To cultivate cultural literacy in schools and the community, the LCSD organised 1 271 arts education and audience building activities throughout the territory. They attracted more than 315 000 people during the year under review.
Various arts education programmes are regularly organised in schools to foster cultural literacy among young students.
Under the School Arts Animateur Scheme, the department collaborates with local performing groups experienced in arts education to conduct arts education projects in schools. After attending a series of workshops lasting a few months to an academic year, participating students show what they have learnt through performances.
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Under the School Arts Animateur Scheme, the LCSD joined hands with local professional arts groups to conduct arts education projects in school, to bring students closer to the arts. |
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In the year under review, 12 projects, comprising dance, music, musicals, drama and Cantonese opera, and multi-media arts were presented with the help of the 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, Class 7A Drama Group and the Kim Sum Cantonese Opera Association.
To enhance arts education and students’ civic consciousness, the LCSD worked with some of these arts groups and participating schools to organise Students’ Performances for the Community at community centres and homes for the aged in their school neighbourhoods.
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 popular scheme also serves to integrate art, history and science in school curriculums 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 for students from Primary One to Secondary Three.
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Students participate in a pre-performance workshop on Bertolt Brecht’s Fear and Misery of the Third Reich, conducted by the Alice Theatre Laboratory under the Arts Experience Scheme for Senior Secondary Students. |
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The Arts Experience Scheme for Senior Secondary Students offers tailor-made programmes with enhanced interactive and educational elements to tie in with Aesthetic Development of Other Learning Experience in the new senior secondary curriculum.
We offered 22 programmes in 2011-12. They comprised dance, drama, music, Chinese opera and multi-media theatre. Participating artists/arts groups included: Gong Tri Pitaka, Chung Ying Theatre Company, Thang Long Water Puppet Troupe, Hong Kong Ballet, Nancy Loo, Hong Kong Dance Company, Zuni Icosahedron, Musica Viva, City Contemporary Dance Company, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, Theatre Space, Jingkun Theatre, Hong Kong Theatre Works, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Yuen Siu-fai, Sun Kim-long, Alice Theatre Laboratory, Absolutely Fabulous Theatre Connection and the Unlock Dancing Plaza.
In 2011-12, the Audience Building Office organised the Performing Arts Criticism Project in collaboration with the International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong), introducing the basic techniques of arts criticism to senior secondary students through seminars and workshops.
To promote interest in Cantonese opera, especially among students, the department collaborated with district organisations and organised Let’s Enjoy Cantonese Opera in Bamboo Theatre in bamboo theatres in various districts. These performances featured Cantonese opera with interactive/educational activities tailored for students.
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Hundreds gather in a bamboo theatre to appreciate a Cantonese opera performance. |
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Let’s Enjoy Cantonese Opera in Bamboo Theatre is one of the initiatives launched by the LCSD to cultivate students’ interest in Cantonese opera.
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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, with performances in public spaces such as parks, shopping malls and community centres. Twenty-two arts groups/artists participated in the scheme in 2011-12.
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A fine demonstration of music performances marked the launch ceremony of the 2012 Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme. |
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The District Cantonese Opera Parade promotes Cantonese opera and provides emerging and amateur Cantonese opera troupes with opportunities to perform full-length repertoires at regional/district venues.
To encourage the elderly to participate in cultural activities, the LCSD organised the Community Oral History Theatre Project in collaboration with performing arts and district organisations. The project aimed 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. In 2011-12, we continued the project in Sham Shui Po district with the support of Sham Shui Po District Council and extended it to Kwun Tong district.
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Elderly people share their life stories through public stage performances in the Community Oral History Theatre Project. |
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