Festivals

International Arts Carnival 2008

The International Arts Carnival is a six-week annual event that starts in early July and provides cultural events and entertainment for children, teenagers and families during the summer holidays. It offers performances by different cultural groups and serves as an audience-building platform for local artists and creative groups. In addition to performances, outreach teams promote arts activities at schools and in such public spaces as the foyers of civic centres and shopping arcades.

The 2008 Carnival opened with AEROS, a spectacular gymnastic dance theatre performance by the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, as part of Sporting Fantasia, a programme series in tune with the Beijing Olympics and the Olympic Equestrian Events. The series also included Park and Art by the Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong, which celebrated the spirit of 'One World One Dream'. Other highlights included ScarpArtsMusic from Canada, Fantasy Travellers by the National Black Light Theatre of Prague, A Little Nightmare Music by Aleksey Igudesman from Germany and Richard Hyung-ki from the United Kingdom, Hawaiian Family Festival: From ALOHA to LOHAS by Pop Culture Creations, The Magic Jungle by the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and Once On This Island by the Hong Kong 3 Arts Musical Institute. The Carnival also featured an array of extension activities, including intensive performing arts-related workshops, a music camp, an exhibition and a summer fun party.

AEROS, performed by the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, excites the audience at the opening of the International Arts Carnival 2008. This spectacular dance theatre performance blends the physical virtuosity of gymnastics with sophisticated theatrical arts.

A total of 28 local and 15 overseas arts groups performed in 402 events, attracting an audience of 134 000, throughout the carnival period, which ran from July 11 to August 17, 2008. A total of 119 kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools participated in outreach activities, and the average attendance rate for ticketed events reached 89 per cent.

Fourth New Vision Arts Festival

The New Vision Arts Festival is a biennial event that has been held since 2002. Its avant-garde programming showcases innovative and cross-cultural music, dance and theatre performances with an Asian focus. The Fourth New Vision Arts Festival, held from October 23 to November 23, 2008, featured cutting-edge programmes and performances by outstanding artists from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Mainland China and Taiwan.

Words All Over is a visual extravaganza that makes use of video and projection techniques to examine the power of words. This display illuminates the possibilities of interaction and space for visitors to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

The Festival opened with a triple bill by the Nederlands Dans Theater I, including the co-commissioned work Renature by Wayne McGregor, the Asian premiere of Tar and Feathers and Shoot the Moon by the Theater's resident choreographers Jiří Kylián and Lightfoot León. Other local and overseas co-commissioned projects were also featured in the Festival, including a co-commissioned work with the Holland Festival entitled Liang Hongyu, the final chapter of the Trilogy of War Heroines by Li Liuyi, director of the Beijing People's Art Theatre, and Zuni Icosahedron's God Came to China. Other popular programmes were the Fantasy of the Red Queen by Liu Sola and Ensemble Modern, The Tempest by the Contemporary Legend Theatre of Taiwan and Hong Kong film director Tsui Hark, a large-scale multimedia presentation by phase7 performing arts of Germany and the Hong Kong-UK verbatim theatre collaboration The Will to Build by Theatre du Pif.

Renature, a project that was co-commissioned with the Nederlands Dans Theatre I, depicts how the pursuit of evolution has denatured human beings and shows their struggle to recapture the natural state.

Over the one-month course of the Festival, 37 visiting and 30 local artist groups performed in 100 events, including 34 stage performances and an array of community activities, such as workshops and master class, school tours, exhibitions, foyer performances, meet-the-artists sessions and talks held in piazzas, cafes, secondary schools and tertiary institutions. The Festival attracted more than 80 000 people, with an average attendance rate of 78 per cent.