Arts Education and Audience-Building Programmes

To develop cultural literacy in schools and the community, the LCSD organised 1 273 arts education and audience-building activities throughout Hong Kong, which attracted more than 319 000 people during the year.

In Schools

The LCSD regularly organises arts education programmes in schools to foster cultural literacy among students.

Under the School Arts Animateur Scheme, the LCSD collaborates with local performing groups experienced in arts education to conduct arts education projects in schools. After attending a series of workshops lasting from a few months to an entire school year, students have the opportunity to show what they have learnt through performances.

In the year under review, 11 projects were presented under this scheme, comprising dance, music, musicals, drama, Cantonese opera, and multi-media arts. These were delivered with the help of the Chung Ying Theatre Company, the City Contemporary Dance Company, the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild, the Hong Kong Ballet, the Hong Kong 3 Arts Musical Institute, the Seals Players Foundation, the DanceArt Hong Kong, the Prospects Theatre, the Exploration Theatre, the Class 7A Drama Group, and the Kim Sum Cantonese Opera Association.

To enhance the civic awareness of students, the LCSD worked with some of these arts groups and participating schools to organise Students’ Performances for the Community, held 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 along to the department’s performance venues, museums and libraries during school hours to take part in specially-tailored cultural activities. This popular scheme also serves to integrate art, history and science in the school curriculum, and link them closely with 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.

The Arts Experience Scheme for Senior Secondary Students offers tailor-made programmes with enhanced interactive and educational elements, all designed to tie in with the “Aesthetic Development of Other Learning Experience” outlined in the new senior secondary curriculum.

A total of 23 programmes were offered under this scheme in 2012-13, including dance, drama, music, Western and Chinese opera and multi-media arts. Participating artists and arts groups included: the Chung Ying Theatre Company, the Hong Kong Ballet, the Hong Kong Dance Company, the Zuni Icosahedron, the Musica Viva, the City Contemporary Dance Company, the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, the Theatre Space, the Jingkun Theatre, the Hong Kong Theatre Works, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, the Alice Theatre Laboratory, the Theatre du Pif, the Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio, the DanceArt Hong Kong, the Ho Bit Goon, the Y-Space, the phase7 performing arts, David Quah, Dennis Wu, Yuen Siu-fai and Sun Kim-long.

Following good response the previous year, in 2012-13 the Audience Building Office continued to organise the Performing Arts Criticism Project for Senior Secondary Students in collaboration with the International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong). The project introduces the basic techniques of arts criticism to students through seminars and workshops.

The New Synergy Arts Animateur Pilot Scheme was a new initiative launched in 2012-13, offering progressive training courses to students who had previously participated in music composition and script writing workshops. To promote interest in Cantonese opera, especially among students, the department presented Let’s Enjoy Cantonese Opera in Bamboo Theatre. As the name indicates, these performances featured Cantonese opera performed in bamboo theatres in various districts, with the support of district organisations, and featured interactive/educational activities tailored for students.

The LCSD commissioned the Hong Kong Institute of Education to conduct a study on the effectiveness of the school arts education schemes organised by the Audience Building Office. The study, which was based on questionnaire, surveys and focus group interviews with teachers and students, found there was a high satisfaction rate of these schemes. It affirmed their success in meeting the dual objectives of enhancing students’ interest in the arts on the one hand, and incentivising them to participate in arts activities on the other.

In the Community

Audience-building programmes held at the community level included the Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme, the District Cantonese Opera Parade, and other projects organised in co-operation with district and non-government cultural organisations.

Outreach activities under the Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme are designed to make the arts more accessible to the community. Twenty-two arts groups/artists participated in the scheme in 2012-13, conducting performances in public spaces including parks, shopping malls and community centres.

The District Cantonese Opera Parade promotes Cantonese opera and gives emerging and amateur Cantonese opera troupes opportunities to perform full-length repertoires at regional/district venues.

To encourage the elderly to participate in cultural activities, the LCSD organised a Community Oral History Theatre Project in collaboration with performing arts and district organisations. In a series of workshops, the project collected valuable personal histories from elderly people of a specific district. After their oral histories were scripted, the elderly participants then had the opportunity to perform their stories on stage. In 2012-13, the project was implemented in the Kwun Tong district.