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Original title: New Space Theater ranks among the billion-dollar box office theaters to introduce accommodation facilities to upgrade its business format

Tianqiao Art Center will create a performing arts cluster

In 2019 and 2023, the box office exceeded 100 million yuan, making it one of the few theaters in the country with a box office of 100 million yuan; in 2024, as of May 15, the box office had exceeded 100 million yuan, setting the fastest record for box office exceeding 100 million yuan in the nine years since its opening... Now, the Tianqiao that was once described as "too foreign and too rustic" has been transformed into the Tianqiao Art Center. By creating a new performing arts space and launching "breakthrough" high-quality repertoires, it has "speed of light" become a theater with a box office of 100 million yuan.

In the old Beijing period, Tianqiao had a variety of cultures from elegant to folk, and all kinds of acrobatics gathered here, which also constituted the unique cultural gene of Tianqiao. In 2023, the Beijing Performing Arts Service Platform, hosted by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, launched 15 performing arts space cultivation projects for the first time. The "New Space Theater" created by Tianqiao Art Center was selected and received support for the cultivation of performing arts spaces at the municipal level. At the same time, with the help of Xicheng District's "Ten Cultural Industries", Tianqiao Art Center is working hard to build a complex integrating culture, commerce and tourism, becoming a new force in the field of culture and art.

Non-standard theatre space

Converted to a professional performance venue

Walking into the Tianqiao Art Center, the elegant beauty of the 12-meter-high ancient theater and the glittering lights of the modern professional theater complement each other. Different spaces are divided into different theaters, showing different plays. On the third floor of the theater, the original idle space has been cleverly integrated into the "New Space Theater", which is exactly the new performing arts space project created by the Tianqiao Art Center.

Yang Shucong, deputy general manager of Beijing Tianqiao Shengshi Investment Group Co., Ltd., secretary of the Party branch and deputy general manager of Tianqiao Art Center, introduced that as early as 2016, before the concept of new performing arts space entered the public eye, Tianqiao Art Center began to try to enhance the commercial value of the venue by arranging exhibitions in public spaces, thus expanding and extending the functions of the space. In 2023, the "Three-Year Action Plan for Beijing to Build a "Performing Arts Capital" (2023-2025)" was released, proposing to "cultivate new performing arts spaces with multiple scenes and formats" and launching a pilot project for the identification of new performing arts spaces. "Xicheng District has awarded the first batch of eight new performing arts spaces, and Tianqiao Art Center is one of them, which has given the Tianqiao Art Center's 'New Space Theater' high exposure." Yang Shucong said that the new performing arts space will shift to "stage performing arts" as the core drive from 2023. "The successful performance of "Cat God in the Forbidden City" laid the foundation for the completion of the 'New Space Theater'; this year, the performance of "The Wizard's Living Room" once again broke the frame-style stage performance form, redefined the relationship between the audience and the performers, and brought a brand new viewing experience to the audience."

However, the "New Space Theater" faced difficulties such as space limitations during its construction. "Initially, the third floor of the Tianqiao Art Center was an extremely irregular physical space, often used as an exhibition space. To transform the public space of a non-standard theater into a professional performance venue, we decided on the idea of ​​'tailor-made' during the planning stage, that is, to put the story into the space and turn it into a treasure." Jiang Qiong, director of the Performance Management Center of the Tianqiao Art Center, said that the "New Space Theater" was designed to avoid using too many large lights that are inconsistent with the space, break through the conventional proscenium stage, and gather people through environmental and atmospheric settings to break the "fourth wall" with the audience. At the same time, by designing the preview area, the starring area and the exit store, the area outside the stage is transformed into a part of the story of the play, thereby enhancing the interaction and integration between the public space and the audience. "This not only overcomes the limitations of space, but also brings a more unique and immersive viewing experience to the audience."

Creating new plays

Bringing a box office of over 100 million

When it comes to the newness of the new space theater, the most important thing is the new excavation of cultural values. Today, "Cat God in the Forbidden City" has become the "signature play" of Tianqiao Art Center. "Cat God in the Forbidden City" is a Beijing-style Beijing story adapted from Feng Li's original work of the same name, telling the past and present life of a cat living in the Forbidden City. "In addition to showing a vivid storyline, we want to convey the rich traditional cultural heritage to the audience." Yang Shucong introduced that the connotation of the "Cat God in the Forbidden City" project has many sources, "including Tianqiao culture, folk culture, central axis culture, Beijing culture, Forbidden City culture, and even the more niche 'imperial cat culture' are all reflected in it."

