Zhu Jinhui, dean of Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts in the Shaanxi provincial capital, said at the news conference that the school has benefited from the fund, particularly in supporting their representative study into the art and culture of the Zhou (c. 11th century-256 BC), Qin (221-206 BC), Han (206 BC-AD 220) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, the revolutionary art of Yan'an, western China folk arts and the Chang'an (today's Xi'an) and Loess Plateau schools of painting.

He says that the school has had 76 programs subsidized by the fund in recent years, from which 140 projects have been derived, and have generated an output value of around 270 million yuan ($37 million).

Among them, a program set up in 2017 recruited 20 hearing-impaired students with knowledge in arts and crafts creation from around the country, who created 55 wheat straw paintings.

Li Li, director of the Inner Mongolia Art Theatre, says that 187 programs from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, mainly featuring ethnic and nomadic culture and arts, have been supported by the fund over the past decade, covering all levels of art troupes, institutions — either State-owned or private — and individual artists. Some of them have won national awards.

Notably, it has supported the creation and talent training of grassroots Ulan Muqir troupes that travel around to perform for rural herdsmen.

According to Wang, in the future, the China National Arts Fund will promote the establishment of provincial arts funds, introduce public funds to broaden the source of capital, explore ways to spend the funds more wisely and share the artistic output to a wider audience, in order to maximize the fund's guiding role in domestic artistic creation.

Contact the writer at fangaiqing@chinadaily.com.cn