PRESS RELEASE

June 4th, 2010

Tokyo Culture Creation Project Expanded Lineup in 2010-2011
Collaboration with world-class artists, expansion of public-participation programs,
and community network building through art

Since 2008, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Metropolitan
Foundation for History and Culture have been executing the ―Tokyo Culture Creation
Project‖ in collaboration with various arts and cultural organizations and art NPOs,
with the objective of creating and publicizing arts and culture that are unique to Tokyoand developing children’s rich sensibilities through arts and culture. The Project isbased on three principal programs of the ―Festival/Art event programs‖ and ―Kids’programs‖, which started in the first year of the Project, and the ―Tokyo Artpoint
Project‖, which was launched in 2009 to develop Artpoints, or local cultural focal points,in Tokyo.
Our experience with the Project has given us an excellent opportunity to directly
observe how interaction with culture brings about change in people and our city. We
recognized anew that the power of artistic, cultural creativity was indispensable for oursociety to recover its creative vigor.
Through our new projects and programs for 2010–2011, and by actively utilizing theartistic talents of our city as well as fully exploiting its cultural resources, the Project
aims to promote Tokyo’s culture to the world, increase Tokyo’s cultural presence in theworld, and invigorate the city as a cultural hub stimulating interaction among people of
Asia and the world.
As in the last two years, the Project will launch new programs for the year 2010–2011.
In Tokyo with vigorous choral activities, the world-famous chorus director Mr. Roberto
Gabbiani will be invited to direct a new chorus group that will be formed throughauditions. There will also be a new project in the Sumida river area headed by theinternationally acclaimed contemporary artist Mr. Tadashi Kawamata. For the ―Kids’
programs‖ to provide children with opportunities to gain firsthand experience of artsand culture, a new program will be started to promote exchange between kids andtheatrical companies invited from abroad.
Furthermore, we will concentrate our efforts into nurturing torchbearers andsupporters of culture by expanding our programs for public solicitation/participation
as well as enhancing human resources development. Focusing our attention on various
localities in Tokyo, we will also carry out projects aimed at strengthening local
community networks through art. Through these efforts, we hope to invigorate Tokyo’s
culture from a wide range of angles offered by the Tokyo Culture Creation Project.
―Tokyo in Progress—the View from Sumida River‖―Music Weeks in Tokyo‖

1Mr. Roberto Gabbiani©Tadashi KAWAMATA

■ Collaboration with world-class artists
We will launch two new projects in collaboration with world-renowned artists.
For the ―Music Weeks in Tokyo‖, auditions will be held to select members of theSuper Chorus Tokyo, which will be directed by the chorus director Mr. Roberto Gabbiani,
who is based in Teatro Regio di Torino in Italy. In October, the chorus will hold a concert
with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, featuring the theme of thequintessential musical element, ―voice‖.
The internationally acclaimed artist Mr. Tadashi Kawamata will also launch theproject ―Tokyo in Progress—the View from Sumida River‖. In connection with theconstruction of the Tokyo Sky Tree tower, wooden towers will be built along Sumida
River to contemplate on the changes in the city of Tokyo from new angles.

■ Expansion of human resources programs and public-participation programs
We will strengthen our programs for training
torchbearers and supporters of arts and culture. In the―Tokyo Art Research Lab‖ project, 10 lecture courses will
open to examine, analyze and explain currently ongoingart projects, through close collaboration among theprogram coordinators, research assistants, interns, andlab students.
A new addition to our public-participation programs is―TACT(Theatre Arts for Children and Teens)/FESTIVAL‖,
which includes stage performances and workshops bytheater groups invited from abroad, providing
opportunities for families with children to participate.

―Tokyo Art Research Lab‖

■ Projects in close collaboration with local communities and networking through art
The TERATOTERA project, which covers the area
between Koenji station and Kichijoji station on the JR line,
will promote cooperation among various arts and cultural
facilities in the area and organize events regularly.
For the art project BOKUTO MACHIMISE 2010, ―TheHouse of Atreus, Sumida-ku, Tokyo.‖ project will belaunched with the participation of the townspeople tostage a Greek tragedy in an old discarded house in Bokuto
area. There will also be a new project for networking toproduce collaboration among people who are active in thisarea.

―BOKUTO MACHIMISE‖■ Tokyo’s new “regular” programs rising out of continuity
We will also expand on the programs we have been
carrying out since 2008.
The international festival of performing arts
―Festival/Tokyo 10‖ will have a lineup of some
20 performances, including new creations and world
premiere performances. The number of co-productions
with Japanese and foreign theater companies will also
be increased. In addition, a new public-solicitation
program will be started to support young artists to stage
their works. We will further expand the scope of thefestival in a bid to make it the leading festival ofperforming arts in Asia.

―Festival/Tokyo‖『Riesenbutzbach』©Dorothea Wimmer2

The all-night art event ―Roppongi Art Night‖, offering ―Yebisu International Festival for Arts &Alternative Visions 2010‖
an out-of-the-ordinary experience of the merging of thearts and the city in the Roppongi area, has now become
quite established, with the number of participants
increasing each year.
The ―Yebisu International Festival for Arts &Alternative Visions‖, which introduces the public toworks of outstanding quality across the entire field of
the art of visual images, is now not only confined toinside the building of Tokyo Metropolitan Museum ofTakayuki Fujimoto/ Daito Manabe/ Motoi
Ishibashi 《Time Lapse Plant 2010 (4rings)》2010
Photography, but has also spread out into thesurrounding urban space.
In the field of traditional arts, we have been carrying out the ―Tokyo Traditional
Performing Arts Festival‖ from last year that includes performances by first-rate
performers, with the objective of enhancing publicity for traditional performing arts.
For the year 2010–2011, the ―Traditional Performing Arts for Kids‖, which has been
conducted from the year 2008–2009 to offer children the opportunity to learn traditionalarts from first-class artists, and the ―Tokyo Grand Tea Ceremony‖ that provides thechance for all to enjoy tea ceremony, will be integrated into the program as threeprojects in the field of traditional arts. With the Noh actor Mr. Man Nomura as chair of
the newly organized ―Tokyo Traditional Arts Program‖ executive committee, we will
widely communicate in Japan and abroad the appeal of traditional Japanese arts andculture.
We believe that continuity has been the key to allowing these programs to take root as
new ―regular‖ programs unique to the city of Tokyo.

Inquiry from the press should be directed to:
PR Office Secretariat of the Tokyo Culture Creation Project
Tel: 03-3818-2465 Fax: 03-5689-0455 E-mail: tokyobunka@prinfo.co.jp

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