At the same time, around the play, "Cat God in the Forbidden City" also experiments with new operating models. For example, at the beginning of the project, efforts were made to build a new consumption model scene that integrates interaction, performance, shopping, food, and social interaction. In terms of operation methods and marketing strategies, the project has set up a variety of theme specials such as the "Cat Master" performance special, the China Small Animal Protection Association charity special, and a limited-time sale of the "Meow's Special Drink" themed drinks, as well as dozens of cultural and creative products, theme art installations, and a variety of offline art activities. "This has also expanded a lot of new audiences. 15% of the audience are not regulars at the theater, but young people represented by tourists and cat lovers." Jiang Qiong said.

Jiang Qiong also mentioned that the "Ten Cultural Industries" launched by Xicheng District also gave "Cat God in the Forbidden City" the opportunity to be polished to perfection. "The 'Ten Cultural Industries' is the first cultural industry support policy issued by Xicheng District during the '14th Five-Year Plan' period. It will focus on supporting various cultural entities that are in line with the development direction of the cultural industry in the core functional area of ​​the capital. We are actively applying and have passed the preliminary review and re-examination, and will eventually enter the expert review and on-site defense stage. If successfully selected, we will provide more support, providing a better opportunity for "Cat God in the Forbidden City" to represent Beijing as a high-quality play and go beyond Beijing."

This year, the Tianqiao Art Center's New Space Theater welcomed its second immersive interactive project, the magic talk show "Wizard's Living Room." "This is a new work that is a modern interpretation of the ancient magic tricks of 'Old Tianqiao'. We hope to attract more young audiences to the theater, which is what every performing arts practitioner expects," said Jiang Qiong.

In fact, since its opening in 2015, Tianqiao Art Center has staged a total of 1,400 plays and 5,588 performances. Since 2020, the theater has begun to explore the production of plays and performances, and co-produced the drama "Ten Thousand Waters Flowing East" in 2022. From 2023 to 2024, it has successively produced the new space theater "Cat God in the Forbidden City", the magic talk show "Witch Living Room", the dance poem "Nine Songs", the musical "The Twelve Hours in Chang'an" and other plays. Among them, the dance poem "Nine Songs" is based on several poems in the Chuci "Nine Songs". The play premiered in the Grand Theater of Tianqiao Art Center in May this year. Five performances were sold out, with a cumulative box office of 3.15 million yuan. After completing the performances in Beijing and Tianjin, it will also be the closing performance of the 2024 Shenzhen Cultural Expo Art Season and the invited repertoire of the 23rd China Shanghai International Art Festival to continue to tour in Shenzhen, Shanghai and other places.

The box office determines whether a play is good or not. On August 8, 2019, the box office of Tianqiao Art Center's performances exceeded 100 million yuan for the first time; the second time was on July 23, 2023; and this year, at 0:00 on May 15, the total box office of Tianqiao Art Center's performances in 2024 reached 101.7 million yuan. "This is the fastest year for Tianqiao Art Center's box office to exceed 100 million yuan since its opening, two months earlier than 2023 and nearly three months earlier than 2019."

Introducing new supporting facilities

Make visitors stay longer

It is worth noting that the "New Space Theater" of Tianqiao Art Center is trying to incorporate more diverse types of repertoires, including musicals, dramas, traditional folk art and other more integrated, avant-garde and interactive works. "Based on market changes, Tianqiao Art Center is now turning to content production and co-production, extending the industry chain upstream and focusing on the content end," said Yang Shucong.

When talking about the next step of development, Yang Shucong introduced that as a purposeful consumption place, the theater has a natural advantage in customer source, which has formed the demand for surrounding supporting facilities under market logic. "From the perspective of operation and development, it is necessary to provide supporting products and services for 500,000 to 600,000 spectators each year. Therefore, Tianqiao aims to build a complex integrating culture, commerce and tourism." Yang Shucong said.

In the future, Tianqiao Art Center will continue to upgrade and adjust its business format, not only to offer wonderful performances, but also to provide leisure, communication, interaction and other content forms. "We plan to introduce accommodation facilities so that tourists can stay here longer. At the same time, we are also making overall plans for the surrounding areas of the art center, gradually increasing the supply of supporting services and promoting the adjustment and optimization of the industrial structure."