Performing Arts Market in Seoul (PAMS) on the theme 'Creative Cooperation: Conception to Circulation' takes place 8-12 October, with a special Central and Eastern Europe Focus session and showcase.

Korea Arts Management Service, with support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Republic of Korea, presents the eighth edition of its Performing Arts Market in Seoul (PAMS) from 8 to 12 October 2012, at the National Theatre of Korea and various other venues in Seoul. Over a five-day period, PAMS will be offering an intensive program to more than 1,000 domestic and 150 international delegates, with its PAMS Choice Showcase, booth exhibition, LIP Pitch Session and Showcase, Central and Eastern Europe Focus Session and Showcase, networking meetings (Round Tables, Speed Dating, and PAMS Night), and much more. In addition to being a platform for presenting new work and work in progress, PAMS is also an international meeting place where performing arts practitioners come together to share ideas, find inspiration, seek out potential collaborators, and gain insights into the contemporary performing arts situation. The 2012 event will include PAMS Choice, a showcase featuring excerpts from 13 distinguished contemporary Korean works of theater, dance, music, and multidisciplinary arts. These include, among others, a version of Hamlet directed by Yang Jung Ung of Yohangza Theater Company, Balance and Imbalance with choreography by Park Soon Ho, and Court Music Project Chup Chup by Be-Being. Looking for International Partners (LIP) is a program designed to provide encouragement in the creative stages of international collaboration, supporting the development of ideas and projects and the distribution of the finished project, development of project, and circulation of production. As part of the LIP program, a Pitch Session is being organized to help gain exposure for international collaborations, facilitating the development of ideas, the sharing of visions, and the location of partners for international cooperation. Participants present ideas or plans from various stages of the production process (creating, developing, and distributing) in order to find international partners such as actors, choreographers, co-producers, or presenters. LIP Showcase will present premiering excerpts from or full-length versions of international co-production to facilitate their distribution and circulation on world stages. PAMS is now calling for submissions for LIP Pitch Session by August 17. Further details can be found at www.pams.or.kr To date, PAMS has been spotlighting a different region each year: Asia in 2006 and 2011, Europe in 2007 (in conjunction with an IETM satellite meeting in Seoul), South America in 2008, North America in 2009, and Nordic countries in 2010. In 2012, the spotlight shifts to the Central and Eastern European performing arts, with this region’s work the subject of a FOCUS session and showcase. The session will help the audience gain a deeper understanding of the region's performing arts landscape and issues in their cultural and social context. Within the showcase frame, excerpts are to be presented from Red Green Blue by Handa Gote of the Czech Republic; In Solitude of Cotton Fields by S. Žeromski Theatre in Kielce, Poland; Cells by Slovakia’s P.A.T.; and Tao Te by Hungary’s Ferenc Fehér. Collaborating on this Central and Eastern European performing arts FOCUS program are Poland’s Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Czech Republic’s Arts and Theatre Institute, the Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute, and Slovakia’s Theatre Institute, with support from the International Visegrad Fund. Some of Korea’s most renowned performing arts festivals will be taking place in the month of October, among them the Seoul Performing Arts Festival (5 to 27 October, www.spaf.or.kr), Seoul International Dance Festival (5 to 20 October, www.sidance.org), and Jarasum International Jazz Festival (12 to 14 October, www.jarasumjazz.com). For PAMS Participants, these festivals will be opportunities to broaden the spectrum of discoveries. PAMS 2012 registration gets started online in early August at www.pams.or.kr Early bird registration for individual delegates is available throughout the month. Registration for booth exhibitors is available from 1 to 26 August.