The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) since April has caused great financial losses to China's performing arts and provoked deep concern over its risk-aversion abilities.
Several performances planned for Beijing since April which were expected to be warmly welcomed by Beijingers, including Broadway musical "Cats", the concerts of Rolling Stones and Hong Kong female singer Sandy Lam Yik Lin, were canceled.
The disease cost them dearly as most performing companies, especially the medium-sized and small ones, had no insurance.
China Performing Arts Agency spent several million yuan in advertising the musical "Cats" and renovating a historic Beijing theater, but because it failed to insure the performance, it had to bear all the losses.
However, as a requirement of overseas sponsors, a Beijing-based company which arranged the Rolling Stones concert signed a 500,000-US-dollar insurance cover for the Beijing concert, so it avoided much of the damage caused by SARS.
Most Chinese performing companies only cared about tickets sales. They failed to take precautions against possible accidents and disasters like fires, floods, injuries, war and disease, said Yang Hongyi, of the marketing section of Beijing Municipal Cultural Bureau.
In addition, although some insurance policies were available for performance venues, such as those for the security of the audience and the stage, there were no special products for performing groups and companies, according to insurance companies.
But since the performing arts was a new industry in China, there were always disputes over contracts, and the public were unconcerned about insurance and compensations, said Li Dashi, vice-chairman of China's Performers Society.
Although SARS caused severe economic losses to the domestic performing market, it had to learn from experience and follow the trends of other countries. The performing arts had to enhance cooperation with insurance firms, Li said.
(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2003)
