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.
