New EMAC Cohort Opening Ceremony in Beijing

Last month, the opening ceremony for the new cohort of the Executive Media, Art and Creation (EMAC) program took place at the Institut français (French cultural center) in Beijing. Mr Corbard, Attaché for Higher Education Cooperation at the French Embassy in Beijing, Prof. Anne Michaut, HEC Paris EMAC Academic Director, and Prof. Di Ruipeng, Director of the Global Executive Program at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management, and Distinguished Academic Director of the program, each delivered a welcome speech to the new EMAC participants and wished them success. Zhang Jin, Associate Professor of Tsinghua University's Schwarzman School and School of Economics and Management, gave a speech online. The ceremony was followed by an insightful painting class taught by Tsinghua University Academy of Arts and Design Prof. Li Mu. The participants ended this already memorable day with the unique François Morellet and Jesús Rafael Soto joint contemporary art exhibition at splashy “Espace Louis Vuitton”.

Prof. Anne Michaut expressed her joy to be present at the opening ceremony this year and highlighted that direct communication with the students would enable her to ensure they would complete their studies successfully. Over the past century, China and France have had a long and deep history of exchanges in the academic field, and it is hoped that this program will further promote Sino-French cultural exchanges and friendship. The EMAC program has been jointly created by HEC Paris and the Tsinghua University Academy of Art and Design; it targets business and management practitioners of the cultural industry who wish to develop technical skills and gain an international outlook.

The opening ceremony was also attended by the following guests: François Antoine, Coordinator of the Beijing Institut français, David Courbe, Deputy Coordinator of Campus France in China, Anne-Laure Baldacchino and Jin Ruiling, French Embassy Higher Education Cooperation and Humanities and Social Sciences Department officers.

Xing Li spoke as the student representative: "We are in a moment full of challenges and uncertainties, but at this moment, the only thing I can be sure of is: I am lucky to be able to meet and study offline with foreign professors and communicate with them in the post epidemic era, and at the same time I can further my study with all of you who are so young and excellent, and I hope to do more and more work with you, teachers, and students, in the year to come. I hope that in the coming year, I will be able to do more beautiful and interesting things together with teachers and students and we will elevate each other in learning!"

Elodie Xu, HEC Paris China Office Director, presented the program and the rich academic and alumni resources since the founding of HEC Paris, and introduced the rich alumni rights and benefits that HEC can bring to the students after enrolling in the program, which will be of great asset to the students' future career development. Finally, Song Mo, HEC Paris Program Manager, detailed the composition of the class, the teachers' specialties, and the daily management of the class (attendance, learning platform and other issues related to their study).

In the afternoon Prof. Li Mu gave his first class: "What we see in painting". Through the different ways of painting and the expression of feelings, the participants were given the first steps on how to understand the meaning behind a painting. At the end of the session, each created their own piece and commented on it; the objective was to explain to the class the meaning of their creation.

In the evening, the group ended the program kickoff by taking part in an exciting event: they had the chance to go to the artistic and cultural space “Espace Louis Vuitton” to attend French François Morellet and Venezuelan Jesús Rafael Soto "Optical & Movement" joint contemporary art exhibition.

For more information on the HEC Paris China office