The Lijiang Studio, residence, local studio and workshop, aims to: 1) Benefit local people with cultural intervention that is sensitive to their communities and traditions, providing a means for them to adapt to the massive influx of Western, global culture and forces of modernization in ways that enhance, rather than deplete, their culture. 2) Complement and foster growth in China's thriving arts communities, which presently exist in the outskirts of cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. To connect Chinese artists with a community rooted in China's rural culture, as an alternative to the urban Chinese experience. 3) Provide international artists with the opportunity to experience rural Chinese village life, as an alternative to the intense pressure and marginalized status of the international 'white box' art circuit. 4) Encourage new paths of artistic development and greater awareness of their work, both in China and internationally.