A Nitpicking Correction and Amplification
by Cathy Barbash
I recently caught up with Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop’s excellent NYTimes article, “China’s Offering New Culture Venue to Its Citizens.” While one correction was made re: the Nederlander’s corporate structure, there is another China-side correction necessary, should the Times choose to make it.
The article states that the Beijing Music Festival is managed by The China Arts and Entertainment Group. In fact, CAEG, with the Ministry of Culture, manage the “Meet in Beijing” cultural festival each spring, not the Beijing Music Festival. The Beijing Music Festival is directed each fall by Yu Long, with the backing of the Poly Group.
In fact, I’ve heard reports that the Poly Group and CAEG are now competing for venue management contracts across the country, with, as the article mentions, a few foreigners like the Nederlanders and AEG in the mix as well. “Waiguoren (foreigners) beware: AEG tried to manage the Wukesong Arena but was misguided enough to sign an untenable contract, and gave up after several months. This “territorial dispute” will merit an interesting article of its own at some point.