Ping Pong Productions (PPP) was formally established in 2010, though our projects predate the official registration. The name is a nod to “ping pong diplomacy,” and our mission is to use the performing arts as a vehicle to bring cultures and countries closer. PPP facilitates viable, sustainable connections between performance organizations in China and abroad by playing matchmaker: we see two (or more) groups or individuals that could be successful collaborators and then find ways to bring them together.

Many international groups come to China these days. Often, however, it’s a one-off thing where a group comes, performs, then leaves and never looks back. Ping Pong works to establish lasting connections that make the partnerships and performances more of a cultural exchange than an exchange of commodities. We look for things that show a little-known side of, or offer a deeper, more nuanced perspective on another culture through quality art.

From the beginning I’ve tried to minimize overhead and keep operations lean. We have an intern in Washington, D.C., a research and development partner in New York, and initially we hired other staff on a project basis, rather than staffing an office full-time. Now we are increasing our full- and part-time project managers, PR and fundraising staff.

One of the biggest challenges Ping Pong faces is that in the rush of everyone wanting to come perform in China, these international groups often don’t understand the difference between an untapped market—where the market is ready, there’s just nobody accessing it—and an undeveloped market—where there’s simply not much of a market in place yet. China is generally still an undeveloped market when it comes to many kinds of performing arts, so it requires a lot more of an investment than, say, taking performances to Europe or Japan. The Chinese are also eager to go abroad and there’s a huge rush to do so; the problem is that many groups are just not sure how to do it—which is where our expertise come in!

Day-to-day headaches generally revolve around bookkeeping. If we’re handling performing artists traveling through Sweden, the UK, the U.S., China and Singapore, then we’re working with multiple currencies, several bank accounts, and wildly different accounting cultures. And the biggest headache in China of course is the client who doesn’t want to honor the contract.

My business gives me a chance to play the soft power diplomacy game, but I’m not choosing sides ... I introduce great art to people, I see changes in people’s perspectives about “the other,” and I get to watch artists grow.

It’s 2011, so we’re already looking ahead to 2012 and beyond. Major projects include an international tour of a Qing dynasty-era lesbian love story told through Kunqu opera, a Peking opera predecessor, called The Fragrant Companion; and a performance by Chinese and American jazz musicians on the Great Wall through the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra.

Alison Friedman as told to Mikala Reasbeck