Performing Arts
During the year under review, the Department continued to offer quality cultural events, helping maintain Hong Kong's status as Asia’s events capital. The array of programmes included exciting shows by local and international artists, a variety of festivals and audience-building efforts. The Department also manages many of Hong Kong’s leading performance venues.
Hong Kong Cultural Centre
The Hong Kong Cultural Centre, managed by the LCSD, has been Hong Kong’s premier cultural venue since its opening in 1989. Capable of staging a wide range of performing arts events, the Centre houses a 2 019-seat Concert Hall, a 1 734-seat Grand Theatre and a Studio Theatre with a maximum seating capacity of 496. In 2010-11, 740 performances at the Centre attracted more than 653 000 people.
The Centre is the major venue for Hong Kong's five big cultural events － the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, Chinese Opera Festival, International Arts Carnival, and Autumn Thematic Arts Festival.
It is also a platform for many internationally acclaimed performing arts groups. Among them, in 2010-11, were Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and US-based Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Other attractions included recitals by Krystian Zimerman, Mischa Maisky and Sir James Galway, opera productions of Manon and La Bohème, and concerts by Joshua Bell, The Academy of St Martin in the Fields and David Sanborn.
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With the panoramic view of Victoria Harbour, the Centre's outdoor piazza is a popular place for spectacular events, such as the International Chinese New Year Night Parade and the Lunar New Year Lantern Carnival and Fireworks Display.
Hong Kong City Hall
Hong Kong City Hall, which opened in 1962, is our first purpose-built civic centre. In 2009, the Bauhaus-style complex was designated a Grade 1 Historic Building. City Hall has a 1 434-seat Concert Hall, a 463-seat Theatre and a 590-square-metre Exhibition Hall. About 353 000 patrons attended 594 performances staged there in 2010-11.
Apart from local artists, distinguished visiting artists and arts groups performed at the venue. They included Sichuan Opera Theatre of Chengdu (China), Emerson String Quartet (USA), Zic Zazou (France), The Avanti! Chamber Orchestra (Finland), Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Piotr Anderszewski, Larry Carlton and Tak Matsumoto, Dame Evelyn Glennie and Fou Ts’ong. City Hall was also one of the main venues for major arts festivals during the year.
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Community Arts Facilities
Hong Kong’s range of arts facilities are focal points for cultural activities in different places. They include larger venues such as the Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan, and Tuen Mun town halls, the Kwai Tsing, Yuen Long, and Ko Shan theatres, and smaller venues such as the Sai Wan Ho, Sheung Wan, Ngau Chi Wan and Tai Po civic centres, and the North District Town Hall. Most of these venues have been serving the community for many years. Yuen Long Theatre, the latest established venue, celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2010.
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To promote and encourage the arts at grassroots level, district arts groups organising cultural activities for the local community enjoy free use of these facilities through our venue sponsorship scheme. In 2010-11, more than 100 community arts groups were sponsored in 660 activities which attracted more than 133 000 people. Various independent organisations also hire ancillary facilities for arts-related activities.
Support for Cantonese Opera
The Government is keen to preserve and develop Cantonese opera in Hong Kong. To meet the high demand for performance venues from the Cantonese opera sector, the Department has put in place a priority hiring policy for professional Cantonese opera troupes. They include priority hiring at the Ko Shan Theatre and priority booking for specific periods at five other major performance venues. These measures are supported by the Cantonese Opera Advisory Committee and the Cantonese opera sector.
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Planned New Facilities
Two new venue projects are currently in the pipeline. The first is the conversion of two graded historic buildings － Yau Ma Tei Theatre and Red Brick Building － into a performance venue housing a 300-seat theatre and two multi-purpose rooms. The venue is expected to open in mid-2012. Another project, scheduled for completion in 2013, is the Annex Building at the Ko Shan Theatre to house a 600-seat theatre, as well as rehearsal and training facilities. These venues will provide facilities particularly for budding Cantonese opera artists/performing troupes to organise small-to-medium scale Cantonese opera performances, experimental works, training and rehearsal.
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Venue Partnership Scheme
To provide a supportive environment for sustainable development of performing arts, a three-year Venue Partnership Scheme was fully implemented in April 2009. The Scheme involves 20 venue partners, including individual groups, joint groups and consortia, in organising various performing arts activities at 11 venues. It aims to foster partnership between venues and performing arts groups to enhance their image, expand the audience, optimise facility usage, encourage community involvement in arts development, and promote arts in the community.
| Venue | Partners | ||
| (1) | Hong Kong City Hall |
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| (2) | Hong Kong Cultural Centre |
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| (3) | Kwai Tsing Theatre |
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| (4) | Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre |
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| (5) | North District Town Hall |
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| (6) | Sai Wan Ho Civic Centre |
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| (7) | Sha Tin Town Hall |
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| (8) | Sheung Wan Civic Centre |
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| (9) | Tsuen Wan Town Hall |
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| (10) | Tuen Mun Town Hall |
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| (11) | Yuen Long Theatre |
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Venue partners are supported in various ways, including priority use of venue facilities, funding and publicity, and provision of work space. In 2010-11, the 20 venue partners presented 611 performances and engaged in 701 audience building activities. Together they attracted about 663 000 spectators and participants.
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Open Stage Pilot Scheme
To promote arts and culture in the community, the Department launched an Open Stage Pilot Scheme in July 2010 at the outdoor areas of three LCSD venues － Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Sha Tin Town Hall and Kwai Tsing Theatre. The scheme enables the community to enjoy the arts leisurely while enriching the local cultural scene. In 2010-11, 114 performances by 18 individuals/groups were given at these venues, including acoustic band shows, instrumental music, percussion and singing concerts as well as dance performances.
Arts Administrator Trainee Programme
An arts administrator trainee scheme was launched in 2010-11 to nurture a pool of arts administrators to support the development of Hong Kong’s 'cultural software'. The trainees were engaged by the LCSD and its performance venue partners comprising major and medium/small-sized performing groups.
Thirteen LCSD trainees, engaged for a two-year programme commencing in 2010-11, are learning venue operations, facility management, event promotion, as well as organisation of performing arts programmes, carnivals and arts festivals.
Separately, the LCSD sponsored its venue partners to engage trainees to learn about the management of performing arts groups. Under this scheme, 19 trainees were engaged by 17 venue partners during the year.
