Performing Arts
Hong Kong Cultural Centre
The Hong Kong Cultural Centre is the city’s premier performing arts venue. It stages a wide range of events in its 2 019-seat Concert Hall, 1 734-seat Grand Theatre, and 496-seat Studio Theatre. In 2017-18, its 673 performances attracted over 627 000 patrons.
Major events hosted during the year included the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, Le French May arts festival, the Chinese Opera Festival, the International Arts Carnival, and the World Cultures Festival. Several acclaimed performing arts groups also performed at the cultural centre, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the China National Traditional Orchestra, The National Ballet of China, and the Shanghai Yue Opera Group. Important shows included performances of Verdi’s Aïda and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville by Opera Hong Kong, NINAGAWA Macbeth by Ninagawa Company, and Apariencias by Compañía Eva Yerbabuena, along with recitals by Renée Fleming and Daniil Trifonov.
The cultural centre’s outdoor piazza continued to prove a popular location for enjoying outdoor events such as the International Chinese New Year Night Parade, the Lunar New Year Lantern Carnival, and various fireworks displays.
Salisbury Garden, which is managed by the cultural centre, was re-opened in December 2017 following the completion of revitalisation works. Designed by renowned urban designer and landscape architect Professor James Corner in collaboration with a team of international and local designers, the garden revitalises Victoria Harbour waterfront and transforms the area into a place where culture, landscape and art converge, and is ideal for both daily leisure and occasional celebrations.
Hong Kong City Hall
The Hong Kong City Hall, a designated Grade 1 Historic Building, contains a 1 434-seat Concert Hall, a 463-seat Theatre and a 590-square metre Exhibition Hall. Around 362 000 patrons attended 608 performances staged in 2017-18.
Performances by renowned artists and arts groups held during the year included those by Jean-Claude Pennetier, the Philharmonia Quartett Berlin, the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, Kyung Wha Chung, The Sixteen, the China National Peking Opera Company, Vox Clamantis, Saburo Teshigawara, Augustin Hadelich, Rachel Barton Pine, and Al Ayre Español. Several local artists also performed at the venue, including Trey Lee, Mary Wu, Lin Cho-liang, Yau Sing-po, and Law Kar-ying.
Community Arts Facilities
The LCSD manages a network of community arts facilities that provide local venues for appreciating culture and the arts. Larger venues include the Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun town halls and the Kwai Tsing, Yuen Long and Ko Shan theatres, while smaller venues are represented by the Sai Wan Ho, Sheung Wan, Ngau Chi Wan and Tai Po civic centres, and the North District town hall. These LCSD facilities are also available for hire by cultural organisations. In 2017-18, 6 384 performances at these venues attracted around 2 109 000 patrons.
Our venue sponsorship scheme offers free use of these facilities to district arts groups involved in organising cultural activities for local communities. In 2017-18, the scheme benefited 98 community arts groups running 620 activities, which attracted about 106 000 people.Support for Cantonese Opera
Cantonese opera performance venues in Hong Kong are in high demand. In response, the LCSD has set up a priority hiring policy for professional Cantonese opera troupes, which gives them priority hiring of the Ko Shan Theatre and priority hiring for specific periods at five other performance venues.
The Ko Shan Theatre has a 1 031-seat theatre, which has been supplemented by the Ko Shan Theatre New Wing since 2014 with its 600-seat auditorium and rehearsal rooms, specially designed for staging Cantonese opera. In 2017-18, more than 108 000 people attended about 280 performances held in the auditorium. To further promote Cantonese opera, in September 2017 the Cantonese Opera Education and Information Centre in the New Wing was opened. The new centre includes five zones of interactive exhibits such as multi-media videos, photo booths and touchscreen monitors, introducing Cantonese opera history, casts, roles, make-up, librettos, scripts and music.
Another venue devoted to Chinese opera is the Yau Ma Tei Theatre, with its 300-seat theatre and two function rooms. Built in 1930, the theatre is the only surviving pre-war cinema building in the urban area of Hong Kong, and was accorded by the Antiquities Advisory Board in 1998 as a Grade 2 building, which is classified as a building of special merit and efforts should be made to selectively preserve. The theatre and the adjacent Grade 1 Red Brick Building re-opened after revitalisation in 2012. Since then, the complex has become an important training and performance venue for Cantonese opera artists. In 2017-18, more than 60 000 visitors attended about 280 performances.Planned New Facilities
Venue Partnership Scheme
The third round of the LCSD’s three-year Venue Partnership Scheme ended in March 2018. The scheme, which fosters partnerships between venues and performing arts groups, has helped raise the public image of the selected performing arts groups and increase their audiences while also optimising the use of venue facilities and encouraging wider community involvement in the arts. The scheme supports performing arts groups in a variety of ways, for example by providing them with work spaces, offering them priority use of venue facilities, delivering essential funding, and assisting them with publicity efforts. In 2017-18, the LCSD’s 20 venue partners (which include individual groups, joint groups and consortia) presented 654 performances and engaged in 1 011 audience-building activities, attracting attendees of around 690 000 in total.
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Venues |
Partners |
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(1) Hong Kong City Hall |
Hong Kong Sinfonietta |
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(2) Hong Kong Cultural Centre |
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra |
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(3) Kwai Tsing Theatre |
Chung Ying Theatre Company |
|
(4) Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre |
E-Side Dance Company |
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(5) North District Town Hall |
Hong Kong Theatre Works |
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(6) Sai Wan Ho Civic Centre |
The Absolutely Fabulous Theatre Connection |
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(7) Sha Tin Town Hall |
The Cantonese Opera Advancement Association |
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(8) Sheung Wan Civic Centre |
Theatre Dojo and iStage |
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(9) Tsuen Wan Town Hall |
Hong Kong Dance Company |
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(10) Tuen Mun Town Hall |
Spring-Time Experimental Theatre and |
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(11) Yau Ma Tei Theatre |
The Chinese Artists Association of Hong Kong |
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(12) Yuen Long Theatre |
Hong Kong Performing Stage of Cantonese Opera |
Arts Administrator Trainee Scheme
The Arts Administrator Trainee Scheme trains young arts administrators for the future administration and development of Hong Kong’s cultural scene. There were 31 trainee placements under the scheme in 2017-18.
The trainees undergo a two-year programme that coaches them in the basics of venue operations, facility management, event promotion, and the organisation of performing arts programmes, carnivals and arts festivals. Trainees in stage management are also given specific technical skills at LCSD venues under the guidance of stage professionals.
During the year, the LCSD also sponsored its 20 venue partners and the Hong Kong Arts Festival Society to enable them to take on 42 trainees in the management of performing arts groups and arts festivals.
