HONG KONG 2004 - Recreation, Sport and the Arts

The Hong Kong Cultural Centre has established itself as Hong Kong's premier performing arts venue, attracting leading artists from around the world. It has three main performing venues: Concert Hall, Grand Theatre and Studio Theatre with seating capacities of 2 019, 1 734 and 496 respectively. In 2004, a total of 759 000 people attended 887 performances in these venues.

The Hong Kong City Hall has commanded a special place in Hong Kong's cultural life. It is a major multi-purpose complex comprising a Concert Hall, Theatre, Recital Hall, Exhibition Hall and Exhibition Gallery. A total of 599 events were held during the year, attracting some 309 000 people.

In addition to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong City Hall and the two indoor stadia, the LCSD operates 11 regional and district civic centres: the Sheung Wan Civic Centre and Sai Wan Ho Civic Centre on Hong Kong Island; the Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre and Ko Shan Theatre in Kowloon; and the Sha Tin Town Hall, Tsuen Wan Town Hall, Tuen Mun Town Hall, Kwai Tsing Theatre, Yuen Long Theatre, North District Town Hall and Tai Po Civic Centre in the New Territories. To further enhance the artistic environment and provide better facilities, the Tsuen Wan Town Hall and Sheung Wan Civic Centre were closed for large-scale renovation projects in early 2004 and the facilities were re-opened for public use in late 2004.

Through the Artist-in-residence Scheme, 12 local arts groups made use of these 11 venues for a designated period in 2004 to develop and promote their creative works and education programmes among the district communities.

The Programme Partnership Scheme, first launched in 2002 at the Yuen Long Theatre and the North District Town Hall, was successfully re-launched at the Sheung Wan Civic Centre and the Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre in 2003 as well as Tuen Mun Town Hall in 2004. Under this scheme, facilities and resources were provided to selected arts groups so they could organise audience-building programmes and create new works. In this way, the arts community was offered the opportunity to be involved in organising programmes and to fully utilise the facilities at these civic centres.

The Hong Kong Coliseum and the Queen Elizabeth Stadium are two of the largest multi-purpose indoor stadia in Hong Kong. The 12 500-seat coliseum is a leading venue for pop concerts, musicals, entertainment spectaculars, international sports events, cultural programmes, large-scale celebrations and conventions. The 3 600-seat stadium is suitable for holding sports events, cultural and entertainment performances, school ceremonies, conferences and variety shows.

In 2004, 455 performances were staged in the two indoor stadia, attracting over 2 million people.

To enhance Hong Kong's position as a centre of arts, culture and entertainment in Asia, the Government issued the Invitation for Proposals in September 2003, inviting proposals from the private sector to develop a waterfront site of about 40 hectares at the southern tip of West Kowloon into a world-class integrated arts, cultural, entertainment and commercial district — the West Kowloon Cultural District. By the submission deadline on June 19, the Government had received five proposals, three of which met the basic requirements. These three proposals will be further assessed.

To help the public better understand the three proposals and to facilitate an informed discussion, the Government has launched a public consultation exercise since mid-December with exhibitions of the three proposals and a series of forums. The Government will carefully analyse and consider the views of the public after the public consultation has been completed.

URBTIX has become the most popular ticketing system through which the public may purchase tickets at any of the 32 outlets as well as through its telephone booking and Internet ticketing services. In 2004, some 4.1 million tickets for over 7 000 performances were sold, with a total sales value of $621 million.

The LCSD is proceeding to outsource the back-end ticketing system, i.e. hardware and software, to the private sector for development of an advanced ticketing system targeted to be completed in 2006. The department will maintain the operation of ticket outlets and services for venue hirers.