Dr. Daniel Shen is Associate Professor of Applied and Social Theatre at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. Through the educational programme that he coordinates at one of China’s most prominent performing arts institutes, many of his graduates have gone on to work in social artistic projects. These include participatory theatre initiatives with migrant workers, people with disability, and so-called minority cultures in Shanghai as well as faraway regions like Guizhou Province and the Yu Shu Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Dr. Shen (who holds a Ph.D. from the Shanghai Theatre Academy) has been intrigued by community art since his doctoral exchange work at Yale and Brown University in the USA and his practical collaboration with groups like the Bread & Puppet Theatre. He also is aware that the focus on inclusion, cohesion and co-creation in many western community arts enterprises takes on a different dimension in his, still, collective-oriented home country.