Arts Education and Audience-Building Programmes

As part of its goal of developing cultural literacy in schools and the community, LCSD organised 1 161 arts education and audience-building activities throughout Hong Kong, which attracted more than 313 000 people during the year.

In Schools

Under the School Arts Animateur Scheme, 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 put what they have learnt into practice in performances. In 2014, 12 projects were presented, comprising performances in areas as varied as music composition, dance, musical, drama, puppetry and Cantonese opera. Programme production for the performances was undertaken by the Chung Ying Theatre Company, the City Contemporary Dance Company, the Hong Kong Ballet, the Hong Kong 3 Arts Musical Institute, the Prospects Theatre, the Theatre Ronin, the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild, Make Friends with Puppet, the Seals Players Foundation, the Kim Sum Cantonese Opera Association, R&T (Rhythm & Tempo), and the Doubledeck Factory.

To enhance the civic awareness of students, LCSD worked with some of these arts groups and participating schools to run Students’ Performances for the Community, held at community centres and homes for the elderly in the vicinity of their schools.

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-designed cultural activities. This popular scheme also serves to integrate art, history and science in the school curriculum, and link them closely with everyday life. Some of the activities under the scheme also welcome parental participation.

The Arts Experience Scheme for Senior Secondary Students offers tailor-made programmes with interactive and educational elements, all designed to tie in with the new senior secondary curriculum’s Aesthetic Development of Other Learning Experience. A total of 22 programmes were offered under this scheme in 2014-15, including programmes in dance, drama, music, Western and Cantonese opera and multi-media arts.

Participating artists and arts groups included the Chung Ying Theatre Company, Zuni Icosahedron, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, the Hong Kong Dance Company, the City Contemporary Dance Company, The Hong Kong Ballet, the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, Theatre du Pif, the Prospects Theatre, the Pop Theatre, Musica Viva, Muse Motion, the Absolutely Fabulous Theatre Connection English Theatre, the O Theatre Workshop, the Yat Po Singers, Premiere Performances of Hong Kong, Catherine Yau, Hardy Tsoi, David Quah, Dennis Wu and Sun Kim-long.

The Performing Arts Appreciation Project for Senior Secondary Students was also organised in collaboration with the International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong); this project introduced students to the basic techniques of arts criticism through seminars and workshops. To promote students’ interest in Cantonese opera, 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 and educational activities specially tailored for the students.

A pilot arts education project, the General Education in Arts Programme for Tertiary Students (Theatre), was launched in 2014. This offers an interactive platform where tertiary students can gain an in-depth understanding of theatre from page to stage, through theatre appreciation activities, workshops and seminars. Students also have the opportunity to create and present their own artistic work under professional guidance.

In the Community

Audience-building programmes held at the community level included the Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme 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. A total of 22 arts groups or artists participated in the scheme in 2014-15, conducting performances in public spaces such as parks, shopping malls and community centres. Collaboration with The Link at shopping malls in housing estates enabled artists to engage with the communities in these neighbourhoods.

To encourage the elderly to get involved in cultural activities, LCSD organised a Community Oral History Theatre Project in collaboration with performing arts and district organisations. Through a series of workshops, the project collects valuable personal histories from elderly people from specific districts. After their oral histories are scripted, the elderly participants perform their stories on stage. In 2014-15, the project was extended to Eastern District, following its earlier successful implementation in Sham Shui Po, Kwun Tong and Islands District (Tai O). A first joint district performance involving around 70 elderly participants from Sham Shui Po, Kwun Tong and Islands District was staged at the Hong Kong City Hall to celebrate the fifth year of the project.