Jackpot for artists

A large-scale photography show entitled Chinese People and the Chinese Dream, and a new dance by Wang Yabin and her studio, are funded by the national agency.[Photo provided to China Daily]

A national agency unveils winning applicants for its first year of grants.

The China National Arts Fund, the national level arts-dedicated fund, will distribute 429 million yuan ($70 million) in its first-year grants for art projects across the country in the coming year, according to a report released by the arts fund recently.

Altogether, the fund will award grants to 394 art projects from among 4,124 applications. The awards range from tens of thousands to several million yuan. The biggest portion of the fund, about 230 million yuan, goes to the performing arts. The rest is dedicated to painting, calligraphy and photography, communication and exchange, and talent cultivation.

"We find that among those we support, a big portion of art projects are either influenced by the Chinese dream or spreading Chinese values," says Zhao Shaohua, vice-director-general of the fund.

In October, President Xi Jinping called for art activities that are both of high quality and morally inspiring when he talked to artists at a cultural symposium. Xi also encouraged Chinese values in art.

About one-fifth of the funded art projects are influenced by the "Chinese dream", according to Zhao.

A large-scale photography show entitled Chinese People and the Chinese Dream is one of them. The exhibition, held in August at China National Museum, displayed nearly 240 pictures to show ordinary people in their daily life. After receiving support from the national fund, the organizer China Photographers magazine will expand the scale of the show in the coming year.

Other key subject areas that won the fund's support are "the Silk Road ", "the beauty of China" and "the 70th anniversary of the victory in the anti-fascist war", adds Zhao.

In addition to State-owned art entities, individual artists and private art groups are also among the beneficiaries, accounting for more than one-fourth of all the art projects.

Dancer Wang Yabin and her studio received a sum of money for her new dance, which is still at its infancy stage. She says it's incredible to receive money from a foundation funded by the central-government for her new dance, still in its production. It's a dance adapted from a popular Chinese novel, Bi Feiyu's The Moon Opera. It tells the story of an opera actress' desperate pursuit of a leading role and her slide into mental illness.

"The new dance focuses on a traditional Chinese woman who is fascinated with opera. But we will perform it in a contemporary way. I think that's why we got funded," says Wang.

Wang's new dance will debut in China in 2015 and go on a world tour in 2016.

Han Ziyong, director of the administration department of the fund, tells the website of People's Daily that 30 percent of the money will be allocated to each chosen art project at its creation phrase, 50 percent during its production and 20 percent after it finishes all performances.

The use of the money given to art projects will be supervised. If the money is not used in the planned way, the art entity will be put on a blacklist, Han says.

Huang Jiayu, director of the fund, says there will be a special focus on those targeting grassroots people and the remote, impoverished and ethnic regions. But Han says the standard for art projects will not be lowered.

"Our mission is to support China's artistic creation. It's not a fund to support 'the needy'. Instead, we are here to fund creative and high-quality art projects," says Han.

Since its establishment at the end of 2013, the China National Arts Fund has been under the spotlight. It's the first national-level arts fund that receives money from the central government, which plans to invest 2 billion yuan into the fund by the end of 2015.

Han says the agency is cautious about its first-year grants and will monitor the reactions of the artists and the public to guide future awards.