Festivals

International Arts Carnival 2012

The International Arts Carnival, an annual summer event, offers performing arts programmes and educational arts activities for families, youth and young children in the form of dance, multi-media theatre, puppet theatre, comedy, music, and children’s films.

The 2012 carnival opened with the ballet Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, performed by the Estonian National Ballet. Other highlights included Splendid by the China National Acrobatic Troupe; Harmony by the Théâtre de la Dame de Coeur from Canada; The Ugly Duckling &The Tortoise and The Hare by the Lightwire Theater from the USA; Nuova Barberia Carloni by the Teatro Necessario from Italy; Momentari & Maps by the Nats Nus Dansa from Spain; and Touch by Boy Blue Entertainment from the UK.

Local artists added colour to the carnival with the multi-media theatre Short-nosed Elephant Xiao Xiao by Jumbo Kids Theatre and Theatre Horizon; Miracle Kingdom by Wilderness Creation; Brothers of War by the All Theatre Art Association; Happy Days Toy Shop by the Fantasy Puppet Theatre; and Romeo and Harriet by the Hong Kong 3 Arts Musical Institute.

The carnival also included pre-carnival school tours, community outreach performances, school culture day programmes, exhibitions and workshops. A special youth project, Breaking into a New World II: The Mapping of a Body-Mind by Ho Bit Goon was organised to explore the challenges of growing up in the 21st century.

From July 6 to August 19, 2012, a total of 21 local and 11 visiting arts groups participated in 448 carnival events, attracting an audience of around 162 600. The average attendance at ticketed events was 95 per cent of capacity.

New Vision Arts Festival 2012

Launched in 2002, the biennial New Vision Arts Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2012. Running from October 19 to November 17, 2012, the sixth edition continued to showcase dynamic and cutting-edge productions that were cross-cultural and/ or cross-disciplinary with an Asian focus.

Opening the Festival was the multimedia theatre Beyond Time by the U Theatre of Taiwan.

A number of world-première productions were also featured, including the commissioning site-specific dance work Illuminate by the Shen Wei Dance Arts from the USA (as part of the Closing Programme), and The Sound of Folk Tales by Dana Leong and Dave Liang from the USA, which fused jazz, electronica and animation. Other highlights included NEITHER / DELUSIONS II by phase7 performing.arts from Germany; futuristic street dance gala FAKEST by the Wrecking Crew Orchestra from Japan; Two Dogs by the National Theatre of China; and a concert by Wu Man and aboriginal musicians and singers from Taiwan.

The Festival also encouraged artistic collaborations between local artists and their overseas counterparts. Examples were the concert by Trey Lee and the Munich Chamber Orchestra from Germany; the operatic tone-poem The Flight of the Jade Bird featuring artists from Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong; and Lament of the Exile by DanceArt Hong Kong, with artists from Australia, the Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Festival also served as a platform for local arts groups such as the Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio, the Ho Bit Goon and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta to present their latest works.

During the month-long Festival, 50 visiting and 62 local artists/arts groups presented 95 events. These included master-classes, student performances, exhibitions, foyer and outdoor performances, backstage tours, lecture demonstrations and talks. The Festival attracted an audience of around 72 800 in total, with an average attendance of 75 per cent of capacity for ticketed events.