We want the Western world to see that [the] Chinese also [have] its own opera that is as good as Italian opera. Q: What’s your approach of educating people about Peking Opera? A: Right now, we are hiring artists directly from Mainland China. But we have been planning to have a stable troupe for our organization. Our dream is to have our own troupe so we can tour around LA or even the States with the same artists and orchestra. However, the resources are limited. First of all, in order to [hire] troupes, we have to be able to afford the salary. But we can’t balance the costs and the benefits. Maybe we only get one performance a month, but we have to pay them 30 days a month. Musicians cost about 120 dollars an hour. Plus, a lot of musicians who play Peking Opera have their own full-time jobs. Some of them are businessmen. Some of them became foot massagers when they immigrated here. They only help us out [on] weekends. The other problem we are facing is with the make-up stylists. There are only a couple of people in the United States who can do make-up for Peking Opera. That means we need to fly them over to do our shows. So we calculate the cost, and it is very expensive. Secondly, we’ve done high school / language school trips too. Most of the time, we subsidize, because they can’t afford paying the entire four-hour show, which costs up to thousands of dollars. 75 Q: People say Peking Opera is a dying art form, which people are trying to preserve. Why are you so passionate about promoting it? A: To be honest, in the beginning, I didn’t know anything about Chinese operas, besides [that] it is for old people. I knew what it look[ed] like but I had no idea what’s going on. It used to bore me to death and I used to fall asleep at theater. However, after working with these people and doing the research to promote the shows, I [got to] know about the process and history, and now I can say that I appreciate it [Beijing Opera]more and I respect it now. I understand now why things are the way it is. I can’t say I love it right now because I am not an expert and I know so little. But after seven years of working with CICPA, I feel at least very proud of being Chinese. Peking Opera is an acquired taste, like wine. At first, wine tastes bitter and nasty. But [the] more you taste it, the more it refines. I am no longer embarrassed like many years ago when talking about Peking Opera with my friends from other countries. Interview with Alison Friedman Q: Why did you want to start the organization in the first place? What’s the mission of PPP? A: I started PPP because I saw there was a lot of interest from American companies that wanted to tour in China – and Chinese companies that wanted to tour abroad – but the models that existed to facilitate these trips were all commercial booking agencies. To me, that was commerce, not cultural exchange. That was buying and selling a show that would often be a one-off. They’d come on tour, check the box, and think, “We’re done.” So, I saw there was a need for this type of bridge that could use the performing arts as a way to show different aspects of the cultures. Certainly in the 21 st century, the role of China on the international stage is key, 76 and yet there are still so many misinterpretations and misunderstandings of China. And vice versa: within China, they have access to information about the West, but it also can be very one-sided. Q: Why do you think that PPP plays an important role in the process of Chinese and Western cultural exchange? A: We produce arts. And arts [are] a way for people to see and learn a culture’s humanity, as opposed to being stuck with artificial stereotypes and caricatures. People like to say that dance is a universal language, and that music is a universal language, but I totally disagree. There are elements that are true – that arts can bring people together regardless of their culture and background – however, a lot of art is a language just like a spoken language. It’s got a historical context and a cultural context, and if you don’t understand the signs and meanings behind the performances, how are you going to understand or appreciate the language? For example, the Mark Morris Dance Group may be well-respected in America, but no one’s heard of him in China. So it requires a lot of contextualization. And this is a multi-layered process. You do it one year with a medium audience and come back a few years later, hopefully with a bigger audience. Interview with David Lin Q: What are the reasons behind the launch of ACCA? A: To answer this question properly, let me start off talking a little about my background. I was born in Liaoning, China. I came to the States in 1988 to pursue my master’s degree at the University of Southern California. I decided to stay in LA after graduation. I’ve come across so many first-generation immigrants just like me, who came to this country to [pursue] the 77 American dream. They’ve gone through a lot, from being far from home to language barriers and culture shock. After twenty, thirty years of hard work, most of them are retired and live a wealthy and peaceful life. They have houses and cars. Their kids go to college. They seem to have already achieved everything they’ve ever wanted in their lives. But they feel something that’s missing. They want to fulfill their spiritual needs and reconnect with [their] homeland. That was what inspired me to create a platform to do just that. So I invited a dozen midlife friends together to create ACCA. Right now, ACCA comprises three types of members: first-generation immigrants, second-generation Americans – the so-called ABC (American Born Chinese) – and new immigrants – mostly international students. So overall, 90 percent of people in ACCA are U.S. citizens. There are over 20 Chinese communities in the Greater Los Angeles area, subordinate to two big Chinese associations. I dare to say that