First Challenge in the Global Performance Market! ... '2023 Busan International Performing Arts Market' Successfully Concludes

Held from 13 to 16 ... Opening ceremony with 1,300 attendees, total 18,000 visitors over 4 days

First-ever citizen festival-style performance market with participants from 33 countries' performing arts industries

Unique innovative attempt in

The Busan International Performing Arts Market, a performing arts distribution citizen festival held across Busan with Busan Citizens Hall as the center from the 13th to the 16th, concluded successfully amid great enthusiasm from art professionals and citizens.

Opening performance of the 2023 Busan International Performing Arts Market.

More than 130 domestic and international performing arts industry professionals, over 1,000 art groups and citizens, totaling 18,000 participants, attended the event. A total of 92 performances spanning various genres such as dance, music, theater, magic, comedy, and street arts from both domestic and international artists were showcased, providing opportunities for the distribution of performances and enjoyment of diverse performing arts. In particular, the connection between theater performances and street arts added a special touch to the viewing experience.

Busan City, with the vision of becoming "Asia's largest performing arts city," has been accelerating various performing arts distribution policies. This year, through the innovative and unprecedented attempt of the 'BPAM' (Busan International Performing Arts Market), meaningful achievements were made, confirming the potential for development into a global performing arts distribution platform beyond Asia.

At the opening ceremony held at Busan Citizens Hall, 1,300 attendees including performing arts industry professionals, artists, and citizens from 33 countries worldwide gathered, drawing global attention and marking the successful start of the market.

The event featured a welcoming speech by Mayor Park Hyung-jun, congratulatory remarks by BPAM Artistic Director Lee Jong-ho and Sonia McCash, the Festival Director of the Edinburgh Fringe. Following this, five performances recognized both domestically and internationally across various genres?such as theater (The Clown), dance (Bolero), music (Jo Yoon-sung's Jazz Taryeong), magic (Snap), and musical (Matilda Naughty)?were presented in a comprehensive omnibus format, receiving standing ovations from the audience.

A total of 92 works from diverse genres focused on 'performance distribution' provided distribution opportunities for art industry professionals and enjoyment of the performing arts festival for citizens.

Distinguished from other domestic performing arts events by showcasing an outstanding number of performances on the BPAM stage, the event opened a channel for domestic and international performing arts industry professionals to discover highly satisfying performances tailored to their preferences.

Audience members praised the festival, saying, "It was amazing to have a festival in Busan where we could watch so many diverse performances all at once," and "It was a great opportunity to enjoy a variety of performances to the fullest."

Especially through the 'Network' program, 76 meetings were held between domestic and international performing arts industry companies, artists, and art groups. Several excellent performances, including the Busan play Container (theater), received invitations for performances from performing arts companies in eight countries including Canada, marking tangible achievements.

The 'BPAM Date' program, a network initiative designed for one-on-one matching between domestic and international performing arts industry companies, artists, and art groups to facilitate not only consulting but actual performance distribution, successfully arranged 76 meetings among 20 art groups and 17 domestic and international performing arts companies.

As a result, outstanding performances such as Bolero (Korea National University of Arts) and Container (Warm People, Busan production) received invitations to representative performing arts events in countries including the UK, Canada (CINARS), Germany, the USA, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, and Indonesia.

It is a rare achievement for Korean performances to receive invitations to renowned overseas performing arts markets such as the CINARS Biennale, representing not only Korea but also the Asian region.

Additionally, BPAM Night provided a venue for free networking and an opportunity to widely promote the Busan performing arts ecosystem throughout the event period.

At 'BPAM TALK,' attended by over 150 representatives of global performing arts industry companies, discussions were held on the necessity of building cooperative networks to revitalize the global performing arts ecosystem, forming a consensus on establishing a global performing arts distribution cooperative.

BPAM TALK (International Conference).

Led by BPAM Director Lee Jong-ho, presentations were made by the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Director, Co-Director of Avignon Festival OFF, Director of Adelaide Festival in Australia, and Project Manager of CINARS, progressing as an international conference. They proposed and shared the history, success factors, future directions, expected effects, and win-win strategies of their respective countries' performing arts markets and BPAM.

Furthermore, global performing arts industry professionals agreed on the importance of attending BPAM annually to hold regular meetings in Busan.

From October 14 to 15, approximately 900 performing arts industry professionals and citizens participated in BPAM BOX (booths), which operated to promote performances and provide materials for each art group and performing arts festival, offering opportunities to discover diverse performance content.

During the event, a pavilion was also operated as a space for performance distribution and rest.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun stated, "The successful hosting of this event, created together by performing arts industry professionals, art groups, and citizens from around the world, will be an innovative turning point for Busan's performing arts ecosystem to expand beyond Korea and Asia to the world." He added, "Going forward, the Busan International Performing Arts Market 'BPAM' will serve as a continuous performing arts distribution platform that builds Busan into Asia's top performing arts city and will be developed into the largest performing arts festival in Korea that citizens can fully enjoy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.