Ian Yang, Advisor for Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea & Sri Lanka

I work at DutchCulture as Advisor for International Cultural Cooperation with Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka. Being an art and cultural practitioner, I am genuinely fascinated about the charisma in creative and artistic expression. Format, language, discipline or genre are less important for me but the conveyed concept, idea, meaning or even sentiment. I believe (Eastern and Western) cultures are unique but also fluid. They are certainly communicable with one another and should be equally celebrated together. The history, culture, collective mindset and social patterns in East Asia are often so different thus inspiring to be an excellent reflection for us in the Netherlands and Europe. Over the years, I often feel lucky at my work to be able to help artists, and the cultural sector at large, move ahead with their creative and artistic practice through reciprocal exchange and cooperation with international partners.

I was a grantee of the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship from European Commission and graduated my MA degree cum laude from University of Amsterdam in Performance Studies. I also hold a MA degree in Film Studies and BA in Advertising from Shanghai University. I write about art exhibitions and film ocassionally in Chinese, while every year I am found moderating screenings of films from East Asia at Internatioanal Film Festival Rotterdam. Currently I am also an board member for CinemAsia Film Festival and secetery of the board for Stichting Ism & Heit.