early 40 representatives from 11 countries and regions attended in a B & R joint conference  on art education at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) on Oct. 23, 2019 to discuss international cooperation in civilization and art education.

The conference, part of the 21st Shanghai international art festival, had three sections——paper presentation, discussion and master class.

Yang Jing, vice secretary of the general party branch of Shanghai international art festival center, said Shanghai international arts festival will bring more possibilities for art education of innovation and development.

She said more international art education cooperation platforms will be built continuously for teens, art lovers and professional art talents with the help of the festival. All kinds of art institutions, education institutions, enterprises and institutions of resources will also be docked, carrying out cross-border cooperation, diverse, creative activities.

The discussion section was focused on the topics of "innovative ways of cooperation in public art education" and "international culture and art learning". Discussion attendees included Ruby-lim Yang, artistic director of ACT3 Singapore; and Ioan Bondrea, dean of Romania Sibi Lu Zian Braga University.

Representatives from Romania, Poland and Denmark held master classes for teachers and SISU students and art teachers from some primary and secondary schools in Shanghai. The activity included workshops and lectures on "the philosophy and practice of drama education in Europe", "the practice and experience of drama education in Denmark and Europe for children", "the inheritance and creation of Shakespeare's plays", and "reflections on public art education in Sibiu international theatre festival".

Yang introduced the achievements of Shanghai international art festival in the exchange and cooperation of art education in recent years. She also analyzed the projects of China-Poland youth dance training camp and Sibiu international drama festival volunteers.

Sun Yourui, member of SISU drama club Finalmente, recalled his participation in the youth competition of the Shakespeare festival in Gdansk, Poland, in August 2019.

"Communicating with people from different cultural backgrounds is the most valuable part of my overseas exchange,” Sun said, “we can perform Shakespeare's plays in fluent English in Poland today. Hopefully we can tell Chinese stories in different languages around the world and listen to different voices in the future."

This is the first time that a Chinese play has been put on in Gdansk Shakespeare festival, which has received widespread attention and good response from the local public.

Recommended by Shanghai international art festival, Shakespeare Reverb, an original work by SISU drama club Finalmente, has been performed in Poland three times.

After the performance, a review of the play entitled "the theater of energy" was published on Shakespeare Daily--“The actors are very outgoing and full of positive energy, and their enthusiasm makes the whole performance close to the audience. The seven actors combine the most famous scenes of Shakespeare with their private lives, and leave ponderation to the audience through mix-and -match.”

Yang presided over the opening ceremony. Other speakers included Joe Sidek, founder of the Georgetown art festival of Malaysia; and Tatyana Dmitrievna Smelkova, director of music of Russian state normal university.

Representatives from Shanghai international art festival center, Shanghai municipal education committee and Shanghai arts education committee also attended the conference, along with teachers from SISU.