Partnership Brings Commercial Theater Development Program to China
On Wednesday, March 13, 2024, Boston University’s Metropolitan College entered into a trailblazing agreement with CPAA Theatres that will allow employees from the China Arts and Entertainment Group (CAEG) subsidiary to earn their Graduate Certificate in Commercial Theater Development through the BU MET Arts Administration program.
A delegation from CAEG and CPAA visited Metropolitan College for a signing of the compact, joined by the leadership of Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment. Those two organizations have enjoyed a long, fruitful partnership, beginning with a strategic cooperation agreement in 2011. Nederlander plays a key role in MET’s Commercial Theater Development program, connecting arts administration students with real-world Broadway producers and professionals, and was essential to bringing about this rare international educational opportunity.
“I’m so pleased that we have established this agreement with CPAA Theatres that will make it possible for their employees to earn the Graduate Certificate in Commercial Theater Development and lay the groundwork for a broader collaboration in the new future,” said Arts Administration Director Douglas DeNatale. “This relationship will enrich our program’s international profile and also bring our students into greater contact with China’s burgeoning theater industry.”
“Higher education cooperation is an important field of cultural exchanges between China and the United States,” said CAEG President Jinsheng Li. “Through this cooperation, head enterprises in the performing arts industry in China and the US join forces with the world’s top university, BU, to provide learning and practice opportunities for those who are interested in art management and the performing arts industry.”
This, he said, “will help to cultivate more talent, enhance cultural exchanges and mutual learning, and promote art and friendship.”
BU’s Graduate Certificate in Commercial Theater Development will be of immediate value to the high-profile cultural programming CPAA manages in China and abroad. As visiting students, these international learners can get started on their MET education as soon as this summer with the 10-week Accelerated Summer Institute for Commercial Theater Development or this fall in the part-time program.
CAEG was formed in 2004 and is under the umbrella of the Chinese Minister of Culture. Over its history, it has played a key leadership role in China’s foreign cultural exchanges and cultural trade. CPAA is a core pillar of CAEG, as the group owns and manages 17 theaters and the Silk Road International League of Theatres, an alliance of 130 large theaters around the world.
Qingqing Zhou, CAEG’s employee director and deputy general manager of CPAA Theatres, believes the partnership between CPAA, Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment, and Boston University will amplify the opportunity posed by the Arts Administration program, as well as “promote cultural exchanges and school-enterprise cooperation in high-level arts education between China and the US.”
“The program aims to cultivate young talents in arts management with an international perspective and innovative thinking,” she said. “Students will not only acquire professional knowledge but also learn about the operational models and experiences of outstanding performing arts companies.”
The two groups are also exploring the possibility of including the MS in Arts Administration as part of the CPAA employee exchange or as part of a dual degree collaboration with Chinese institutions of higher learning. The mutual goal of the university-enterprise collaboration is to cultivate professionals in arts management and stage production who are steeped in international perspectives and innovative thinking.
“This is a natural extension of the work we have been doing with Nederlander Worldwide Enterprise to build closer ties with the commercial arts sector in a global context,” DeNatale added.
Read more about the partnership in the Global Times.