HONG KONG 2004 - Recreation, Sport and the Arts

During the year, the LCSD presented 1 959 performances, covering a rich variety of performing arts programmes and featuring local and visiting artists. These attracted an audience of 710 662 people.

Musical highlights by visiting artists included the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, concerts and two opera productions. Thematic programmes included the Encore Series, the Music Rendezvous — City Hall Concert Hall Series, Choral Series, the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre Recital Series, the Ancient Vernacular Music — Traditional Regional Music of China Series and the Jazz Up Series.

Highlights of contemporary dance programmes included the world famous Merce Cunningham Dance Company (USA), Eifman Ballet (Russia), the distinguished Cullberg Ballet (Sweden) and Inbal Pinto Dance Company (Israel). Ethnic dances included The Ukrainian Shumka Dance Company of Canada, flamenco dance, The Four Elements (Spain), and Chinese ethnic dance by Yunnan Province Song and Dance Theatre. All of them were well received.

On the multi-arts front, the projects included Michael Nyman Band (UK), multi-media percussion theatre of Lung Heung Wing and Chin Kwok Wai, and a Chinese poem reciting concert. Others included Wong Bik Wan's multi-media theatre and Canada's Dulcinea Langfelder & Co packaged under the Solo Soul Series. Different kinds of puppetry performances were featured including China Puppet Art Troupe, Hunan Shadow and Rod Puppet Art Troupe, Theatre Hikosen from Japan and Jim Gamble Puppet Troupe from USA. In addition, various family entertainment programmes such as The Spencers from USA and Shenyang Acrobatic Troupe were scheduled around Easter and Christmas.

A number of fascinating theatre works were presented in the year, among which were the Russian Hamlet directed by the world renowned Peter Stein, Othello performed by the outstanding UK theatre company Cheek by Jowl, and Inside the Skeleton of the Whale performed by Eugenio Barba's Odin Teatret from Denmark. In addition to visiting companies, collaboration with local theatre groups continued and many of the works presented or sponsored were new creations.

The promotion of the appreciation of Chinese opera has always been a key objective. Being one of the major advocates of the Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Cooperation Conference, the second Cantonese Opera Day continued to be organised on the last Sunday in November. The event was part of the series named as Bravo! A Cantonese Opera Fiesta! for promoting Cantonese Opera in November/December. Throughout the year, the LCSD presented newly commissioned Cantonese opera works and Chinese opera highlights from other regions including the Zhejiang Little Hundred-Flower Yue Opera Troupe, a young cast Kunqu Opera The Peony Pavilion, the China Peking Opera Theatre, and Chinese Operatic Arts Series 2004 featuring five different operatic genres.

The department continues to cooperate with other bodies, and has sponsored or jointly organised cultural activities with consulates general and cultural institutions to promote cultural exchange. Major projects included the Year of France in China programmes, Musicarama co-presented by Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong Ltd and Hong Kong Composers' Guild, and the 5th Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival jointly organised with the Hong Kong Harmonica Association and King's Harmonica Quintet.

During the year, 661 carnivals and entertainment programmes were organised by the LCSD in parks, playgrounds, community halls as well as in the department's cultural venues. These covered a variety of performing arts presentations and attracted more than one million people.

Outdoor entertainment extravaganzas included the Spring Lantern Festival, Summer Fun Gala, Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnival, Christmas Fun Gala and New Year's Eve Countdown Carnival. To celebrate the Spring Lantern and Mid-Autumn Festivals, spectacular lantern displays promoting traditional Chinese culture were put up at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza and the Kowloon Park respectively and attracted thousands of tourists and local residents. The newly introduced Waving in Music concert series to promote the appreciation of Jazz and popular Western music was staged in Stanley and Sai Kung during the summer. The Asian Ethnic Cultural Programmes drew an enthusiastic response from local people and tourists as well as Asian nationals living in Hong Kong.

The LCSD places emphasis on promoting and increasing public access to the arts through educational and audience-building programmes.

During the year, the department held 853 arts education and audience-building activities. The School Culture Day Scheme mobilised schools to bring their students to the department's performing venues, museums and libraries during school hours. The School Arts Animateur Scheme sought collaboration with local performing arts groups to offer arts training programmes at schools.

Arts education and audience-building activities organised for the community included the Artist-in-residence Scheme which offered workshops and arts training programmes at performing venues, the Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme which reached out to the public and the District Cantonese Opera Parade organised to promote Cantonese opera at the community level.

The Cultural Services Volunteers Scheme, encouraged members of the public to make better use of their leisure time to perform voluntary work in promoting arts and culture. Some 2 000 volunteers were recruited under the scheme.

The film and video programmes, presented either solely by the LCSD or jointly with local consulate offices, cultural and film institutions, continued to provide a variety of film selections for the public. In addition, film programmes from the Mainland, South Africa, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Australia, France and Latin American countries were presented to enhance the diversity of programmes and to promote cultural exchange. To enable children and young people to develop an interest in film, the International Children's Film Carnival, being part of the International Arts Carnival, provided a series of film screenings and video workshops.

To support major local film events, venue sponsorship were given to the annual Hong Kong International Film Festival and Hong Kong Film Awards Presentation Ceremony. Funding and venue support were also given to the Hong Kong Arts Centre for organising the annual Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards to encourage creative independent productions of short film and video.