Exchanges with foreign cultures certainly need an extensive network. The Hong Kong Arts Development Council’s “Cultural Exchange Grant” stresses the promotion of local works, whilst the Market and Audience Development Grant of Singapore’s National Arts Council (NAC) supports bringing performances abroad. Other than going abroad, we ought to be more open-minded and welcome people in. A centre for cultural exchange or a metropolis with the intention to be out and out global needs to manifest a certain level of self-assurance and take the ownership to host and facilitate network-building.
Either outbound or inbound, most of the current exchanges are one-off and lack long-term planning. This surely has to do with the structure of arts grants. The grantors or patrons always demand to see short-term outcomes and efficacy. The primal concern of cultural exchange is nevertheless how to build a long-running and sustainable network.
In 2019, with the support of Zuni Icosahedron and National Arts Council Singapore, I conducted field studies in six different cities across Southeast Asia. The studies were unpremeditated and aimed to add to our understanding of their respective cultural environments, status quo of the cultural policy, exchanges, institutions and the challenges faced by each city. They collectively serve as preliminaries to further exchanges and planning. Might Hong Kong and Singapore as well support this kind of exchange which is more than just performances?