NEWS

This year, Earth Celebration will be held exclusively online for a live global audience! The theme for this new-look EC is "Connect with the World on Sado Island.”

We are planning a range of other live-streamed and pre-recorded performances, talks, Sado-related content, online workshops, and more to broadcast around the world over the three days of the festival. Stay tuned for our second lineup announcement towards the end of June!

With the ongoing spread of COVID-19, we were forced to reconsider how we could hold Earth Celebration (EC) this year, and what we would hope to achieve with a different format.

That process made me think back to 35 years ago when Hancho—the late Toshio Kawauchi, Kodo’s founding leader—first shared his vision for Earth Celebration. I pondered the special significance of the festival’s name: E+ART+H refers to our planet, where ARTconnects the Environment and Humans.

Today, we find ourselves learning to coexist with a new natural phenomenon: COVID-19.
In this challenging era, I wonder what the possibilities are for performing arts. And what kind of skills or techniques do we need to enable them?

EC to date has been held at rural venues with various constraints, and any online streaming of the event was limited. This year, our challenge is to create a new-look forum for exchange that works in the current global environment. An event that offers performances and experiences that are enjoyable and engaging, even without hosting any festivalgoers on-site. Therefore, we have decided to use state-of-the-art technology to the fullest this year, so we can move this interactive event entirely online.

For me, EC is a festive community that comes together on Sado Island once a year. It’s a celebration that was launched along with Kodo Village back in 1988.

When Hancho was planning Kodo Village, he often talked about the word “COMMUNITY” as being a combination of “COMMUNICATION” and “UNITY.”

The theme for EC this year is “Connect with the World on Sado Island.” Amidst unique circumstances, I sincerely hope our festival will create a community where each and every person can communicate and connect on a profound level.


Atsushi Sugano, Earth Celebration Executive Producer