July 29, 2005

One of only 7 U.S. cities

San Jose selected for international TV program

It’s not often that San Jose is grouped with the likes of creative hubs such as London, Paris or Venice.

Yet Radio Television Hong Kong, the public television station in Hong Kong, invited San Jose to participate in an eight-part documentary TV program on exemplary museums, performance venues and cultural spaces around the world.

Radio Television Hong Kong invited San Jose to participate in an eight-part documentary TV program on exemplary museums, performance venues and cultural spaces around the world. In this shoot, the station interviewed Greg Brown of the Tech Museum.

One of the eight episodes of this program is about “Making a Creative Hub” and developing an energetic cultural arts environment and community. RTHK selected San Jose as one of only seven cities in the United States and one of only 12 from around the world.

As part of this particular episode, San Jose’s arts community will be featured alongside those of Seoul, Korea and London, England, elevating San Jose’s arts and cultural institutions to a global stage.

Arts Council Silicon Valley, the largest private nonprofit arts council in California, guided the coordination of five full days of filming in July that included individuals, events or activities from the Children’s Discovery Museum, San Jose Repertory Theatre, the Institute of Contemporary Art in San Jose, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Joint Library, the Tech Museum, Children’s Musical Theater San Jose, San Jose Museum of Art and Ballet San Jose /Silicon Valley.

The filming also included interviews with John Kreidler, Executive Director of Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley, Nancy Glaze of the Packard Foundation, visual artist Flo Oy Wong and former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer. Andy and Virgina Jiang, both instructors at the Chinese Performing Artists of America who moved to San Jose from Hong Kong, were also included in the lineup.

“This is really a coup for the City of San Jose as well as the arts and cultural institutions and individuals that help make up the fabric of this city,” said Bruce W. Davis, Executive Director of Arts Council Silicon Valley.

The six other U.S. cities participating in this program are Seattle, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, Milwaukee, and Chicago. Other locations around the world taking part are Beijing; Tokyo and Echigo-tsumari district in Japan; Paris; Melbourne Australia; Edinburgh, Scotland; Venice, Italy; Bilbao, Spain; Cornwall, England and Antwerp, Belgium.

“The cultural diversity and breadth of organizations here is very impressive,” said Winnie Ho Wai Ying, Radio Television Hong Kong’s General Programs Producer. “The way in which San Jose nurtures its creative community and attracts new talents to the city is something we know our viewers will want to see.”

The full series will air on Sunday nights at 7 p.m. in October on TVB Jade, which broadcasts throughout Hong Kong as well as Southern China.