organization
Mission
Kyoto Experiment is an international performing arts festival that has been held annually in the city of Kyoto since 2010. Inviting radical artists from Japan and abroad, we introduce stage works that freely cross genres—not only theater, dance, and music, but also art, design, and more. At the same time, we serve as a meeting point between society and cutting-edge art/culture, fostering thinking and dialogue about experimental artistic expression with an eye on the future. Kyoto Experiment operates in collaboration with theaters and art centers, both private and public, with the following three goals:
1. Becoming a creative home for pioneering art from Japan and overseas
2. Fostering new interactions by innovating Kyoto’s art/culture and making it available to a wider public
3. Cultivating new possibilities for art/culture in team with the people who will carry its future.
History
Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival Executive Committee
- Chair:
- Mayumi Yamamoto (Deputy Director, KYOTO ART CENTER)
- Vice Chair:
- Hiroya Ishida (Managing Director, Kyoto City Music Art Cultural Promoting Foundation)
- Committee Members:
- Yoshitaka Ando (Professor, Director of Kyoto Performing Arts Center)
- Itsuki Umeyama (Theater Researcher / Associate Professor, Department of Arts, Kindai University)
- Yukako Ogura (Program Director, ROHM Theatre Kyoto)
- Tetsuya Ozaki (Editor-in-Chief, REALKYOTO FORUM, ICA KYOTO)
- Yota Kageyama (Director, Arts Seed Kyoto / Theatre Manager, THEATRE E9 KYOTO)
- Toru Koyamada (Artist / Professor, Kyoto City University of Arts)
- Ken Makizawa (Director of Project, Culture and Arts Planning Section, City of Kyoto)
- Morihiro Matsumoto (General Manager and Secretary-General, Kyoto Arts and Culture Foundation)
- Hiroshi Yoshioka (Aesthetician / Professor, Institute for Philosophy and Science of Art Kyoto University of the Arts)
- Advisors:
- Fumio Amano (Noh Researcher / Professor Emeritus, Osaka University)
- Kojin Ota (Theater Critic / President, Kyoto University of Education)
- Akira Shigeyama (Kyogen Artist / Board Member of NPO Kyoto Arts Meeting / Director, THEATRE E9 KYOTO)
- Motoaki Shinohara (Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University)
- Soshitsu Sen (Urasenke Grand Tea Master)
- Akira Tatehata (Poet / Art critic / Director, KYOTO ART CENTER)
- Ritsue Hata (Guest Editor, Mainichi Shimbun / Visiting Professor, Osaka University of Arts Junior College)
- Oriza Hirata (Playwright, Theater Director / Director of Seinendan / President, Professional College of Arts and Tourism / Special Advisor to the City of Kyoto)
- Names are listed in gojuon order (a system for ordering Japanese kana characters).
[Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival Executive Committee Office]
- Co-directors:
- Yoko Kawasaki, Yuya Tsukahara, Juliet Reiko Knapp
- Administrative Director:
- Junko Kakiwaki
- Office:
- Miwako Inoue, Shunsuke Kadowaki, Hiroshi Watanabe
- Public Relations:
- Takanori Goto, Yoshimi Toyoyama, Ruka Maeda
- Office Support:
- Moe Nagasawa, Hiromasa Hirakawa
- Public Relations Support:
- Mei Toma
- Chief Production Coordinator:
- Kanako Yamasaki (KANKARA Inc.)
- Production Coordinators:
- Yuko Kuroda, Kei Saito, Satomi Shimizu, Tsubasa Shimizu (KANKARA Inc.), Satoko Shibata, Yukio Nitta
- [ROHM Theatre Kyoto] Mizuki Kakita, Miho Kawahara, Yuichiro Masuya
- [KYOTO ART CENTER] Huang Yuxi, Ryuichi Tani, June Teraoka, Shoko Nishida, Kanoko Hirai
- [Kyoto Performing Arts Center] Ryo Ide, Hiromi Fujii
- [THEATRE E9 KYOTO] Mana Okuyama
- Kansai Studies Coordinator:
- Hanabi Takemiya
- Technical Director:
- Masaya Natsume
- Technical Coordinators:
- Kodachi Kitagata, Yuhi Kobayashi, Shunsuke Watanaka
- Technical Administration:
- Mao Sakai
- Interns:
- Yuto Aoki, Zhu Meilin, Shuma, Nanaha Yamagami
- Text Coordination:
- Nagara Wada, Noriko Yamaguchi
- English translation from Japanese:
- Art Translators Collective (Lillian Canright, Alex Dudok de Wit, Monika Uchiyama), William Andrews
- Art Direction / Design:
- Aiko Koike
- Design Assistant:
- Minami Wetli Tanaka
- Archive Video and Photo Direction:
- slide//show (Takuya Matsumi, Kim Song-Gi, Yoshitaka Shimada, Yuki Moriya)
- Web Direction:
- bank to LLC. (Takahiro Mitsukawa, Yumi Hayashi)
- Web Design:
- Kento Yoshida (bank to LLC.)
- Web Programming / Web Coding:
- Kazuma Hitomi (bank to LLC.)
