Initiated by the China National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in 2020, the World Association for Performing Arts (WAPA) is an international, professional and non-profit social organization formed voluntarily by theaters, cultural groups, art colleges, cultural companies, and other institutions of performing arts. It now consists of 34 performing arts institutions from 22 countries. 

WANG Ning, President of NCPA, is Chairperson of the WAPA. Three Vice Chairpersons are Georg Vierthdlaler, General Director of Stiftung Oper in Berlin, Alex Beard, Chief Executive of Royal Ballet and Opera, and ZHU Jing, Vice President of NCPA. Council members include Gerardo Grieco, General Director of Teatro Colón, Umberto Fanni, General Director of Royal Opera House Muscat, Ignacio Garcia-Belenguer Laita, General Manager / CEO of Teatro Real, and Rory Jeffs, Strategic Advisor of the UAE National Orchestra. 

The mission of the WAPA is to build an open and multilateral exchange platform so as to promote the international development of performing arts with national and regional characteristics, the integration of science and technology with performing arts and the exchange and mutual learning and common prosperity of world civilizations. 

As an important organization of the performing arts sector, the WAPA facilitates bilateral and multilateral cooperation in joint production, tours and visits, digital resources and talent training among performing arts institutions of various countries. It regularly holds three major forums, namely, the Beijing Forum for Performing Arts, the Beijing Forum for Symphonic Music, and the NCPA Taihu International Stage Art Forum, and organises key brand events such as the International Opera Film Exhibition and the online concert series Music from Around the World, etc. 

Set at the NCPA, the WAPA Secretariat carries out daily operation of member services and website maintenance, strengthening communication with member institutions through E-mails, phone calls, official websites, and other channels. 

We warmly welcome performing arts institutions and artists from around the world to participate in our activities and to engage in cooperation across various fields under the WAPA framework.