The question I ask myself and now you, is whether the same will be true for Culture & Arts. Will it matter for the consumer whether the performance he/she buys originates from a specific country or a specific cultural circle? Are we moving, yes or no, towards a world where Culture & Arts and performing arts reject borders and become independent of their roots?

If the answer to the question is yes, it means that Asia and the West become irrelevant as concepts defining Culture & Arts performance and artistic experience. If no, it means that Culture & Arts confines our mindset to frozen cultural frameworks. In the cast they appear as intellectual borderlines.

Thesis
The thesis I put forward is that presently we are moving towards blurring the cultural borderlines Asia versus the West but the persistence of this trend is far from certain.

Premises
The history of civilisation has like a pendulum oscillated between seclusion and internationalism. For more than 50 years internationalism perceived as the way we think and act has been THE model - uncontested, unchallenged, unquestioned. Now it is being put on trial having to prove that it can fulfil its promises. It is not any longer the only model on stage. Growing resentment opens the door for other models in the beauty contest to enter the limelight.

For Culture & Arts the question is whether inspiration crops up from domestic sources or reflects a genuine internationalism. Does the artistic mindset ticks with the international clock or does it fall into tune with different world time zones? Does it belong to the national culture or does it express itself better redeemed from the national framework. Is it an instrument for nationalism or for internationalism? In the context of the agenda today: Does it improve or depreciate performing arts to link it to its Asian or Western sources? And what are the repercussions for politics, economics and the social fabric of a stronger or weaker linkage?

We may enjoy the global superficial mass culture but what determines our fundamental attitudes (set of values) is the basic culture forged by ethnicity, religion and family values. It is rarely, if at all global and only malleable, if at all over a longer time span. To overcome this barrier we need to exercise tolerance.

Tolerance constitutes the right to think and act differently than other people but within a mutually agreed framework. Tolerance defined in this way forces us to know precisely where we stand ourselves. Other opinions must be measured against our own opinion. We must know what we think and why we think in the way we do -what is our mindset and why do we have it and why do we think it is the right one for us? Thinking in this way opens the door for realizing that what, is best for us may not necessarily be best for others.

In the context of Culture & Arts: We appreciate performing arts from other cultural circles than our own even if they upset our chosen set of values. Such an exposure of cultural differences initiates an intellectual process highlighting which set of values are permissible and which ones are outside admissible behaviour not only for one culture but for let us call it ratified cultures. But it does not initiate or should not initiate a process towards finding the proper one as monopoly is a concept not belonging to Culture & Arts and performing arts. Performing arts assumes the role of trial balloon to test the moral validity of barrier breaking behaviour. If successful it enlarges the scope for mutually acceptable behaviour or tells us that such behaviour is out of bounds. And it uses the stage for performing arts as the testing ground sparing our societies that ordeal - with luck preventing social engineering on a grand scale as an alternative.

Performing arts viewed in this kaleidoscope can thus be an invaluable litmus test telling the Asians and the Westerners where their set of values may expand together, where bridging the gap may exact a more determined and maybe long term effort and finally, if there are segments where we should thread so carefully as to leave them untouched for a foreseeable future.

Flywheels
To achieve internationalism for Culture & Arts we need to put some flywheels in motion.

1) Diversity
Let me try a comparison to scare you a little bit. The bio-diversity is disappearing -and fast. This has happened because the profit motive forces growers to concentrate on a few high-yielding crops neglecting all others. The risk of diseases increases. Exactly the same risk threatens Culture & Arts. If we let profits or indeed economic motives get the upper hand Culture & Arts may be suffocated. We all know that a forest cannot survive if only a few of the plants are allowed to grow. To get a giant oak you need to nurture an underwood.

2) Culture and technology
Culture and technology cannot be separated. They go hand in hand. They shape our civilisation. History tells us that performing arts will only prosper and flourish when the conditions are present for a propitious interaction between culture and technology. In the age of IT we must ensure that the technology in the form of highways for dissemination of information, entertainment and indeed Culture & Arts is available. Not only for those being able to pay but for everybody. If a few persons or companies get control over the technology what might otherwise have been a tremendously beneficial tool for Culture & Arts thus may be turned into an instrument for controlling performing arts in the prism of profit.

3) Political systems
About 400 - 500 years' ago China and a few European nations unknowingly vied with each other to open up the world following new maritime technology. Admiral Chen Ho made .his famous voyages, but if I understand the history books correctly was prevented from continuing his voyages by the imperial court. So China rejected a global role as. its destiny. In Europe Columbus asked the King of Portugal to.finance his attempt to discover America. The answer was no. He was in the same position as Chen Ho. But. he had an alternative. The King of Spain, and he used it. If Culture & Arts and performing arts are to express themselves in a world dominated by political monopolies a number of opportunities may close before they are even spotted. The political environment needs to be open and prepared to assume risks.

4) Economics
What about economics then? Let me confess that, I have for many years marketed the thesis that the economic centre of the word will move across the Pacific to East Asia in the course of the first decades of this century. This is still my opinion.

And history will tell us that Culture & Arts has a tendency to follow in the slipstream of economic growth. On the macro level this is where the money and subsequently the market is; even artists need to eat to live. On the micro level some of you may recall "The Buddenbrooks" by Thomas Mann. The novel describes a cycle where a family struggles to create wealth, then consolidate its wealth for in the third phase to become sponsors for Culture & Arts (patron of arts) and finally founder due to economic mismanagement!

Economics is important but not the only factor
The management if I may use this word of human talent is even more important. How do we make sure that the young people can nurture their talents? How do we open the door for everybody and not only those having the financial means? What matters are that ALL talented people get the chance to prove themselves?

Creativity is another factor. An economist called Schumpeter put forward - about 100 years ago - a thesis called creative destruction. The idea is that you only create by destroying something else. Do we have the courage to let something else die with the risk of social disruption knowing that creativity does not carry a warrant labelled 'success guaranteed'?

Individualism. Many of the masterpieces now admired and many of new schools of arts were originally rejected out of hand by conventional wisdom when they first appeared. They were not in conformity with the established school of arts. It takes courage to go against the main stream for an individual. And sometimes it also takes courage for a society to let it happen.