THE Shanghai Theater Academy Qingdao Art School will start recruiting students this year.

    According to the plan, the school will enroll 400 new students in four majors — acting, dancing, art design and drama, said Liu Zhigang, vice president of the academy.

    In April 2010, Han Shan, president of the academy, came to review the Beijing Film Academy Qingdao Creative Media Institute. He was invited to open a branch school in Qingdao and was impressed by the city’s passion and potential.

    Although several well-known international art schools chose not to invest in Qingdao, Han decided to step out of Shanghai and seek further development. In a letter to the organizer of the branch school, he said a modern university should be rooted in the city, the country and the world and it is the academy’s responsibility to promote the country’s culture.

    On the other hand, the fast development of the country’s arts and entertainment industries had cast a negative light on the quality of art education in the past 10 years.

    According to the plan, the Qingdao branch school will be built into a private vocational school to students who wish to study performing arts. “Art is not a skill and art education cannot be industrialized,” said Liu.

    “Training in drama will focus on improving students’ skills in understanding scripts,” said Liu.

    Many parents hope the school can help students enter Shanghai Theater Academy, but the school cannot promise to do so. “In recent years, only 2 percent of the applicants can be enrolled by the academy. And students from this school can work for professional art schools, art troupes and other cultural projects. Some can be self-employed professional performers. The city has high demand for art professionals, so parents should not worry about their future careers,” said Liu.

    According to the plan, art experts and professors will be invited to give lectures.

    (Wang Yuanyuan, Liu Miao)