The Festivals Office organizes two arts festivals annually for presentation in the major performance facilities of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD):

The International Arts Carnival aims at providing children, youth and their families with cultural programmes and interactive activities of healthy and educational nature during the summer vacation. Performances of music, dance, drama, puppetry, mime, magic, acrobatics and theatrical arts suitable for family audience are presented to nurture their interest in the performing arts. Other participatory activities include workshops, exhibitions, guided tours of cultural venues, school and outreach touring programmes. The participants are exposed to a variety of arts through fun-filled and hands-on experiences. Since 2003, programmes catering for different audience segments have been pursued for presentation in series, including the innovative "Fun HeARTS Linked" series for families; the "New Generation" series for youth and the "ABC, Come and See" series tailor-made for children aged 3 to 6. The Carnival also serves as a publicity platform for children and family activities organized by LCSD museums and libraries in summer. The 2010 International Arts Carnival will be held from 9 July to 15 August.

The thematic arts festival is organized every autumn with a different theme set for each year. It aims to enhance the public's awareness, understanding and appreciation of the arts and culture of Hong Kong, Asia and other parts of the world and promote Hong Kong's image as a cultural metropolis of Asia.

Legends of China Festival
In 2001 and 2003, the Legends of China Festival was presented with content based on Chinese legends, folk and historical stories as well as legendary figures in Chinese performing arts. In the 2003 Festival, the scope was expanded to cover programmes of a legendary nature and works depicting memorable times in Chinese history. Other than traditional repertoires, modern works were also featured.

New Vision Arts Festival
The biennial New Vision Arts Festival has been presented since 2002 with the programming direction on the presentation of innovative and outstanding cross-cultural performances with an Asian focus. With its contemporary outlook, the Festival is also commensurate with the economic and social development of Hong Kong in the post-Millennium era which emphasizes the use of high-end technology, knowledge-led development and international outlook and exposure.

The fourth New Vision Arts Festival was held from 23 October to 23 November 2008. The festival opened with the triple bill by the Nederlands Dans Theater I with a co-commissioned work Renature by Wayne McGregor, together with the Asian premiere of Tar and Feathers and Shoot the Moon by NDT's resident choreographers Kylián and Lightfoot León. Another highlight of the Festival was Liang Hongyu, co-commissioned by the Holland Festival and the New Vision Arts Festival and was the final chapter of Beijing People's Art Theatre director Li Liuyi's Trilogy of Heroines in War, where director Li continued to restructure traditional art form and content to contemporary theatre.

Other highlights of the Festival included the co-commissioned work God Came to China by Zuni Icosahedron, Fantasy of the Red Queen  by Liu Sola and Ensemble Modern, The Tempest by the Contemporary Legend Theatre of Taiwan and film director Tsui Hark, and the Hong Kong – UK collaboration of verbatim theatre The Will to Build  by Theatre du Pif.

The fifth New Vision Arts Festival will be presented in autumn 2010 to showcase innovative and outstanding cross-cultural performances with Asian elements to the general public.

World's Cultures Series

Latin Passion Festival
The Latin Passion Festival presented in 2005 was the first thematic festival on world's cultures. It aimed to promote appreciation of Latin American art and culture. A variety approach in the programming direction was adopted so as to provide a wide spectrum of programmes to the audiences. They were streamed into the ethnic; the popular and the contemporary.

The Festivals Office welcomes proposals of quality and innovative programmes for the Department's presentation or sponsored presentation in the festival/carnival. Proposals with information on the programme concept and form of presentation, artists, production details, estimated budget and background information such as past reviews and recordings etc. are requested to reach the Festivals Office at least ten months prior to the festival/carnival aimed for participation.

All programme proposals are assessed in detail according to the same set of criteria. The criteria include the professional and artistic merit of the programme, artists and production personnel concerned, the relevance of the proposed programme to the theme and objectives of the festival/carnival, the overall programme balance of the festival/Carnival, financial implications, technical viability and marketing consideration of the proposed programme. Assessment of proposals is made at the Programme Meetings of the Festivals Office and recommendations will be submitted to the Art Form Panel on Festivals for comments. Expert Advisers of the relevant art form will be consulted when need arises.