By Xing Zhijie

On 30th March, melodious music came from the Sail Square of Binjiang Park. ‘Art together · Meet Art on the Street Corner’ event special session for foreign teachers of Nantong University was held here.

‘I came for a walk in the park today, did not expect to hear my favourite tango Por una Cabeza. I am very pleasantly surprised!’ Liu Qi, a music lover, clapped along the music, and said, ‘it feels very intimate that elegant art can come so close to us in such a down-to-earth way.’

Wu Rong, the Vice Dean of the School of Arts of Nantong University, said that the street concert brought art out of the campus and closer to the public. She hoped that they could improve citizens’ cultural literacy and aesthetic level by the method of ‘art immersion’, and create a new business card for urban art.

From 29th to 30th March, at places including South Street Shopping District (the stage of Nantong Eminent Figures Museum), Wenfeng Park, and Binjiang Park, the ‘Art Together · Meet Art on the Street Corner’ event held a total of 7 performances. Universities in Nantong carried out multiple cultural activities including vocal music, instrumental music, dance, intangible cultural heritage handicrafts, catwalk shows, and artistic practice, in the ways of micro exhibitions, micro performances and micro markets, integrating their respective program settings and artistic resources.

‘Art Together · Meet Art on the Street Corner’ event integrated resources including art teams of universities in Nantong and folk art teams, performed in crowded places such as metro stations, park squares, and shopping districts. The performances are relatively fixed on Saturdays and Sundays. Each activity lasts about one hour.

In the future, open recruitment will be carried out to attract more folk art teams to join. At the same time, there will be stations in more corners of the city.