Our General and Artistic Director, Darko Brlek, was invited as guest of honour and speaker to the ChinaSPAF Performing Arts Fair of the China Shanghai International Arts Festival, held from 19 to 23 October. The fair is part of the annual China Shanghai International Arts Festival. It is hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism and organised by the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government.

The photo shows the entire delegation present at this year’s meeting, with Hu Heping, China’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, standing on Director Brlek’s right, and Liu Duo, Vice-Mayor of Shanghai, on his left.

Darko Brlek was a speaker at the Network of Silk Road Arts Festivals Round Table, which marked the 10th anniversary of the launch of the initiative. The cooperation between European and Asian festival directors has proved to be very beneficial. It has allowed participating institutions to learn about different successful practices in organising events, thus improving their methods. It has also brought about intercultural exchanges with performances by talented artists from both continents. The Festival Ljubljana has been offering Chinese artists the opportunity to perform since 1987, with more than 1,500 artists from China having performed on the festival’s stages to date.

We are pleased that our institution participates in such important international projects, as this contributes to the better recognisability of Slovenian culture in the world, and also supports it in such initiatives by facilitating performances of Slovenian artists at participating festivals and institutions.