Arts Education and Audience Building Programmes

To cultivate cultural literacy in schools and the community at large, the Department organised 1 283 arts education and audience building activities territory-wide. They attracted more than 342 000 people during the year under review.

At the School Level

Various arts education programmes are also regularly organised at the school level to foster cultural literacy among the students in their early ages.

Under the School Arts Animateur Scheme, the Department collaborates with local performing groups experienced in arts education to implement arts in schools. After attending a series of workshops lasting a few months to an academic year, participating students show what they have learned through performances.

In 2010-11, 12 projects comprising dance, music, musicals, drama and Chinese opera were presented with the help of Unlock Dancing Plaza, Chung Ying Theatre Company, City Contemporary Dance Company, Hong Kong Composers' Guild, Hong Kong Ballet, Hong Kong 3 Arts Musical Institute, DanceArt Hong Kong, Prospects Theatre, Exploration Theatre, Theatre Space, the Class 7A Drama Group and the Kim Sum Cantonese Opera Association.

To enhance students' civic consciousness and the effectiveness of arts education, the LCSD also worked with some of these arts groups and participating schools to organise Students' Performances for the Community at places like hospitals and homes for the aged in their school neighbourhoods.

Secondary school students display their talent in The Mermaid and Treasure Island at the finale of the English Musical Theatre Animateur Scheme which aims to develop their artistic potential.

The School Culture Day Scheme encourages primary, secondary and special schools to bring students to the Department's various performance venues, museums and libraries during school hours to participate in specially-tailored cultural activities. This well-received Scheme also serves to integrate art, history and science in school curricula and everyday life. To tie in with the Arts Experience Scheme for Senior Secondary Students launched in 2009, the performing arts programmes under the School Culture Day Scheme, were realigned to target for students from Primary One to Secondary Three.

The Arts Experience Scheme for Senior Secondary Students offers tailor-made programmes with added interactive and educational elements to tie in with Aesthetic Development of Other Learning Experience in the new senior secondary curriculum.

In 2010-11, 18 programmes were offered. They comprised dance, drama, music, Chinese opera and multi-media theatre. Participating artists/arts groups included Kung Chi-shing, Zuni Icosahedron, Guangdong Modern Dance Company, Tang Lok-yin, Pun Siu-fai, the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, JAM (from Xinjiang), Chung Ying Theatre, Nancy Loo, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Musica Viva, Hong Kong Dance Company, City Contemporary Dance Company, Hong Kong Ballet, Alice Theatre Laboratory, The Absolutely Fabulous Theatre Connection, Hong Kong Theatre Works, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, Yuen Siu-fai, Sum Kim-long and Unlock Dancing Plaza.

One-act opera Amahl and the Night Visitors by Musica Viva, held under the Arts Experience Scheme for Senior Secondary Students, received enthusiastic response from teachers and students.

In the Community

Audience building programmes at the community level included the Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme, District Cantonese Opera Parade, and projects organised in co-operation with district and non-government cultural organisations.

Outreach activities under the auspices of the Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme are designed to make the arts more accessible to the community. Participating artists performed in public spaces such as parks, shopping malls, community centres. Twenty-two arts groups/artists took part in the Scheme in 2010-11.

Talented performers of Y-Space in the fabulous Dance at the Walled Village during the finale of the 2010 Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme at Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall.

The District Cantonese Opera Parade promotes Cantonese opera and provides emerging and amateur Cantonese opera troupes opportunities to perform full-length repertoires at regional/district venues. To further promote interest in Cantonese opera, especially among children, the Department, in collaboration with district organisations, organised Let's Enjoy Cantonese Opera in Bamboo Theatre in bamboo theatres in four districts. These performances featured Cantonese opera with interactive/educational activities tailored for children.

Hundreds of students appreciate a Cantonese opera performance for children at a bamboo theatre in Tai Hang Tsuen, Tai Po.

To encourage the elderly to participate in cultural activities, a new initiative, entitled Community Oral History Theatre Project － Sham Shui Po District, was piloted in 2010. The project aims to collect, through a series of workshops, valuable personal histories of elderly people in the district. After their oral histories were scripted, the old people had the opportunity to perform their stories on stage. The finales took place in December 2010 and January 2011 at Kwai Tsing Theatre and Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre respectively.

Following a year-long drama teaching programme under the Community Oral History Theatre Project － Sham Shui Po District, elderly people share their life stories on stage.