The 10th edition of the Kyoto Experiment (KEX) performing arts festival, will take place at multiple venues across the city throughout October, marking the end of a decade-long labor of love for Yusuke Hashimoto, who will step down from his role as program director for the festival and pass the baton on to three new co-directors.
"When we first started to plan for the festival, I thought we'd do it for five years at most. I couldn't think beyond that," Hashimoto says, adding that the first year was particularly challenging. "It was a financial disaster and we even thought about stopping it."
But, rather than write it off as a failure, Hashimoto saw it as "a wakeup call" and quickly got to work on restructuring the festival.