Alison Friedman

on April 1, 2014

Alison M. Friedman is the Founding Director of Ping Pong Productions, a producing and consulting organization headquartered in Beijing with the mission of cultural diplomacy. Clients and partners include TAO Dance Theater, Mark Morris Dance Group, Tim Robbins and The Actors’ Gang, British Council, Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, L.A. Theatre Works, and the National Theatre Company of China. As Director of Ping Pong Productions, Friedman works closely with Chinese and international governments and arts organizations to facilitate collaborations, tours, festivals, and lasting artistic relationships. Her productions have toured Lincoln Center, Sydney Opera House, the Kennedy Center, and China’s National Center for the Performing Arts, among other leading venues and festivals.

An expert in China's developing arts market, Friedman lectures internationally in both English and Mandarin Chinese, including keynotes at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, Asia Society, Brown University, People’s University of China, the China International Performing Arts Fair Guangzhou, and the Fulbright Association's thirty-first Annual Conference. Friedman has worked in the performing arts in China for more than a decade. She served as International Director of the Beijing Modern Dance Company, General Manager of Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun's company Parnassus Productions, Inc., and as a producer and host on Chinese national radio and television programs.

Friedman graduated Phi Beta Kappa/magna cum laude from Brown University with a degree in Chinese Literature and Literary Translation. She was a Fulbright fellow to China and an arts management fellow at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. She was a 2011 fellow of the International Society for the Performing Arts, and in 2013 she was invited to join their board of directors.

Terry Townshend

on April 1, 2014

Terry Townshend is a birder who has lived in Beijing since 2010. He is the founder of Birding Beijing, a website celebrating the birdlife that can be found in and around China’s vibrant capital city.

A passionate conservationist, Townshend has spearheaded efforts to save some of China’s most endangered birds, in particular the Jankowski’s Bunting, a poorly known bird living in remote northeast China with a known population of under 100 pairs. In 2012, he became a Species Champion with BirdLife International.

Townshend is dedicated to encouraging young people to learn, and care, about the environment and he loves nothing more than showing students, children, local residents, and visitors to Beijing the wonders of the birds that can be found here. He has appeared on mainstream TV, radio, lifestyle magazines, and national and international newspapers to comment on environmental issues.

With a professional background in environmental law, Townshend was the lead author of the first edition of the groundbreaking Global Climate Legislation Study, examining climate change-related laws across the world, and he has remained a co-author of recent editions. He has presented the results of the study to the U.S. Senate, Mexican Congress, Japanese Diet, and South Korean National Assembly, and is an adviser to the Chinese government on the development of Chinese climate change law.

Townshend has found several new birds for Beijing, including the capital’s first Tree Pipit in the U.K. Ambassador’s garden. He is a regular contributor to the China Birdwatching Society’s lecture series and, in 2014, was honored to deliver the keynote lecture at the National Zoological Museum to celebrate China’s National Bird Day. In early 2015, he took up a Directorship with EcoAction, a new and innovative Chinese company dedicated to ecotourism and environmental education.

Townshend is a co-author on Europe’s leading birding blog, Birding Frontiers and, since 2014, he has been a Brand Ambassador for Swarovski Optik. In September 2015, he was presented with the inaugural “Birding Master” award at the first China International Birding Festival.