Local Issues Take Stage – Culture andCommunity Revitalization
Barbara Geilhorn, Cultural Studies
In recent years, regional and community theatre are increasinglygaining attention in contrast to the hitherto almost exclusive focus
on the capital’s culture scene. The boom of regional arts andtheatre festivals are a clear marker of this trend. At the same time,renowned artists of various generations are rushing into rural areas
to produce art that gives local citizens and their issues a voice. My
project investigates how the multiple challenges faced by theJapanese regions are represented and negotiated in performanceand cultural production. Arts in general and regional andcommunity theatre in particular can serve as a platform to retell
people’s stories and create a public sphere to foster collective
experience and social debate (Forenza 2017).

Research Questions
Ø How are the multiple challenges faced by the Japanese regions
are represented and negotiated in the arts?
Ø What topics and issues are addressed and how are theyrealized?
Ø How do these art works participate in shaping public discourse
on rural Japan between an idealized repository of nostalgia anda backward “other”?
Ø Have the cultural activities examined actually resulted in any
revitalization (chihō sōsei) or triggered any change on thecommunity and individual level? And what are the long-termperspectives?
Ø How do local and non-local actors collaborate and how do theyrate their teamwork and results?
Ø What are the similarities and differences across investigatedcommunities and what generalizations can be made?

ExampleThe Kinosaki International Arts Center (KIAC), which was founded in2014 by Hirata Oriza (b. 1962), a leading figure in the Japaneseculture and theatre world, in the rural city of Toyooka (HyōgoPrefecture) is a prominent case in point. Hirata has the vision todevelop this artists-in-residence program into “an Asian version ofthe Avignon Festival Fringe” and plans to move the base of his
Seinendan theater company from Tokyo to Toyooka by 2020. His
aims are twofold: first, to search for new ways to produce “worksthat relate to today’s social and political issues and provoke
discussion among people” (Tanaka 2018) by working closely withlocal individuals and institutions at a place he considers moresuitable for artistic creation than the capital city. Second, toimprove the quality of live and counter depopulation through thearts and enhance education and social services through drama.
With his aim to create “an environment where people meet andfind new perspectives of the world” (Kinosaki International Arts
Center, 2013) Hirata’s project goes far beyond a quest for aesthetic
innovation or the engagement with discrete social issues.

Methods
Ø Qualitative case studies, interviews and participant observationin various rural communities
Ø Investigation of the interactions between artists andorganizations and individuals from various local communitiesØ In-depths analyses of representative art works and performancetexts including the conditions of production
Ø Application of theory from various disciplines such as socialstudies, cultural studies and anthropology

Hirata Oriza

Strategic SignificanceIn spite of the growing international interest in “socially engagedart” (Jackson 2011 and Bishop 2012), Japanese cultural studies
have hitherto hardly taken into account the relationship betweensocially informed activism and cultural production. My projectcorresponds to this “social turn” in the arts and brings togetherexpertise from cultural studies, social studies and anthropology todevelop a wider methodology and to contribute to a better
understanding of Japanese culture and society. The questions
raised by local culture and community theatre (e.g. economic
hardship, ageing, depopulation, and the consequences of the tripledisaster) are based on challenges facing not only Japan but manyother countries as well. In facilitating a greater understanding ofthese artistic responses to social changes and challenges, contemporary
Japanese culture can be discussed as a role model for others.

References

KIAC children‘s project with the artist Moriyama Mirai

Claire Bishop: Artificial hells: participatory art and the politics of spectatorship. London: Verso Books, 2012.
Brad Forenza: Sustained Community Theater Participation as Civil Society Involvement. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 2017, Vol. 46, 3 (2017): 549-566.
Shannon Jackson: Social Works. Performing Art, Supporting Publics. New York: Routledge, 2011.
Kinosaki International Arts Center, 2013. kiac.jp
Nobuko Tanaka: Dramatist Oriza Hirata has a vision for theater. The Japan Times, January 11, 2018.

More about this project