On October 16th, the anniversary day of the founding of ECNU, an impressive silver complex——the Grand Neobay Culture Arts Center, covering a total floor area of 27,456m2, made a stunning debut in the northeastern part of Minhang Campus, ECNU.
With the construction standards of “a national key laboratory in the field of culture and art”, the Grand Neobay Cultural Arts Center is one of the newest and most professionally equipped art theaters in Shanghai. It is also the only cultural and art complex in the southern part of Minhang District, dedicated to creating an excellent experimental base for artistic education and a source of cultural innovation.
Its main theatre covers an area of more than 7,000m2, with a main stage that is 20 meters wide, 22 meters deep, and 33.05 meters high. The underground stage is about 420m2 with the deepest basement 14m below ground. There is also an orchestra elevator outside the opening. The main stage highlights a continuously variable elevator stage that can rise and fall within 4.5m above and below the usual stage surface, accompanied with flexible lighting and setting forms, all of which are intelligently controlled.
In addition to performance spaces, the Center also has a multi-function hall, 10 exhibition halls, a dance rehearsal hall, an orchestra rehearsal hall, a chorus rehearsal hall, a piano room and other supporting rooms. Among them, the multi-function hall is available for hosting special meetings, lectures and cultural activities; the exhibition halls are of various dimensions and equipped with standard exhibition facilities to accommodate a wide range of cultural exhibitions. They can be also used as venues for academic meetings and daily teaching activities. The rehearsal halls can be flexibly configured with various teaching and rehearsal equipment to meet the demands of different teaching and performance setups.
On the night of October 16th, the opening ceremony was held at the Grand Neobay Culture Arts Center, with more than one thousand staff, students and citizen representatives in attendance.
Qian Xuhong, President of ECNU, stated that as a new platform for excellence in education and a new landmark for cultural construction of ECNU, the Grand Neobay Cultural Arts Center would provide staff and students of the university, cultural groups and citizens in the community with a well-equipped space for cultural exhibition and performances, art education, and cultural innovation and transformation. It is also expected to become a new engine for the arts and cultural industries, speeding up high-quality innovative development of the Minhang district.
The inaugural concert was jointly organized by ECNU and Minhang District People’s Government, co-organized by the Management Committee of the Grand Neobay Sci-Tech Innovation Park and the Business Development Center of the Red Cross Society of China.
Staff and students from the School of Music of ECNU took the leading role in the performance. They performed a diverse selection of music, including classical, contemporary, and folk styles, presented in various forms such as solo, chorus, piano solo, violin solo and symphony. During the concert, the staff and students of ECNU collaborated with the choirs from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Minhang District to combine their magnificent voices with breathtaking stage effects, creating an audio-visual feast for the live audience.
Copy editor:Philip Nash
Editor: Wicky Xu