ACCA has the largest number of members and has the most popular types of events. Q ：What types of events does ACCA usually have throughout the year? A ： Mostly we hold Chinese New Year celebration galas. We have been doing it for ten years. We have a waistdrum team, an arts ensemble, and a small studio crew specializing in audio and visual production. All of us work together to put up a good show. We see this as a meaningful work to give back to our Chinese communities. We perform for Americans too. We’ve been [to] a lot of major and influential events. We took part in 2005 Fiesta Bowl Parade in Phoenix. We performed at NBA All-star basketball game. In 2012, we were the guest performers for a baseball game at Dodger Stadium. Last year, I also sent my team to the White House for the 78 celebration of July 4th. What we are most proud of is that we had the privilege to perform exclusively for our president Xi Jinping earlier this year when he was visiting Los Angeles. Q: What are the challenges that ACCA is facing or has ever faced before? A: There are four major difficulties that we are facing right now. Firstly, we are short on budget. New immigrants are reluctant to spend money on watching a local performance. They are always asking for free tickets. I help out with 70 percent of expenses. Only 20 percent is from ticket-selling and the rest comes from advertising and sponsorship from partner organizations. Secondly, it takes a lot of courage and perseverance to create a show by all non-professional performers. We only have one professional dancing instructor, Miss Feng, who is the 2006 Miss Asian American. They [the dancers] come from different professional backgrounds. It was a miracle to put 40 to 50 people in one show, especially when they are not doing it for money. Thirdly, we find it hard to expand our audience to younger generations. Most of our audiences are their parents and grandparents. Those kids are willing to pay quite a lot to go to a Mayday concert [a boy band popular in China, Taiwan and Malaysia] or to see GuoDegang [a Chinese standup comedian]. But they never come to a free Chinese dance show. So we have never really targeted at the younger generation. For years, we have been doing what we do best; that is catering to the age group of 45 to 70. However, this makes it very difficult to for us to create and maintain a stable audience base, as the number of our older audience is decreasing each year and the rising younger generation becomes increasingly important. Last but not least, I’ve seen ideological conflicts between the members in leadership and young members. These two groups possess very different perspectives in terms of future developments. The senior members tend not to take risks. They want the things stay the way they 79 are, which means no amendments to the content as well as the marketing strategies to attract a larger audience base as they view the organization as a platform for like-minded Chinese immigrants to celebrate their culture. However, our young members are more ambitious. They want to make profits, expand our audience and find ways to sustain the momentum as we move forward. I think it’s good because the last thing I want to see is that ten, fifteen years later, when I resign, ACCA doesn’t exist anymore. This year on May 4th, I formed a Youth Club where younger members aged 18 to 35 gather to study their Chinese Heritage regardless[of whether] they are a new immigrant or a second-generation American. They are responsible for supporting backstage and improving operational efficiency. This is my way of keeping our organization young and energetic and evolving through times. Kids have a future. We don’t want to lose them. Q: What differentiates ACCA from other Chinese immigrants’ organizations? A: ACCA has four principles: We strive to establish and maintain a social network, build a sense of belonging, provide leisure or recreational purposes, and foster cross-cultural awareness. Other voluntary organizations might base [themselves] on faith or profession. ACCA is the only Chinese immigrant organization that goes beyond the usual organization articulation. We see ourselves playing an important role of promoting cultural exchange and cultural understanding. We are not satisfied with one-dimensional cultural showcases in festivals during ethnic or cultural holidays. Our vision is to institutionalize a mechanism that helps connect real people, build real networks, and foster harmony and solidarity. So we see ourselves as an ideal social action group. We pursue storytelling to initial social change. 80 There is a very good example to demonstrate what I just said. We had a digital storytelling event in 2007 in San Gabriel Valley. After securing financial support from the California Council for the Humanities (CCH), we created, produced and exhibited 12 digital stories designed to promote cultural understanding and exchange in ethnically diverse urban communities. Stories are about a particular generation of Chinese immigrants, the “Zhiqing” (Educated Youth), living in the San Gabriel Valley. This unique generation of Chinese immigrants who experienced the “Cultural Revolution” in their young age and came to the U.S. after China first opened to the outside world in 1979. We followed them a few weeks, observed their daily lives and conducted a couple of one-on-one interviews. They were also coached to discover their story, to script and storyboard it, and to produce it on commonly used computers. The team of trainer[s] included a project manager, a script expert, a video editor, IT support and a creative director (that’s me). We had the screening events in several major bookstores in two big cities with the largest Chinese communities: Alhambra and San Gabriel Valley. We use the projector to play the documentaries on the big screens and provide fliers for [the] audience to read. In order to raise