- Advisory Board:
- Torao Ohsawa (Institute for Culture Commons)
Kaori Togashi (Associate Professor, Kyoto Seika University Media Faculty of Media Creation)
Organized by
- Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival Executive Committee
[Kyoto City
ROHM Theatre Kyoto (Kyoto City Music Art Cultural Promoting Foundation)
KYOTO ART CENTER (Kyoto Arts and Culture Foundation)
Kyoto Performing Arts Center at Kyoto University of the Arts
THEATRE E9 KYOTO (Arts Seed Kyoto)]
- General Incorporated Association Kyoto Experiment
Co-presented by
- Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
- (dancereflections-vancleefarpels.com)
[Alessandro Sciarroni, (LA) HORDE × Rone with the Ballet national de Marseille, Ola Maciejewska, Christian Rizzo, Mathilde Monnier & Dominique Figarella]
Co-presented by Kyoto Experiment and Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels in the frame of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival in Kyoto and Saitama (10/4-11/16). - The Japan Foundation
- [Nanako Matsumoto & Anchi Lin (Ciwas Tahos)]
*This work was produced for the Japan Foundation’s International Creations in Performing Arts 2024.
Supported by
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, through the Japan Arts Council
- Japan Foundation for Regional Art Activities
- Association for Corporate Support of the Arts, Japan:
Arts Fund for Creation of Society
Supported by (individual programs)
- Center Stage Korea
- Fondation Franco-Japonaise Sasakawa
- Flanders State of the Art
- Kamei Foundation for the Promotion of Social Education (Sendai City)
With the special cooperation of
- Italian Cultural Institute in Osaka
Sponsored by
- Hase Building Co., Ltd.
- Performing Arts Center MEGURO
- Hase Building Co., Ltd.
- Performing Arts Center MEGURO
Sponsorship
- Embassy of France in Japan / Institut français du Japon
With the stage equipment cooperation of
- Lighting Equipment: RYU Co., Ltd.
- Audio Equipment: KWAT Co., Ltd.
- Video Equipment: Takenaka Co., Ltd.
With the cooperation of
- BnA Alter Museum, Ace Hotel Kyoto, KAGANHOTEL,
THE REIGN HOTEL KYOTO, HOTEL ANTEROOM KYOTO, node hotel, MAGASINN KYOTO, Kyoto Okazaki Tsutaya Books, ENGEKI FRONT of Kyoto 2024, Toyooka Theater Festival 2024, Nuit Blanche KYOTO 2024,
Delegation of the European Union to Japan, Goethe-Institut Tokyo
Staff
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Yoko Kawasaki
Performing Arts Producer / Kyoto Experiment Co-director. After working at CAN Inc. and as an art coordinator for Kyoto Art Center from 2011-2014, she was a fellow for the Program of Overseas Study by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan and studied at HAU Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin. In recent years she has planned and produced interdisciplinary performing arts projects. She has been involved as production coordinator at Kyoto Experiment since 2011 and is co-director since 2020.
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Yuya Tsukahara
Kyoto Experiment Co-director. After graduating with a master’s degree in Aesthetics and Art Studies from Kwansei Gakuin University, he joined NPO DANCEBOX as a volunteer and later became a staff member. In 2006, he began activities as an artist as a member of the performance group contact Gonzo. In 2020, he received the Best staff award at the Yomiuri Theater Awards for his scenography and choreography in the theater work Pratthana – A Portrait of Possession. Since 2020 he is also a part-time lecturer at the Department of Sculpture at Kyoto City University of Arts.
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Juliet Knapp
Kyoto Experiment Co-director. Born in Fukuoka. Graduated Oxford University with a BA in English Literature and Language. From 2015-2017 she worked as communications manager and project manager for music and performance at Ryoji Ikeda Studio. She has been involved as a member of the PR team at Kyoto Experiment since 2017 and is co-director since 2020. Likes Yorkshire Tea.
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Junko Kakiwaki
After studying theatre at university, joined the theatre company MONO as a production staff member. Currently Kyoto Experiment’s executive director. She thinks the work that goes into facing one theatre company, as well as that of welcoming many artists is equally as fun! Likes numbers. Has an admiration for those that feel prime numbers are beautiful.
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Miwako Inoue
Majored in ‘Coexistence with NPOs’ at graduate school. At Kyoto Experiment, she is in charge of volunteers, managing internships and arranging hotels. Believes most things are fine if you have animals and plants. Favorite food in the world was peaches, but due to a fruit allergy, is no longer able to enjoy them.
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Shunsuke Kadowaki
At Kyoto Experiment, he is in charge of accounting, ticketing and grants & subsidies. Active as an actor for two theatre companies, Baby Pee and Knit Cap Theater. Sometimes plays the Cajón.
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Hiroshi Watanabe
At Kyoto Experiment, he is in charge of SKF and related events as well as ticketing. Society, art and learning are his keywords. Involved in theatre, organises workshops, MCs and teaches. In daily life, is a Hanshin Tigers (baseball team) fan and sports enthusiast who never fails to check the sports news.
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Yoshimi Toyoyama
Public Relations Team. Born in Osaka. After graduating with a degree in film and performing arts from Kyoto University of the Arts, she formed and was active as a member of a performance group. →Studied abroad in Thailand. →Present: production coordination for theatre, dance, photo exhibitions and murder mystery events. Likes Thailand, travelling and bottled beer.
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Ruka Maeda
Public Relations Team. Born, raised and lives in Osaka. From a young age to high school, participated in Oyako Theater (Parent & Child Theater) and grew up watching theater and performing arts. After studying cultural policy at graduate school, she is based in Osaka and works as a production coordinator for performing arts events and arts manager for projects with people who do not specialize in art. Likes (anime and cartoon) characters and cute things.
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Takanori Goto
Public Relations Team. Research staff member at Kyoto Performing Arts Center at Kyoto University of the Arts. Interned at the Kyoto Experiment Office in 2018 and returned after working at a theater. His hobby is jumping rope.
Archives
2010-2023