To cultivate interest and enhance appreciation of the arts among the people of Hong Kong, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department holds a wide range of arts education and audience-building schemes in conjunction with arts groups and education institutes. For schools, apart from the annual School Culture Day Scheme, the Department is launching during the 2007/08 and 2008/09 academic years a Pilot Scheme for Senior Secondary School Students to tie in with the Aesthetic Development Learning Experience that will be included in the New Senior Secondary (NSS) Academic Structure to be launched in 2009/10. Further, the Department also joins hands with professional performing arts groups to present the School Arts Animateur Scheme (SAAS), with a duration ranging from 7 months to the whole academic year. It brings the arts to the schools in a bid to uncover artistic potentials and inculcate interest, intellectual abilities and creativity in our young.
The SAAS has won tremendous support from the school sector since its launch in 2000. In 2007/08, 80 schools participated in the whole-year programmes and an estimation of more than 48,000 students will have joined in the various activities. In the eight years since the Scheme was implemented by the Department, a total of 412 schools have participated. They include primary, secondary and special schools. To step up efforts in cultivating interest and appreciation in the arts among the student population and enhancing cultural attributes in general, the Department has earmarked more funds and resources for the 2008/09 SAAS. The whole-year programmes are increased to 12, versus 8 in the previous year, and cater for 89 schools in the areas of dance, multimedia arts, musicals, drama and music. Participating arts groups include Unlock Dancing Plaza, Chung Ying Theatre Company, City Contemporary Dance Company, Hong Kong Composersˇ¦ Guild, Hong Kong Ballet, Hong Kong 3 Arts Musical Institute, DanceArt Hong Kong, Prospects Theatre, Exploration Theatre, Theatre Space, Shu Ning Presentation Unit and Class 7A Drama Group. Experienced instructors from these groups will be visiting participating schools to give introductory performances and workshop series so that students would acquire some basic knowledge and skills in the arts. Under the guidance of the instructors, they can put into practice what they have learned by creating, staging and rehearsing for the course-end performance held at performing venues outside their school or in their respective school halls. It is hoped that through such in-depth training and hands-on experience in the arts, the participants can discover their artistic potential, unleash their creativity, broaden their vista of learning and enjoy what artistic activities can do to improve their quality of life.
To promote arts education in schools, we need the active participation and collaboration of principals and teachers. We look forward to the continued support of the schools and arts animateurs this year, in our joint efforts to raise the studentsˇ¦ standard of culture and the arts.
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To promote the appreciation of performing arts among students and stimulate their creativity, the Department joins hands with professional performing arts groups with proven experience and artistic standard in launching different projects under the School Arts Animateur Scheme. Depending on the concept and design of the projects, the contents may include workshop, demonstration, performance and exhibition. After attending the workshops at schools which may last from a few months to a whole academic year, students will have opportunities to practice what they have learned by taking part in the finale performances or activities at schools or performing venues of the Department.