Our first meeting was at Red Gate Gallery, which is a gallery and international residency program. Founder/director Brian Wallace has been involved in the Beijing arts scene for a number of years and provided us with an experienced, insiders view. Also attending the meeting was the new residency director Tang Zehui. She had attended the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and spoke excellent English. Both she and Brian were wonderful resources about residency programs in China. About a quarter of their international artists come from the US. Quite a few also come from Australia with support from their government. For the international artists, a residency at Red Gate is an opportunity to work in a new environment and to build connections with the local arts community.

After our meeting, the three of us spit up for lunch - David and Wayne had a separate appointment and I had plans to visit the Center for Visual Studies at Peking University, which housed the Chinese Modern Art Archive. Over a simple, home-cooked meal, I met with the associate director Yuning Teng. She was interested to learn more about artists residency programs in the US and I was curious about support for contemporary artists in China. It was a great conversation and I learned about a Chinese foundation that was in the early stages of building a grant program to support young Chinese artists to travel abroad.

I had a quick tour of the university's historic campus and then hopped in a cab to meet with David and Wayne at the American embassy. We were getting together with Joanne Leese, the cultural affairs specialist. The embassy is an amazing showcase for contemporary art. There were pieces commissioned from artists like Jeff Koons and Maya Lin. It is an impressive building architecturally and worth a visit. Just as we settled into our meeting with Joanne, the fire alarm went off - it was part of a scheduled series of drills. We exited the offices en masse with the other consular employees and spent forty-five minutes chatting in the courtyard until the all clear signal to return. Then it was back to business. According to Joanne, most American artists don't realize the range of useful services that they can tap into at their embassy. She can promote exhibitions through her extensive contacts list, as well as arrange speaking gigs at universities and institutions that pay a per diem stipend. The embassy also a visual arts initiative and organizes exhibitions in major cities throughout China. The cultural affairs team at the embassy works very hard to promote American arts and cultural interests abroad.

A view of the tower that houses the Red Gate Gallery