In celebration of the Chinese traditional festivals and other major festive days, 10 large-scale carnivals were organised during the Mid-Autumn and Spring Lantern Festivals, Easter holidays, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. The New Year's Eve Countdown Carnival held at Victoria Park offered a series of interactive and innovative programmes to some 100,000 visitors. Visiting Australian group Strange Fruit captured the audience with their sculptural choreographed performance The Spheres.

	New Territories East Spring Lantern Carnival.

	The Spring Lantern Festival is given extra colour by the spectacular Phoenix Greeting Dragon lantern displayed at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza. The lantern features a pair of phoenix and 100 birds.

The Spring Arts Fair — Dance, Dance, Dance, a new initiative of the department, attracted over 10,000 enthusiasts to dance and play on a sunny Sunday afternoon in March. For the Mid-Autumn and Spring Lantern festivals spectacular lantern displays were staged at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza, beautifully promoting traditional Chinese arts and culture to both the local residents and tourists. The Asian Ethnic Cultural Programmes and Concert in the Park series, enhanced cultural exchange among the local citizens and the Filipino, Indonesian, Indian and Thai nationals residing in Hong Kong.

Year-round free entertainment programmes were also organised in the 18 districts for enjoyment by the public. A total of 626 performances, comprising a variety of traditional Chinese arts, dance and family entertainment programmes, were brought to audiences, usually at weekends and on holidays, throughout the territory.

Territory-wide carnivals, special events and regular free entertainment programmes organised by the department in 2002 recorded a total attendance of 782,558.