Symposium “The Future of Arts Festivals”

October 30th
Venue Toshima City Office (Toshima Center Square)
2-45-1 Minami-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku
Date 10/30 (Fri) 14:00     Session 1
10/30 (Fri) 19:00     Session 2
Free admission (priority to reservations)
Language: Japanese
Symposium

Session 1: The Future of Arts Festivals in Tokyo

Date: 10/30 (Fri) 14:00
Panelists: Taneo Kato (Executive Director, Association for Corporate Support of the Arts)
Shinichiro Momohara (Deputy Director, Bureau of Citizens and Cultural Affairs, Tokyo Metropolitan Government)
Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto (NLI Research Institute, Tokyo Arts & Culture Council)
Hiroshi Watanabe (Vice Mayor, Toshima City)
Moderator: Sachio Ichimura (Directors Committee, Festival/Tokyo)

This symposium examines the role of art festivals in Japan as we look ahead to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics and as cultural programs in Tokyo continue to pick up steam. The panel includes leading festival directors from around Japan, as well as other people working in the arts.

Taneo Kato

Taneo Kato

Executive Director, Association for Corporate Support of the Arts

Born in 1948 in Hyogo Prefecture. From 1990-2013, he was involved with Asahi corporate support for the arts, such as through the Asahi Art Festival. From 2004-2010, he was involved with Yokohama City of Culture and Art. He left Asahi in 2012. Other major roles include as general adviser to Saitama Triennale 2016, at Chishima Foundation for Creative Osaka, as advisor to Water and Land Niigata Art Festival 2015, at Saitama Arts Foundation, and as Chair of the Arts Council Tokyo Advisory Board. He received the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Arts Prize in 2008.


shinichiro momohara

Shinichiro Momohara

Deputy Director, Bureau of Citizens and Cultural Affairs, Tokyo Metropolitan Government

Born in 1961, Shinichiro Momohara joined the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 1961, initially as part of the Bureau of Waterworks. In 1997, he became Deputy Associate Director of the Community Culture Department at the Bureau of Citizens and Cultural Affairs. Since then he has held serveral posts in the Bureau of Citizens and Cultural Affairs, being involved with cultural policy. He was appointed Deputy Director of the Bureau of Citizens and Cultural Affairs in July 2015.


Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto

Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto

NLI Research Institute, Tokyo Arts & Culture Council

Born in 1958 in Tokushima Prefecture. After graduate studies in urban planning at Waseda University, Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto worked for the Institute for Social Engineering before joining NLI Research Institute in 1989. He has worked as a consultant for cultural facilities such as Tokyo Opera City, Alios Iwaki Performing Arts Center, while researching cultural policy, creative city planning, and cultural Olympiad projects. He currently holds positions on the Tokyo Council for Arts and Culture Committee, the Cultural Policy Committee of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Cultural Evaluation Policy Council, the Agency for Cultural Affairs 2020 Cultural Events Consideration Committee, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Olympic & Paralympic Education Expert Council, and the Association for Corporate Support of the Arts, as well as being a part-time lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts.


Hiroshi Watanabe

Hiroshi Watanabe

Vice Mayor of Toshima City

Born in 1962 in Tokyo. He joined the Ministry of Construction in 1985 and was involved in city planning at Miyagi Prefecture, the Embassy of Japan in Thailand, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Fukuoka Prefecture, and East Japan Railway Company. He is a doctor of engineering and a visiting professor at Nihon University. He was appointed Vice Mayor of Toshima City on April 1st, 2014.

Sachio Ichimura

Sachio Ichimura

Directors Committee, Festival/Tokyo

Born in 1949. He has served as an administrator for Sankai Juku, Toyota Art Management Lecture Director, Park Tower Art Program Advisor, President of Theater TV, Administrative Director of Tokyo International Festival of Performing Arts, and Director of Tokyo International Arts Festival. His long career has seen him work in Japan and overseas in performing arts programming and production, as well as operating cultural facilities, arts management, projects connecting corporations with culture, and NPO research. He is currently Chairman of NPO Arts Network Japan, as well as an associate professor in the Department of Musical Creativity and the Environment at Tokyo University of the Arts.

