The Director of Comuna de Pedra, Ms. Jenny Mok, was recently a guest lecturer at IFTM on 28 September 2022. Her presentation discussed how a performing-art institution survives under COVID-19 using new media art.
Organized by IFTM Lecturer Mr. Kelvin Leong Ka Hou, the guest lecture was split into two sessions. The first session was a scheduled lecture given by Mr. Leong for students who took the course ‘Art Administration and Management’ as their elective. The second session was a co-lecture with Year 1 undergraduates attending the Cultural and Heritage Management Bachelor’s Degree Programme, as part of the course “Introduction to Cultural and Heritage Management”.
Comuna de Pedra is a non-profit organization founded in Macao in 1996. It had been focusing on physical and dance theatre productions, on stage and site-specific, and the promotion of art education, attempting to develop more artistic possibilities and cultivate a culture in Macao.
The guest lecture took place at the Grand Hall on the IFTM Taipa Campus. The event addressed how performance transfers under COVID-19. Ms. Mok also underpinned a few critical points in her presentation: background and vision, management of a non-profit organisation and art festivals, and how to raise community engagement in modern art practices.
The “100 hours” in Macao was the subject of a case study presented by Ms. Mok in the guest lecture. It was a social art project conducted in Sam Chan Dang (Rotunda de Carlos da Maia), a public area for residents. The artists built a ‘living habitat,’ lived there, interacted with residents for five days, and left afterward. This art project helped Ms. Mok elaborate on the role and relationship between the community and their living area. She also emphasised the link between creation and disruption under urban planning.
Besides, Ms. Mok highlighted the importance of building an inclusive art event. She indicated that with ‘Todos Fest!’, an art festival of Macao City Fringe which she curated in 2022. With the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, the show was specially designed to cooperate with the actors of Theater HORA in Switzerland. In particular, the show was combined with a physical showcase in Old Court Building Black Box Theatre in Macao and had a Zoom session synchronously. Ms. Mok revealed that ideal art director should adjust their strategy and ensure they are flexible enough to face current circumstances.
According to Mr. Leong, Ms. Mok has given students a unique opportunity to learn how a non-profit art organization could survive under challenging circumstances. He added that the activity offered and benefited participating students with insights from cultural sector professionals, allowing undergraduates to improve their art and cultural management knowledge.
