[:en]JUE | Music + Art: 2016 will be a fallow year*[:zh]《觉》音乐＋艺术节：息军养士再出发[:]

[:en]2016 is a year of change. Since we launched our JUE | Music + Art festival in 2009, it has grown from a handful of events in a few of China’s key venues to over 130 events in 60 venues scattered across Shanghai and Beijing. The Post-Chinese-New-Year month of March has belonged to the JUE Festival since the turn of the decade.

In 2009, the arts landscape in China was a very different place to the one that we take for granted today. Post-Olympics, the nascent creative communities were scattered throughout the great cities of Shanghai and Beijing. It seems unthinkable now, but back then there was very little inter-group conversation going on, and we launched JUE in part to encourage communication and collaboration.

The landscape has changed greatly since then. Not only have the communities grown and spread; the arts are now seen as viable (and in some cases profitable) industries. There has been a huge amount of investment by private individuals, institutions and government alike. Add in the growth and proliferation of social media and other means of communication, and you have an arts sector in China that is stronger and more influential than ever before.

On the other side of the coin, JUE has never had anything in the investment or sponsorship. It started as a more cost effective (and less risky) way to put on an independent festival in China, but its massive growth has meant that our costs have expanded exponentially year on year. The festival has always been a (wonderful) labor of love for us all at Split Works but it has become increasingly difficult to justify the investment at these higher levels.

And so it is that we come to the here and now. .After many hours of impassioned debate, we have decided that in 2016 we will take a year off from JUE. It is important to be clear that this is not a cancellation. JUE will return in 2017. We just need a break to refocus and refine what JUE is and how it fits into China’s kaleidoscope of culture and how we can get someone to share the financial burden.

Additionally, we recently launched our Echo Park festival, and for the next 12 months, that needs our complete focus. You can see what Echo Park is all about here.

If you are missing us, then below are all of the videos from the last 7 years of JUE | Music + Art. We suggest you watch one every 2 months until March 2017 when we will be back with a bang.

Thanks to all of our amazing friends and collaborators over the years.

Big love from Split Works HQ.

RELIVE JUE FESTIVALS HERE

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

*[For those that aren’t away the concept of a fallow year (in the context of a festival) comes from the organizers of Glastonbury. Glastonbury Festival was held intermittently from 1970 until 1981, since when it has been held every year, except for “fallow years” intended to give the land, the local population and the organisers a break, usually taken every 5 years.][:zh]2016年将是一个变革之年。

2009年Split Works发起首届《觉》音乐+艺术节，至今七年，《觉》已成长为覆盖60多个场馆，由130多场活动组成的双城音乐艺术盛会——很难想像它最初仅覆盖几个场馆，活动数量也屈指可数。在这七年间，每个农历新年后的阳春三月，伴随着大地惊蛰，城市青年们将这个时段标注为专属《觉》的“节气”。不仅仅是上海和北京，更多来自其他城市的年轻人都纷纷选择在三月专程赶往上海和北京与这个节日共飨音乐艺术盛筵。

回到2009年的中国文化生态圈，当时的格局和如今活跃默契的景象大相径庭。北京奥运会结束后，中国新生的创意社团们散落在上海和北京这两座大城市之中。当时，在这些社团与社团（圈子和圈子）之间几乎不存在任何交流与对话——这在现在看来颇为匪夷所思。我们就是在那年发起了《觉》音乐+艺术节，将其作为一个全新的平台，全身心地致力于促进各创意社团之间的交流与合作。

就是从那时起，在《觉》音乐+艺术节的推动下，北京上海两大都市的文化景致与格局开始转变，时至今日，更是日异月殊。不仅两地创意社团本身得到了成长与拓展，文创行业亦更受认可，甚至被认为是能够盈利的产业。行业个体人士、社会机构和政府纷纷将巨额资金投入到这些文化艺术产业中来，再加之社交媒体和其他交流方式的蓬勃发展，中国拥有了孕育文化艺术的前所未有的肥沃土壤。

但并不为人所关注的是，《觉》音乐+艺术节作为中国本土独立音乐艺术节，一直未接受过任何投资或赞助。起初几年成本与风险均较为可控，但随着平台规模逐年加大，活动不断增加，新的社团持续加入，我们每年的花费也在成倍增长。《觉》音乐+艺术节一直都是Split Works开功所有成员满怀着爱且费尽心血打造的节日盛会，我们一边享受着它带来的喜悦与成果，但也同时因其财政上的困难烦恼不已。

在经历了数次激烈争辩与讨论之后，我们做出了这样的决定：《觉》音乐+艺术节将在2016年进入长达一年的休整期。有必要声明的是，“休整”不是“永久取消”，《觉》必将在2017年的春天复苏！现在的我们只是需要一个调适的机会，停下脚步来重新审视《觉》的存在，去思考如何适应中国变化多端的文化格局，以及如何找到合适的投资人来携手并进。

此外，2015年9月我们推出了一个全新的音乐节品牌——Echo Park回声公园音乐节——因此，2016年第二届Echo Park回声公园音乐节将是我们新一年里的全力所在。你可以从这了解关于这个音乐节的一切：http://echopark.cn