The 2024 Beijing International Performing Arts Expo, jointly hosted by Beijing Performing Arts Group, the Performing Arts Working Committee of the China Cultural Management Association, and the Beijing Performance and Entertainment Industry Association, will be held from August 21st to 23rd. Industry practitioners from 9 countries including the UK, France, the US, Russia, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Kazakhstan, Serbia, as well as 27 performing arts groups and 84 domestic and foreign performing arts institutions from across the country gathered in Beijing to discuss and jointly build high-quality development of the performing arts industry. Art connects generations, countries, cultures, and nations P é ter Fekete, former Minister of Culture of Hungary and Chairman of the Budapest International Circus Festival Organizing Committee, stated at the opening ceremony that the holding of this expo will promote the integration and mutual assistance of world art, and jointly create greater value. This expo integrates exhibition display, negotiation and docking, promotion roadshow, and cooperation and exchange. The exhibition is mainly held at the National Stadium, with a 3000 square meter exhibition hall and supporting exchange and negotiation area, 3 themed booths, 21 special exhibitions, and over a hundred exhibitors participating. Three forums invited more than 30 experts, scholars, and practitioners in the entertainment industry to join and discuss the latest achievements and experiences in the development of the entertainment industry. The main forum is themed "Cultural Reflections and Practical Insights in the Construction Process of Building a 'City of Performing Arts' and' Watching Beijing with Great Plays'". It aims to create a high-end reception room, analyze the development trend of the performing arts industry, and discuss new patterns and ideas for contemporary art education with the theme of "Care and Reflection - The Connection and Linkage between Contemporary Art Education and the Performing Arts Industry". The two sub forums will respectively focus on the themes of "Chinese Stage Art - New Perspectives on Chinese Stage in the New Era" and "G Era of Drama IP and Film IP Conversion", bringing together leading figures in the domestic cultural and artistic circles, focusing on innovative innovations in stage art expression techniques and innovative explorations in artistic content conception, and exploring new paths for the development of culture and art. The six "Beautiful Together" roadshows promoting high-quality Chinese and foreign plays have attracted nearly 40 excellent performing arts projects both domestically and internationally. In the musical promotion section, musicals such as "Make a Name for Ten Thousand", "Flying Apsaras", "Six Queens", "Around the World in 80 Days", "The King and I", etc. appeared together. The exchange and collision, mutual learning and integration of Chinese and foreign drama genres brought more diverse artistic perspectives and possibilities for cultural exchange at the Beijing International Performing Arts Expo. Zhao Jiachen, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Beijing Performing Arts Group, stated in his opening speech that the purpose of hosting the Beijing International Performing Arts Expo is to build a platform for exhibition, exchange, and cooperation, to jointly discuss and build high-quality development of performing arts. It is of great significance to serve the construction of the capital of performing arts, give full play to the radiating and driving role of Beijing as a national cultural center, and promote the prosperity and development of cultural undertakings and industries. With the help of the Expo platform, Beijing Performing Arts Group has released its strategic plan for high-quality plays from 2024 to 2025, and will make every effort to create four key works worth looking forward to, including the high-quality dance drama "The Protagonist", the Xinjiang dance drama "Kunlun Ballad", the drama "Himalaya" (tentative name), and the children's drama "Black Eyes on the Plateau". As a heavyweight event of the Expo, the first annual meeting of the National Performing Arts Group Cooperation Alliance was held during the event period. It is reported that the alliance has absorbed 24 national performing arts groups as member units in the first batch, with Beijing Performing Arts Group as the chairman unit of the alliance, and Zhao Jiachen, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Beijing Performing Arts Group, as the chairman of the alliance. The alliance will hold an annual meeting to summarize and exchange work, hold a work conference every year, hold special thematic activities, and carry out project cooperation promotion. In addition, Beijing Performing Arts Group also signed strategic cooperation framework agreements with Beijing Institute of Printing, Tianjin North Performing Arts Group, and Hebei Performing Arts Group at the Expo; Beijing Jingyan Culture Media Co., Ltd. signed a project cooperation agreement with Shanghai Wenguang Performing Arts (Group) Co., Ltd; China Acrobatic Troupe Co., Ltd. and National Stadium Co., Ltd. have signed a cooperation agreement on the boutique international circus project, opening up broader possibilities for future cooperation between the two parties. Song Guanlin, Vice Chairman of the China Cultural Management Association, Chairman of the Performing Arts Working Committee, and Director of the National Arts Foundation, stated that the successful hosting of the 2024 Beijing International Performing Arts Expo has provided Beijing with a platform and link for domestic and international performing arts cooperation and exchange, playing the march of watching Beijing's grand performance, laying a solid foundation for building the capital of performing arts, weaving a link for cultural exchange between China and foreign countries, and serving as a solid pivot for shaping Beijing's new cultural image in the new era. (New Society)