Community takes art out onto the street

JIADING District Cultural Center was the venue for a performance as part of the annual Xincheng Road Cultural Festival.

First held in 2010, the festival gathers a group of art-loving residents every year to promote original Shanghai cultural brands by giving performances such as dance, singing and sketches to locals.

In the past nine years, the Xincheng Road community has stimulated the enthusiasm of residents, established an interactive platform for residents and nurtured a number of literary and art troupes.

So far, the festival has created 270 original artistic productions.

Composer Guan Wei served as a volunteer during the festival. He has composed many original songs, such as “Lao Zhang,” “Be a Good Man” and “We are by Your Side.” “Lao Zhang” was selected as the Volunteers’ Song of Jiading and staged on the community network Spring Festival Gala.

“We tell good stories through literary and artistic works, and constantly enhance the cultural influence of Xincheng Road community,” said a staff member at the Xincheng Road Community Sports Center.

This year’s original artworks mainly focus on the theme of “Visit and Investigation,” the 800th anniversary of the foundation of Jiading and the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up to promote more in-depth understanding of contemporary China and 800-year-old Jiading.

Guan’s “Extraordinary Jiading” song tells the history, culture and changes in Jiading over the past 800 years.

The lyrics features some of the district’s tourism and cultural landmarks.

Xincheng Road community also borrows experiences from other cultural institutes. In March, the community cooperated with Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center to set up the “Xu Xing Studio.”

“Fun Talk of Pets” is the first drama created by the studio, in which all the actors from Xincheng Road community are guided by professional actors from Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center.