February 3, 3pm, the internationally renowned art project, the Long March holds a press conference announcing the implementation of the “Yanchuan Primary School Papercutting Art Education Project”  .

May 2006, the “Long March – Yan’an Project” was initiated.  From May 2006 – May 2009, the project will enter its second stage, the “Yanchuan County Primary School Papercutting Art Education Project.”  Initiated and organized by the Long March, supported by the Ford Foundation, and with the assistance and support of the Yanchuan County government, the project continues to march forward.  This press conference is a report about the status of the project and its implementation. 

Yan’an is the final site of the historical Long March, the founding site of the Chinese Communist revolution and the laboratory for a new utopia.  It is also a new starting point for the Long March.  But why has the Long March, a contemporary art organization returned to the road to Yan’an. 

As the major component of the “Long March – Yan’an Project”, the “Yanchuan County Primary School Papercutting Art Education Project” is an extension, as well as a new starting point of the Long March Project - “The Great Survey of Papercuttings in Yanchuan County” which was successfully completed in 2004.  Carried out over a period of nine months, the papercutting survey project surveyed all 180,000+ people in Yanchuan County, collecting and constructing an archive of over 15,006 individual case studies and papercutting samples. 

Based upon this developing archive and foundation, the Long March Project will continue with its mandate of will continue marching with artists to the villages by marching with artists to the villages and broadly engaging with social realities, history, and local culture.  The “Yanchuan County Primary School Papercutting Art Education Project” is a pilot project, with the intent of researching and establishing a model for the education and transmission of traditional and folk culture.  How can folk art be made able to re-enter daily life through art education?  The purpose is to fully utilize ethnic cultural resources to mobilize folk artists within the villages, as well as art educators, researchers, scholars, and artists to create a papercutting art education project for primary schools in Yanchuan County, researching and developing a curriculum, and summarizing experiences to produce a model which can aid in the development of folk culture throughout China. 

This type of grassroots initiative is the Long March Project’s methodological approach to the “construction of a new countryside” in China, which has not only gained attention throughout China, but also internationally, focusing not only on the transmission of folk and traditional culture to the next generation, but also filled with a deep humanism and realism.  As the most active non-governmental art organization in China, the Long March seeks to develop upon the desire to protect immaterial cultural heritage, by working to closely link it to and develop along with life and art, creation and education.  The project will create a new platform for the construction of the Chinese countryside and art education for the young.  You are invited to join the Long March on our three year journey, to share in our hardships and triumphs through your media support.

This project is generously supported by: Ford Foundation