Session 2: Art from Now

Date: 10/30 (Fri) 19:00
Panelists Yoshitaka Mouri (Associate Professor, Musical Creativity and the Environment, Tokyo University of the Arts)
Kaku Nagashima (dramaturge)
Yuichiro Nagatsu (Research Laboratory for Dialogues and Arts of Diversity and Divisions [NPO])
Shirotama Hitsujiya (Artistic Director of YUBIWA Hotel, playwright, director, actor)
Moderator: Directors Committee, Festival/Tokyo

Art is no longer only something that belongs to the artist who creates it. Today we are seeing an increased need for a deeper role for art within our society. This symposium will examine ideas, issues, and avant-garde art from the perspective of both sociologists and art practitioners.

Yoshitaka Mouri

Yoshitaka Mouri

Associate Professor, Musical Creativity and the Environment, Tokyo University of the Arts

Dr. Yoshitaka Mouri is Associate Professor of Sociology and Cultural Studies at Tokyo University of the Arts. His research interests are postmodern culture, media, art, the city, and transnationalism. His publications include “Street no Shiso” (The Philosophy in the Streets) (NHK Publications, 2009) and “Culture = Politics: The Emergence of New Cultural Forms of Protest in the Age of Freeter” in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 6/1 (2005), “J-Pop Goes the World: A New Global Fandom in the Age of Digital Media” in “Made in Japan: Studies in Popular Music”, (T. Mitsui, ed., Routledge, 2014), and “New Collectivism, Participation and Politics after the East Japan Great Earthquake” in “World Art” Volume 5, Issue 1 (Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2015).


Kaku Nagashima

Kaku Nagashima

Dramaturge

As one of the pioneering dramaturges in Japan, Kaku Nagashima has collaborated with many theatre directors and choreographers. In recent years, he has become interested in taking theatrical ideas and techniques out of the theatre and into the city, and is also actively involved in art projects. He is a member of Mixed Media Product and Shigeki Nakano + Frankens. His recent work includes “Yotsuya Zotanshu + Yotsuya no Kaidan” (F/T13), “Rashomon|Yabunonaka” (F/T14), “Don Giovanni” (Nissay Theatre), the “The House of Atreus” series, “Kaku Nagashima’s How-To-Make-Laboratory: Someone’s Dream” (Tokyo Art Point Project), “The World” (Kakuya Ohashi and Dancers), “Obake School” (Sotofra, Toshima Summer Art Festival).

Noriyuki Kiguchi

Yuichiro Nagatsu

Research Laboratory for Dialogues and Arts of Diversity and Divisions (NPO)

Yuichiro Nagatsu completed a doctorate at Tokyo University of the Arts. His research subject is socially inclusive arts activities, such as artistic activities by the disabled. He attempts a dual approach of research and praxis exploring how people from different positions and background can work together. His current main project, Diver-sion Tokyo, examines diversity and borders in society through surveys, research, and dialogue. He is a researcher at Keio University and part-time lecturer at Tokyo Kasei University.

Shirotama Hitsujiya

Shirotama Hitsujiya

Artistic Director of YUBIWA Hotel, playwright, director, actor

Born in 1967 in Hokkaido. “Long Distance Love” was performed in 2001 while connected online to New York during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “Candies” toured North America and Europe in 2006. In 2011, “Doe” was created as an international co-production with an American playwright. “Heavenly Love III” was performed in the sea at the 2013 Setouchi Triennale, on a railway at the 2014 Naka-Boso International Art Festival Ichihara Art x Mix, and at a snow shed at the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field in 2015. Since 2014, she has been working on a project for Arts Council Tokyo turning the city of Tokyo into a stage. In 2006, Newsweek Japan selected her as one of the “100 globally recognized Japanese women”.
www.yubiwahotel.com