JUE Festival 2011

Now in its third year, the JUE Festival has firmly staked its ground on both the Shanghai and Beijing cultural maps. Ahead of the launch this weekend, CreativeHunt chatted with Abby Lavin, Marketing and Media Manager at festival organizers and concert promotion agency, SplitWorks.

"Apart from having the word 'festival' in the title, JUE is really nothing like the other big name events growing in China – Midi, Strawberry, Zebra and so on. It's very urban and dotted at different venues around two cities. It's also a little bit more collaborative - a promotional platform to give young artists and musicians a push, plus, it's open to anyone who wants to get involved".

Its ever-increasing presence is hard to miss, no matter whether you're of a musical or visual arts persuasion. Now, after months of preparation, art exhibitions, literary battles and theatre performance, not to mention an impressive line-up of both local and international bands will flood Beijing and Shanghai in a three-week celebration of creativity.

Since its inception back in 2009, JUE has spanned China's two biggest cities, although that's not to say that the format has been entirely unchanged. "The first time we did it in mid-January: it was that dead time between Christmas and Chinese New Year and we wanted to pep people up, get them out of the house and cheer them up in this nasty weather. That's one of the reasons we called it JUE – awake. Let's face it, though, no one wants to go out at that time of year! ".

Thus, and happily, it was decided to launch future festivals in March. Since then, the festival has grown from a respectable 35 events across Beijing and Shanghai in year one, to 77 the next, and now, some 85 musical and creative goings-on in the this, JUE's third edition.


Performance artist Nunu Kong will perform at ENTER

But of course, such stellar growth wouldn't have been possible without the input and initiative of both cities' arts communities:"This is the first year that artists and creatives have started reaching out to us", explains Abby. She cites artists Anita Hawkins and Josh Atkin's ENTER, an eight day performance experiment comprising dance, film, music and theatre at source. "They're just the kind of creative people that we love to work with", enthuses Abby. "They have the energy and drive to follow the event through".

For others, JUE represents more of a fortuitous opportunity, as was the case with Terence Llorens, a Shanghai-based field recording artist. "Back in November, I'd posted on my Twitter that we were looking for JUE 2011 participants, and he got back to me saying that the timing was perfect, that he'd been wanting to do this sound project and that JUE would be an ideal way to launch." Anyone wishing to join the artist collecting sounds on March 19 on Chongming Island ahead of an improvisational performance at Art Labor gallery the next day should check out event details here.

"We're working with him to promote his event through our street teams, web marketing and media relations, but also in a more operational role – connecting him with Art Labor, for example. He's inviting a few artists and musicians over from Sichuan and France and thanks to our awesome hotel sponsor, Hotel Indigo, we're able assist in that way too".


JUE at Andrew James Art in 2010

Infact, the list of sponsors and partners for the festival's various events is as varied as it is long, enabling the SplitWorks team to let the JUE magic happen. "We're so grateful to everyone who gets involved. What would be very cool in the future years would be more funding, to offer artists an attractive value proposition and really be able to put our money where our mouth is, to give out grants to help people execute their projects."

This generosity does not extend to artists alone: for the first time, the 2011 festival will result in a JUE compilation CD, with 100% of profits going to international charity, Morning Tears. The group provide shelter, support, medical and psychological care for children of incarcerated parents. "We're really happy to be working with them; they're a great group of people," Abby beams.

Another change to this year's format is the timing of the plethora of concerts taking place: "For certain events it's really fun to turn up at 10, have a couple of beers, then have the show starts around 11. But what we've found is students or really anyone with an early start - local music fans especially – much prefer things to start in a timely manner. So what you'll see for this year's festival concerts will be doors opening at around 7.30, and we'll aim to start the music promptly half an hour after that". It's a move that will open up JUE activities to a wider group, but music fans take note: get to the venue early!


Hanggai performing at last year's festival

Abby's quandary in deciding her own musical highlight is testament to the passion behind the festival: "Oh gosh, there's so much, I just can't choose... I'm really excited about the Hanggai concert... also a Japanese act called World's End Girlfriend, he's huge in China and I love his recorded stuff. I can't wait to see him live!"

What follows for Abby and her colleagues is three weeks of hard slog, a lot of gigs and undoubtedly many a satisfied festival-goer. "That's what I love about working for SplitWorks: we don't limit ourselves, we go all out, all the time. None of us will get any sleep but it's going to be really fun... You should see the spreadsheets I'm working on right now!"

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JUE Festival runs from 12 March – 3 April in various venues across Shanghai. Check the full schedule here, as well as ticket details here. For music events only, tickets are available via SplitWork's taobao shop, or from source.