[Festivals are the nutrients for urban development] Develop performing arts and festivals

What can a tourism festival do? At the closing ceremony of the Beijing International Imperial City Cultural Tourism Festival on July 9, Niu Qingshan, deputy secretary of the Dongcheng District Party Committee and District Governor, commented on this tourism festival: Not only is it fully It displays the long-standing royal traditional culture accumulated as an ancient capital, and displays from multiple angles the modern culture of New East City, which is the cultural center of the capital and the window area of ??the world city, integrating Chinese and Western cultures. Development vitality.

This festival with the theme of "Exploring the Imperial City, Harmony between Heaven and Earth" lasted for half a month. During the event, more than 40 companies in Dongcheng District achieved sales of more than 90 million yuan, an increase from normal times. More than 15%.

How did they do it? Li Xuemin, director of the Dongcheng District Tourism Development Committee, said emotionally in an interview with a reporter from "Leisure·Bang": Festival activities are essential to the existence of a city. It creates a vibrant atmosphere for the development of the city and provides a variety of nutrient environments for residents' lives.

The foundation of festivals

"The Book of Zhou Li Kao Gong Ji" says: "The craftsmen run the country with a square of nine miles and three gates on the side. There are nine warps and nine latitudes in the country, and nine warps and nine latitudes. Rail. The left side is the right side, facing the city. "From the perspective of the plane shape of Beijing, the imperial city is basically symmetrical along the central axis. This form embodies a kind of balanced beauty. On the left side of the imperial city is the Ancestral Temple, which is today the Working People's Cultural Palace. On the right is the Sheji Altar, which is today's Zhongshan Park. In front of the imperial city was the court, and behind it was the market. This pattern has been reflected very accurately since the Yuan Dynasty.

Dongcheng District has been the core area of ??the Imperial City since ancient times. Since 2010, when Dongcheng District merged with Chongwen District, the new Dongcheng has included Qianmen, Temple of Heaven and other important cultural areas, and a new Dongcheng based on culture has emerged.

Festivals in Dongcheng District also revolve around "culture".

During this Imperial City International Tourism Festival, Dongcheng District launched 4 "Imperial City Low-Carbon Cycling Tour" tourism routes in conjunction with the establishment of bicycle rental points. Led by the Imperial City Culture Gold Medal Volunteers, tourists walked through the streets, alleys, alleys and courtyards of the ancient capital to experience the Imperial City culture and urban culture; they also participated in experiences such as writing Chinese characters, making rice dumplings, and preparing traditional Chinese medicine with representatives of bicycle associations and clubs. Activity. Netizen Nanmen Wei Lun's post about the "Dongcheng Cycling Tour" in the Lohas Bar had a civilian-like look with pictures and truth, which made many netizens cheer in unison. Some people want to participate in the event, some post support, and some ask how to become an "Imperial City Culture Gold Medal Volunteer". Different from ordinary brick-making, netizens unanimously support this activity!

Culture The charm and novelty and accessibility of the festival make this event great. Indeed, walking slowly and experiencing the hutongs full of Beijing flavor and memories, the leisure feeling is not only the excitement brought by play, but also an in-depth cultural immersion and education.

TOP: What do you think is the main purpose of Dongcheng Tourism Committee’s festival activities? What are its characteristics?

Li Xuemin: The main purpose is to promote and promote traditional culture and modern culture. Brand building. Because Dongcheng has a profound cultural heritage, whether it is the previous royal culture, imperial city culture, world culture, architectural culture, religious culture and national culture, etc., or the Nanluoguxiang Hutong Festival and the opening of Nanxincang that have been developed in recent years Festival, Spring Cow Whipping Festival and other festivals, and later there will be an alley hawking festival. Such festivals are not only a measure of local culture, but also enhance the cohesion of local residents. The first characteristic it embodies is that it is closely related to local ethnic customs and residents’ lives.

The second feature is the emphasis on internationalization and branding, such as the Wangfujing Brand Festival. There will be many major international brands participating: LV, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, fashion watches, etc. The centralized brand display for about ten days will drive the development of the local commercial trade industry and play a positive role in promoting regional high-end development.

TOP: Among the many activities you have held, which aspects do you think are more important in terms of planning, marketing, execution, etc.?

