Han Zaifen, a deputy member of the Committee| performing his duties: Opera needs more performance stages

In the diversified information age, how to lead the public into the theater? How to create a good ecological environment for the development of theater art? Han Zaifen, a deputy to the National People's Congress and president of the Huangmei Art Theater in Anqing Zaifen, put forward the "Proposal on Creating a Good Ecological Environment for the Development of Theater Art" at the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2021, which was restored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. At this year's two sessions, she will continue to pay attention to the development of theatrical art.

Han Zaifen

My front-line observations and reflections: Traditional opera urgently needs policy support

Theater art, especially traditional opera as an intangible cultural heritage, in the case of an imperfect market, especially needs the attention of the government and policy support to support the development of theater art. In the front-line work of the troupe, I continue to pay attention to the data related to the theater art ecology, in Beijing, Shanghai and other big cities, a performance costs more than 100,000 yuan in rent, dozens of cast members to eat, live, travel, four or five trucks, plus performance labor, it is a huge expense. Because prices rise and performance costs increase, it will cause the box office and expenditure to be disproportionate, forming an "upside down". Our performance costs are too high, and I think other theaters must have similar difficulties.

At present, in the diversified information age, many new media communication channels have emerged, and various new formats such as "cloud performances" and "cloud theaters" have emerged, but the experience of entering a regular theater to appreciate art is very different. The dissemination of short video platforms such as Douyin is important, but it cannot replace the format of the theater itself. Theater art has its own internal development law, and the crowd flocks to chase the heat, sometimes making people forget the original intention of art, affecting the situation of a hundred flowers in opera. Therefore, it is particularly important to create a good ecological environment for the development of theater art and should be put on the agenda.

During the two sessions in 2021, I put forward the "Suggestions for Creating a Good Ecological Environment for the Development of Theater Art", suggesting that the government, while carrying out projects such as "sending dramas to campuses", "sending dramas into the community" and "sending plays to the countryside", increase the number of performances of "students entering the theater" and "benefiting the people in the performance season", and advocate that students and the public enter the theater once a year; from the government level, clarify the publicity orientation, increase publicity, advocate everyone to enter the theater, establish the concept of cultural consumption, and gradually form the habit of entering the theater It is recommended that the government formulate special policies to increase support for theaters and theaters; strengthen the brand effect of artists and celebrities and high-quality repertoire, and increase support for the creation and performance of high-quality plays.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has made efforts to help us enter the people and enter the market

After the "Suggestions for Creating a Good Ecological Environment for the Development of Theater Art" was put forward, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism called me and informed me of the response to the proposal: do a good job in top-level design and provide policy support for the development of theater art; focus on artistic creation, build a theater performance display platform; promote pilot experience, play a leading role in demonstration and breakthrough; expand communication channels, and drive offline performances with online performances.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, together with relevant ministries and commissions, has studied and issued documents such as the "Implementation Opinions on the Entry of Opera into Schools" and the "Opinions on Strengthening the Work of Opera Education under the New Situation", combined with the actual work, the detailed implementation of the relevant central policy requirements, and clearly put forward the goal and task of "realizing that all college, middle and primary school students in the country can enjoy a free opera performance every year".

From the response documents received, I can see the progress of the ministry of culture and tourism. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has continued to work hard over the years to support traditional culture and make supplementary adjustments in policies. Policy support and other aspects are very good, and localities are indeed implementing it. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism actively strives to help us absorb culture, enter the people and enter the market in the creation of the theatrical ecology.

I will continue to pay attention to the inheritance, popularization and development of Huangmei opera

As a deputy to the National People's Congress and also a inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, I know that I must be dedicated to my work and promote the inheritance and innovation of Huangmei Opera. In 2021, combined with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's "100 Years and 100 Parts" creation plan project, Anqing Zaifen Huangmei Art Theater created a large-scale red-themed Huangmei opera "Immortal Pride". From June 1, 2022, the Regulations on the Protection and Inheritance of Huangmei Opera in Anqing City will be officially implemented, and Huangmei Opera will be protected through legal channels, and we are in it and participate in witnessing, which is the result of many years of expectation.

The sustained and healthy development of Huangmei opera depends on the inheritance of theater talents. In 2005, Anqing City established the Anqing Zaifen Huangmei Art Theater on the basis of the Anqing Huangmei Opera Troupe (formerly the "Anqing District Huangmei Drama Troupe"), with me as the director. When I took over, the theater was on the verge of closure. Through these more than ten years of development and the continuous attention of the government, in recent years, the opera industry has entered a period of prosperity and development. Our theater has also entered a healthy and benign stage of development, and the endogenous power is gradually strengthening, but it still needs the persistent support of policies. In terms of talent training, we attach great importance to the expression of the theater's own cultural ecology, and we have done a lot of things in cultivating young people. Cultivating talents is not an overnight thing, but to accumulate slowly, it needs to be done little by little and in a down-to-earth manner. In 2010, the theater recruited dozens of young people and began to cultivate them. The theater founded the Zaifen Huangmei Mansion to build a performance exercise platform for young actors; invited many teachers to teach by hand to lead young actors to grow; took the initiative to let the stage out, let young people stand up, let them practice on the stage, and form a state of collective inheritance of the whole theater. We not only cultivate the actors on the front stage, but also cultivate the creative personnel in the back, such as directors, screenwriters, composers, lighting design, stage design, costume design, makeup design, etc. In 2020, the theater and the Huangmei Opera Art College of Anqing Normal University set a precedent for close cooperation between schools and enterprises in art education, and promoted the construction of the first liberal arts opera laboratory in Anhui Province. Integrating practice into teaching, art and scholarship are two wings away.

At this year's National Two Sessions, I will pay attention to the development of opera and people's livelihood issues, and make suggestions and suggestions for this. I can't turn a blind eye to a lot of things happening around me. I have a personal and intuitive feeling for the development of opera, and I especially hope that our opera can grow and develop healthily. Opera needs more performance stages, theater art prospers, and the artistic aesthetic standards of the public in our country will also increase.

Editor-in-charge: Jia Tingyi