[continued]
The U.S.-China experience has indicated that the effectiveness of structured exchange efforts depends on a diversity of factors — some organizational and some conceptual. The following are examples of organizational factors:
What needs to be achieved in China is a fundamental cultural change. Consultation with individuals is much less of a problem than with politicians, social leaders, and government officials. The inaccessibility of the latter group simply reflects the society’s philosophy toward culture… The Center long ago learned that one of its prime tasks for reaching its goals is education — education of leaders and bureaucrats, as well as the public.
The Center has the conviction that it must take an “advocacy” role in seeking out projects of significance and urgency, or of long-term impact. Its policy is not to wait for or invite proposals, nor to rely on an evaluation panel of a small number of specialists.
Once the need for, and feasibility of, a project are ascertained… the project, depending on its nature and scope, may be carried out in one of the following four modes: a. simply and swiftly by the Center alone; b. through a lengthy and complex process, involving extensive institutional and individual consultations, conferences, research, and field work [e.g., “Two Cities, a Comparative Environmental Study on Innovation and Tradition”]; c. in a staged manner, over a period of time. [When the Center] decided to focus on the future of the arts by bringing a delegation [from China in 1980], this project called for an initial exchange of delegations of project leaders for field study and selection of sites and participants. Three pairs of study teams were then exchanged over a period of two years. A wrap-up conference [Arts Education Conference] was held in July 1987 with the participation of most of the project leaders and participants. The fourth mode of design d. relies largely on a network of individuals. [When the Center] was invited by the Ministry of Culture in 1987 to send a delegation of distinguished Americans… to assess the reality of China’s cultural climate and such relevant issues as the cultural and social context of the arts in China, the relationship between the intellectual and the state, and the current creative environment. It was decided that the most productive method for arranging conversations with artists and intellectuals, as well as social observers in China, was to organize informal gatherings through an expanded network of individuals with whom the Center maintained an ongoing relationship.