Li Xuemin: Do We have more than ten years of experience in large-scale events. The main points are as follows: 1. Attitude always comes first; 2. From addition to subtraction. The so-called addition means that when you plan an event, you must be creative and have a main line, and then start from There are many small ideas extending from this trunk. Subtraction means that when you implement activities, you will encounter many problems. Some plans cannot be implemented and should be eliminated. Some plans may be implemented but at a high cost. Such ideas should also be deleted; 3. Being frugal and environmentally friendly is actually more practical. Popular; 4. You need creativity but also security. If there is a conflict between the two, the former must obey the latter. Although creativity is the life of activity, if there is no security, then everything can only return to zero; 5. Be able to integrate Experts, merchants and other network resources; 6. Be good at mobilizing the power of the masses, giving full play to the initiative of each team member, and giving full play to the power of volunteers; 7. Improve the efficiency of on-site VIP services; 8. Do a good job in the aftermath, and make this event a good example. Archive and manage reports and feedback.

Products can speak

Innovation and sustainability have always been Li Xuemin’s basic requirements for Dongcheng tourism festivals.

The innovation of festival activities has led to the innovation of tourism products. It is reported that the "Imperial City Low-Carbon Cycling Tour" project and the "Imperial City Mobile Bus Tour" are not just for festivals. The Dongcheng District Tourism Committee has made these two products regular routes and will promote them nationwide in the future.

There are two situations in the cycling activities they launch. One is free travel and the other is interactive participation. Tourists can rent a bicycle and ride to the set scenic spots to experience writing calligraphy and grabbing unimportant Chinese medicine. It is like a customized tour, with routes and scenic spots arranged for tourists. As long as they pay the fee at the experience point, they can enjoy exclusive The service not only increases the experience, but also deepens people's understanding of traditional Chinese culture.

For Li Xuemin, who has more than ten years of experience in large-scale events, her event organization system is very complete. During planning, different cultural experts and planning companies are her "senior participants". During execution, thousands of volunteers are her right-hand men. After the meeting, quick coordination with the Bureau of Statistics can help her Bring statistics. Even when guiding social forces to organize festivals, she also has a "Conference Workers Alliance" that can quickly release information and conduct bidding. And her job is to find ways to make the event "fun." "Festivals are meant to make people feel happy and relaxed. Because festival consumption drives the economy of the entire city. For example, the German Oktoberfest is dedicated to the supply of beer, the flow of people, the convenience of transportation, and the guarantee of accommodation. Ultimately, It drives the consumption of the entire city, the development of the catering industry, and the increase in accommodation rates...and then affects the economic and trade activities between cities. So you only need to be responsible for making your festival preparations and the content of the entertainment projects to attract guests and people. They will naturally come to buy your cultural products to promote economic growth.”

Isn’t she worried? Yes. That's the tight security that makes many festivals less fun.

TOP: People’s participation in foreign festivals is very high, but relatively speaking, our country’s festivals lack interaction with the masses. What do you think of this problem? What are the solutions? ?

Li Xuemin: These two situations are like an adult and a child and cannot be compared. Just like the International Running of the Bulls and the Rose Parade, which have a history of more than a hundred years, they have accumulated rich experience in events. But in fact, their first event was also very niche, with not many viewers, let alone public participation. We have to admit that there is a certain time gap between the holding of festivals in our country and internationally. We have to compare the few festivals we hold now with others that have held hundreds of festivals. This in itself is not on the same level. If we envy others too much and criticize ourselves, it will only make us continue to feel frustrated and is not conducive to the development of our long-term event planning. Of course, if others are doing better than us now, there must be something we should learn from them. I think the main points they are doing well are: First, the foreign festival market is mature, a large amount of funds come from government support, and the rest is raised through various forces such as society and associations. The second and most important point is that their local government dares to let them hold festivals on their own, while our public security has too limited our execution capabilities due to excessive stress on on-site security issues. If we can be given more space to freely exert our power, I believe that our Chinese people's economic acumen, communication methods, and execution capabilities are not inferior to foreigners at all.

So it’s not that our government wants to entertain itself, but that our public security department has turned our festival activities into a weird circle. The only way to make festivals accessible to the people is to liberalize their approval process.

TOP: How do you think the efficiency of the festival market should be improved?

Li Xuemin: The prerequisite for the operation of the festival market is that our public security department must provide certain relaxed policies. Without this premise, there will be no passenger flow in the market, and there will be no way to get a return on the money invested. Our festival market mechanism is very complete, but the problem now is that the public security department won’t organize it. We are not saying that there is a problem with safety itself. It is true that our current situation is not very good. Every year there are dangers at the Running of the Bulls Festival, and every year at the Oktoberfest there are people drunk on the road. But we also need to distinguish the theme of the activity. Not every activity will have safety issues.