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Festivals
International Arts Carnival 2014
The International Arts Carnival, an annual summer event, offers performing arts programmes and educational arts activities for children, teenagers and their families in the form of music, dance, drama, puppetry, magic, acrobatics, multimedia theatre, black light theatre and children’s films.
The 2014 carnival opened with a delightful folk dance and song extravaganza by the National Folk Dance Ensemble of Croatia, LADO. This was followed by a diverse array of visiting programmes, including Fluff by Christine Johnston, Lisa O’Neill and Peter Nelson from Australia, L’Après-midi d’un Foehn – Version 1 by Compagnie Non Nova from France, Musical Magic by The Classic Buskers and Neil Henry from the UK, The Mischievous Puppet by the Guangdong Province Puppet Art Theater, Gala Show – The Best of Black Light Theatre by the Black Light Theatre Srnec from the Czech Republic, AliBaBach for babies and toddlers by Companhia de Música Teatral from Portugal, and TIMBER! by Cirque Alfonse from Canada.
The National Folk Dance Ensemble of Croatia presented LADO, showcasing the rich traditions of Croatian music and dance.
TIMBER! generated a super-charged atmosphere with its world of lumberjacks and traditional Quebec farming life.
Three local arts groups were commissioned to create new works for the carnival: the Fantasy Puppet Theatre’s Show Me Once, Black Bird Theatre’s facehome and Theatre Noir’s I’MPERFECT in both Cantonese and English.
Following an overwhelming response from youth participants and audiences to the commissioned programme Do You Sing? Dare to Sing! Youth A Cappella Workshop cum Finale Performance by Orange A Cappella at IAC 2013, the arts group was again invited to curate an intensive participatory workshop programme Do You Sing? Dare to Sing!II in 2014. This advanced training programme with its mentorship system was again very well received by participants.
This performance by local ensemble Orange A Cappella was received with great enthusiasm.
From July 11 to August 17, 2014, a total of nine visiting and 26 local arts groups and artists participated in 440 carnival events, attracting audiences of around 135 200 in total. The average attendance at ticketed events was 92 per cent of the total capacity of the events.
New Vision Arts Festival 2014
Launched in 2002, the biennial New Vision Arts Festival has positioned itself as a showcase for dynamic and cutting-edge productions with an Asian focus but which transcend individual cultures and disciplines. Over the years, the Festival has established itself as a unique arts brand and as a major arts event in the region.
The 2014 festival opened with the dance rock gig Political Mother: New Vision Arts Festival Uncut by the Hofesh Shechter Company from the UK. This fast-paced and powerful production was acclaimed by audiences and the media alike. Another dance masterpiece RICE, co-produced by the festival and internationally renowned arts institutions, was created by Lin Hwai-min to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan.
Local musicians joined the dancers and band members of the Hofesh Shechter Company to open the festival.
Lin Hwai-min's RICE was a tribute to the natural world.
The dramatic arts were also given a new twist when Japanese master director Yukio Ninagawa led a group of senior citizens in the Saitama Gold Theater in a performance of the breathtaking Ravens, We Shall Load Bullets. Renowned Indian director Roysten Abel delivered a reverberating multi-sensory music theatre show, The Kitchen.
This year the festival made its debut as a theatrical producer, with a refreshing rendition of Hedda Gabler, staged by eminent British director Adrian Noble with top local theatre artists and performers. The breakthroughs continued with ArtSnap, a jaunty ‘festival within a festival’ co-curated with British art collective Forest Fringe, joining hands with the Alice Theatre Laboratory and the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble.
The festival's debut theatrical production Hedda Gabler was staged with leading local actors.
Other highlights included 4 & 5 by TAO Dance Theater, Our Immortal Cantata by Yat Po Singers, and Black Monday by O Theatre Workshop, all of which enjoyed popular support and critical acclaim.
During the month-long festival, a total of 15 visiting arts groups and artists, 16 local arts groups and artists, and two festival productions presented 139 events, including extension activities such as exhibitions, workshops, talks, meet-the-artist sessions, school tours, and the Young Critic-in-Residence Scheme. The festival attracted an audience of around 105 500 in total, with an average attendance of 80 per cent of capacity for ticketed events.
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