Recently, the Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau announced the list of new performing arts space projects for 2025 under the "Beijing Measures to Promote High-Quality Development of Performing Arts," with 32 new performing arts spaces being selected. By the end of 2025, the city had cumulatively recognized 148 new performing arts spaces. The "Support Measures" were introduced at the end of April 2025, launching 10 initiatives focused on four major directions: large-scale commercial performances, new performing arts spaces, high-quality performances, and performing arts enterprises, aiming to enhance the quality and efficiency of the performing arts market.

Leading brands continue to refresh their spaces. Taking the top-performing brand Happy Mahua as an example, the brand has established a full-chain operational model encompassing "content incubation, space creation, IP derivation, and talent cultivation." Its signature "Mahua-style comedy" has reached over 150 cities nationwide, with more than 12,000 performances staged throughout 2025. It has contracted 58 theaters and new performing arts spaces, forming a national theater chain layout. Among these, performances in Beijing's new performing arts spaces exceeded 2,000 shows, attracting nearly 300,000 audience members.

As a representative of Beijing's small theater clusters, Fanxing Drama Village, after 16 years of dedicated development, has transformed into an exporter of the Fanxing brand model. Its self-owned copyrighted productions, such as "Love Regardless of Consequences," "Miss Julie," and "I Am Yu Huanshui," have embarked on tours or resident performances in many locations across the country.

The "newness" of these performing arts spaces is reflected not only in innovative settings but also in the continuous breakthroughs in performance content. Various new spaces are incubating original works through diverse collaborations, promoting excellent productions from regular performances to tours, gradually achieving critically-acclaimed resident runs, and consistently delivering original masterpieces to audiences. After three years of cultivation, Theater 77 has become a hotspot for immersive drama, creating and introducing several hit productions like the "Detective Zhao Gane" series, "Inside No. 9," and "Hamlet 1001," gaining continuous popularity through immersive experiences; Nanyang Shared Space launched the Guofeng-style immersive drama "Rising with the Wind," which brings the "Chinese Poetry Conference" IP to life as an offline theatrical experience, maintaining a resident run and winning audience acclaim.

Historic buildings are given new life, making guild halls more theatrical. Leveraging Beijing's unique guild hall resources, a number of "Theatrical Guild Hall" performing arts spaces have emerged through appropriate renovations of ancient architectural spaces, innovation in performance content, and integration of multiple formats. These spaces offer diverse experiences where visitors can listen to opera, watch plays, view exhibitions, and check in at popular spots.

The 400-year-old Yanliao Guild Hall, in addition to staging traditional opera, has introduced the immersive drama "Soong May-ling's Lost Earring." Beyond the performances, audiences can enjoy tea at "Yueheyan·New Beijing Cuisine·Afternoon Tea," read at "Luolan Bookstore," or experience Hanfu culture at the "Xiangruochu·Hanfu" intangible cultural heritage handicraft museum. At the Huguang Guild Hall, the resident immersive musical "Perfect Match" deeply integrates opera elements with musical theater, with the performance space extending from the stage to the audience seats on two levels, creating uniquely interesting collisions and surprises; before or after the show, audiences can have tea at the "Dianjiangchun" teahouse or visit the Beijing Opera Museum to learn about the history of Peking opera.

Activating the "Performing Arts+" cultural tourism experience. New performing arts spaces are deeply integrated with diverse settings such as commercial complexes, scenic spots, streets, and parks, forming a number of vibrant landmarks that connect leisure, entertainment, consumption, and outings. The six-story "Immersive Theme Space" at Sanlitun 024 Little White Building, which blends music, fashion, and food, features Cui Jian as its audio director to create "Kitchen Concerts." It brings together diverse formats like the Kai Zhen restaurant, FLOW space, and a city rooftop, becoming a popular lifestyle and aesthetics destination favored by young people. The Yu Xiandu Royal Cuisine Museum, based on the intangible cultural heritage skills of imperial cuisine, presents the culinary situational experience drama "The Imperial Banquet," consistently attracting domestic and international tourists and audiences with a new "situational dining" experience. The Super Hopson Live in Changping District has created multiple indoor and outdoor performance spaces, such as the "Happy Mahua Jianghu Feast Dining Show" and the "Super Fun Space," by developing a super performance venue. This initiative links various scenarios including dining, family activities, and brand launches, resulting in an approximate 20% increase in customer traffic and a 28% rise in consumption compared to the previous period. Both the Yihuayuan Theater and the Zhundian Theater, located within cultural and creative parks, collaborate with park dining brands to offer "ticket stub benefits" to audiences. The Yanqing Menghua Great Wall Theater has set up an "ancient-style market" scene around the immersive performance "Dream of Splendor·Great Wall," cleverly integrating the show into a market, games, and intangible cultural heritage experiences.

Art sharing amplifies passion. The appeal of new performing arts spaces lies not only in allowing residents to encounter wonderful performances right outside their doors but also in meeting the social and entertainment needs of different groups through all-ages coverage and diverse, interactive experiential services.

The Tiantongyuan Cultural Arts Center, SPACE17 Theater, and Shuangyifa Performing Arts Center are rooted in areas such as Huitian, Southern Beijing, and the sub-center of the city. They stage a rotating repertoire of opera, children's theater, drama, concerts, and other performances, bringing the convenience of "encountering performing arts as soon as you open the door" to every corner of the city. The Tianqiao Performing Arts Center·Fifth Space focuses deeply on aesthetic education for young children, incubating an immersive aesthetic education drama brand for infants aged 0-3 and creating "a baby's first theatrical experience," fostering art enlightenment from an early age. The Xiaoke Theater offers a free musical theater training camp, which received over 2,000 applications in 2025, admitted 286 trainees, and saw 20 trainees successfully sign contracts for formal performances. Using the new performing arts space as a platform, it opens a pathway for ordinary people to reach the musical theater stage, helping artistic dreams to blossom. These vibrant cultural spaces not only activate the city's consumption potential but also serve as crucial supports in building a "Capital of Performing Arts." In the future, Beijing will continue to support the innovative development of new performing arts spaces, allowing art to permeate daily urban life and highlighting the unique vitality and charm of the city as a cultural center.