FESTIVAL/TOKYO
Festival/Tokyo Performing Arts Festival launching from Tokyo
We offer our deepest condolences to the victims of the unprecedented March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and hope every day for the speedy recovery of the region and those who have suffered, still living under so much uncertainty 4 months after the catastrophe.
This is the fourth installment of Festival/Tokyo. Aiming to promote Tokyo culture to the rest of the world F/T11 will be held for 46 days from September 16 to November 13, organized by Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Culture Creation Project (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture), along with Toshima Ward and its cultural development body the Toshima Future Culture Foundation, and the NPO Arts Network Japan. The first three Festivals – F/T09 Spring in March 2009, F/T09 Autumn from October to December of the same year, and F/T10 in November 2010 – attracted attention for their line-up of global cutting-edge theatre artists, establishing F/T as an international performing arts festival representing Tokyo and all Japan. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their generous support. This new fourth edition to the series will build on the achievements and experiences of the Festival’s genesis, pushing the event further by drawing on the strengths of the Asian region.
The previous three Festivals all staged many productions that fundamentally questioned the possibilities of the power held in contemporary society by the media. This year’s Festival, with the main venue of the Tokyo Metropolitan Arts Space being under renovation, will develop numerous projects utilizing spaces outside of conventional theaters. While once again re-examining the relationship between theatre and the city, and between theatre and society, the Festival will fully harness the potential of world-famous international metropolis Tokyo – and rediscover it.
Further, the Festival should become a platform for dialogue with performing arts creativity in Asia, expanding its program and communication especially for that region. The F/T Emerging Artists Program will broaden into Asian countries and we will launch the F/T Award as a new experiment for young Asian theatre artists and their work, setting up new values for Asia’s creativity.
Through hosting this Festival we will give birth to new visions that can become the seeds of post-earthquake rehabilitation, dispatching once more to the rest of the globe the unique creativity that only Tokyo can produce. We look forward to welcoming you at the fourth edition of Festival/Tokyo.
Festival/Tokyo organizers
What is the Tokyo Culture Creation Project?
The Tokyo Culture Creation Project is a project that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture have been executing since 2008 in collaboration with various arts and cultural organizations and art NPOs. The Project’s objectives are to create and promote arts and culture that are unique to Tokyo, to develop children’s rich sensibilities through arts and culture, and to create various local cultural focal points in Tokyo.
The Project’s activities include organization of events and festivals in the fields of theatre, music, traditional performing arts and fine art, among others; facilitation of collaborative art programs between residents of Tokyo and artists; nurture of torchbearers and supporters of culture who help make arts an integral part of the city of Tokyo; and operation of programs to provide children with the opportunity to experience arts and culture.
Utilizing the city’s diverse and strong cultural base as a metropolis, we aim to establish Tokyo’s cultural presence in the world by communicating the city’s attractiveness and to make Tokyo an international cultural hub.