awareness, we had two press conferences. The first one was for all the Chinese media, including both newspapers and television. We invited American mainstream media [to] the second press conference. That’s how our event got covered by the LA Times. The rest of the funding was spent on the making of DVDs, which we gave away for free to the libraries and other educational institutions in the San Gabriel Valley and some other Asian societies. Our influence grows as our members promote in their social circles. They brought the DVDs and materials to their own communities and had similar screening events on a smaller scale. Because of that, our influence 81 had expanded to a much larger area, including Pasadena, West Covina, Santa Monica and so on. This gave us a great sense of pride. I’m telling you this because this is a good example of how we are trying to build a cultural community. Initially, our participants and audience come from different walks of life and do not necessarily share a sense of community. But during the producing and viewing of the stories, they became fully connected to people’s culture and values. We really care about the delivery of these values to our Chinese immigrants as well as our neighbors including the white, black and Mexicans. Q: What do you think will make a successful show as a Chinese dance troupe performing in America? A: Firstly, you need to have a very clear positioning strategy. How do you differentiate yourself from all the other competing dance troupes in the States? ACCA has its own style of performing. For a while, we had been struggling over our own artistic trajectory. Should we follow the high art trajectory with high-quality, classic performance, or should we stick to the mass line where most of ACCA members can [join] the show? Some members in the leadership think the dance should not involve too many people, as it would become too costly and too risky. But we have a practical understanding of our strength. We cannot compete with professional arts companies that present high art programs. But we have our own niche. It’s like the Feiyang Express vs. FedEx or our own multimedia stories (mentioned above) vs. Blockbuster movies. Our show should stick to our own community, our own lives, reflecting our own spiritual outlook and creative potentials. We notice that other arts and culture organizations usually invite programs from China or other states. So our biggest selling point would be the only show that is 82 locally directed, locally produced, locally performed, and by purely local people. Our show reflects what new Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles area can do. So my first advice would be finding your strengths that make you stand out. Secondly, be aware of the tastes and preferences of the local Americans and understand what resonates with them and what things they haven’t seen but will surely be thrilled to see. You really need to what’s trending in this country. Inherit your uniqueness but don’t be stubborn to change if that’s what it takes to be more acceptable [for] the majority of this country. You think Panda Express is the real, authentic Chinese food? Of course not. But it is the most popular Chinese restaurant chain in the States. You do your job and do it well and wait for larger opportunities – that’s how you contribute to the diversity of the American culture. We actively participate in local community activities and this has gained us a solid reputation for offering high-quality cultural presentations. I remember vividly when NBC called me one day because they saw our performance for the spring festival gala and loved it. They wanted us to perform at a Dodgers game. And when we participate at the Rose Parade in 2008, it was [a] historically significant moment – Chinese immigrants had never participated in the Rose Parade before. Being the best we can be in our own field is how we get to integrate into the mainstream, which showcases that we, the various Mainland Chinese immigrants organization, have grown strong enough to stir enough attention. Thirdly, focus on two-way communication instead of one-way in this day and age. Word-of-mouth is the best advertising because it’s free and effective. Social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, when boiled down to the essentials, are no different than the old community word-of-mouth system. That’s why we feel the urgency to develop our Facebook fan page. I think most Chinese immigrants’ organizations ignore the power of the social media. It is not only 83 a communications tool but also an important listening tool. I think the worst way to promote your cultural heritage is to push it into people’s face and force them to like it. That never works. Don’t be arrogant. Ask your audience how they like the show and make changes to your content accordingly. This especially works for the millennial [generation]. They are huge about technology and interactive content. They will be more engaged and responsive if we are really listening to them instead of thinking that we are educating them.

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Creator Li, Yunyun (author)

Core Title Chinese folk dance performances in the United States: opportunities and challenges faced by PR professionals

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 09/12/2014

Defense Date 09/11/2014

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Chinese,Chinese culture,Chinese dance,Chinese folk dance,Chinese performing arts,culture exchange,Dance,OAI-PMH Harvest,Performing arts,PR,Public Relations

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Floto, Jennifer D. (committee chair), Wang, Jian ""Jay"" (committee member), Yang, Aimei (committee member)

Creator Email l.xr.alice@gmail.com,yunyunli@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-477027

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