I have participated in Performing Arts Market in Seoul(PAMS) a total of six times this year. I remember attending only the last day of PAMS in 2005, where booth exhibition and showcase were being held in the yard of the National Theater of Korea. On this day of my first encounter, the most memorable session was the ‘Looking for International Partner’(LIP). Here, I was able to meet the President of Nottle Theatre Company, Young-oh WON. And the following day I went to Wonju to visit the theater, and this became my first visit to a local theater in Korea.

In fact, for many years, there weren''t many opportunities to see Korean performances in nearby regions such as Macao or Hong Kong. If I remember correctly, Nanta was the first Korean performance held in Macao. We were in the dark about Korean performing arts. All that was familiar was Korean dramas on TV and Korean food. After visiting PAMS, I fell in love with Korean performing arts. Though there weren''t any subtitles, I saw a lot of Korean plays and still enjoy Korean performances. Through PAMS, I became acquainted with not only Koreans, but also many people from Asia and other parts of the world. While I''ve always tried to make international connections as a program manager in the past, Asia didn''t cross my mind at the time. After meeting Asian representatives in Korea, I began to shift my attention to Asia and created connections. So, for the past years, I''ve been visiting Korea almost twice a year. I''ve met producers of Korean arts organizations such as Theatre Momggol and Sadari Movement Laboratory. The Traveling Hometown introduced by LIP this year is being co-produced with Seoul Fringe Network, and the two Korean dancers of the performance had also participated in Playing Landscape work.

I feel that PAMS is growing every year. This is because the performances introduced by PAMS can be seen anywhere in the world, and they are well prepared in terms of operation and the overall system. PAMS is no longer just a performing arts market, but it is now a platform for sharing creative ideas and experiences. The places that create diverse meetings add more meaning to performing arts market and enable prolonged relationships. Showcase and collaboration tasks can said to be the next stage of development, and they can proceed special showcase sessions including annual PAMS Choice. This can also allow growth in new forms of art centering around a theme proposed by program directors or curators. In addition, it can also start diverse cooperative works especially with Asian artists. Meetings between artists are very important in cooperative works, and this can become an opportunity for producers all over the world to meet with different artists. As an independent producer in Macao, I truly appreciate that there is this kind of platform for exchanges. For the past seven years, PAMS has grown into a powerful global network, and I believe this to be true. I believe there will be many chances for me to create co-produced projects with Korean artists and producers in times to come. I am looking forward to new leaps into the future from PAMS.