Create vigorous urban performance spaces

In recent years, Shanghai tightly grasped the spiritual character of its residents, created products of performance content, conducted spatial arrangements, and positively interacted with the diversified, higher quality, and better individualized demands of audiences. These demonstrated the unique charisma of Shanghai as an international cultural metropolis.

Professional distinction and multifunction expansion go together

On the one hand, theaters are at the front line of the performance industry and need to strengthen their professional labels. To realize the goals of selecting good shows for audiences, creating good stages for artists, deepening the contents, and presenting professional distinction, Shanghai launched the reform of "one troupe, one policy" with remarkable achievements. Shanghai Cultural Square, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai International Dance Center, and Shanghai Children's Art Theatre now become professional and regular performance venues for musicals, symphonies, dances, children’s plays, and other forms of art.

On the other hand, Shanghai aims to meet the demands of audiences, to create more diversified, better quality, and more individualized features, and to extend operation contents. Shanghai puts considerable emphasis on aesthetic education, and uses open, comprehensive, and major arts to establish the link between people and spaces. Shanghai Grand Theatre has been transformed into a comprehensive arts institution merging performance, production, museology, and aesthetic education altogether. Shanghai Cultural Square attempts to create a market for cultural brands, road shows, and individually customized activities. These innovative measures broke away from the public's traditional perception of theaters.

Organic unity of audience incubation and market cultivation

An overall trend in the performance market is the increase in younger audiences. To transition from "what we want to perform" to "what young people want to see", to integrate "what young people want to see" with "what we want to convey" are the dialectics of the production-and-consumption relationship of theater performances. Aimed at satisfying the cultural needs of younger audiences, Shanghai seeks to create stage, art education, new media, community, and other personalized membership services, to target more potential audiences. Music afternoon tea, bringing art into campuses, theater open days, theater workshops, artist partnership plans and other art education activities aim to enlighten and cultivate young audiences, and to use their visions and tastes to inspire the innovative development of theater repertoires and commercial activities.

Facility improvement and layout optimization are mutually reinforcing

Content production and audience cultivation cannot leave the rational layout of cultural facilities. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Shanghai will accomplish many projects of cultural facilities, protect many historical and cultural heritages, and increase urban cultural landmarks, to achieve the mutual reinforcement of facility improvement and layout optimization.

To enhance the effective usage of cultural centers and cultural facilities is an important measure to stimulate the cultural vitality of urban public spaces. We should encourage museums, art galleries, gymnasiums, and other public spaces and facilities to provide nighttime cultural services, to increase their efficiency of use. We should assist in the "micro updates" of public spaces, to implant colorful cultural, art, and recreational activities at the waterfront, communities, business districts, and parks and squares, to create distinctive, small and beautiful cultural centers and artistic sensations.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Shanghai will also expand the range and depth of opening its protected historical buildings and cultural relics sites. Factory buildings and old warehouses will be transformed into art galleries, museums, theaters, bookstores, artistic innovation centers, and other cultural landmarks, to blend together distinctive cultural centers, urban blocks, spaces and markets, to create a denser urban cultural atmosphere.

Contributed by Huang Kiafeng, Head of Institute at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Chinese Marxism, Researcher at the Shanghai Xi Jinping New Era Socialism with Chinese Characteristic Research Center

Translated by Zhang Junye