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RECREATION AND THE ARTS
Facilities for the Arts The Tsim Sha Tsui Cultural Centre will have an auditoria block housing a 2,300-seat concert hall; a 2,200-seat lyric theatre for opera, ballet and stage shows; and a small drama theatre. A nine-storey office block will accommodate the Cultural Services Division of the Urban Services Department. Other facilities planned include restaurants, an arts library, conference and lecture rooms, garden areas and a small recital hall.
In the third stage of the Tsim Sha Tsui Cultural Centre, the Hong Kong Museum of Art will be relocated in a new museum building.
Hong Kong Museum of Science and Technology
The development of the Hong Kong Museum of Science and Technology was initiated by the Urban Council. A feasibility study by a team of American museum consultants recommended that a public museum of science and technology should be set up in Hong Kong - with emphasis on visitor involvement and audience participation.
The government, which is responsible for the capital cost of the project, has confirmed that a site east of Chatham Road, in Kowloon, has been reserved for the museum. When completed, it will have a total floor area of 17,000 square metres, of which at least half will be used as exhibition space. A chief planning officer was recruited in 1979 to head the initial planning and subsequent operation of the museum.
City Hall
Opened in 1962, the City Hall, located in Central District, occupies about 11,000 square metres and includes two separate blocks with a connecting garden. The low block houses a 1,500-seat concert hall, a 470-seat theatre, an exhibition hall and a restaurant. The high block contains an exhibition gallery, a 116-seat recital hall, lecture and conference rooms, the Hong Kong Museum of Art and libraries operated by the Urban Council.
The City Hall is administered by the Urban Council. Its facilities are available for hire by the public and it is used by the council for various functions and performances. With increasing public interest in cultural activities, the City Hall continues to be the centre of cultural life in Hong Kong. During the year, about 576,600 people attended performances in the concert hall, the theatre and the recital hall; a total of 1,018 performances and exhibitions were held at these venues.
Among the performances the Urban Council presented 45 artistes and groups from overseas, some of whom appeared with the assistance of various cultural organisations, such as the United States International Communication Agency, the British Council, the Goethe Institute and Alliance Française. The Urban Council has also received generous help from various consulates.
Some of the internationally-acclaimed artistes who performed were violinists Mayumi Fujikawa, Theo Olof and Sung Ju Lee; double-bass player Gary Karr; pianists Fou T'song, Tong II Han and Susan Starr; the Wuppertal Dance Theatre of Germany; the Australian Dance Theatre; the Alwin Nikolais Dance Company; the Vienna Folk Opera Orchestra; the NHK Symphony Orchestra; and the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra.
In promoting local artistic talent, the Urban Council staged 18 performances of Chinese opera including 10 Cantonese productions as well as Mandarin and Chekiang opera. Five performances of two short operas, the Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci, were presented in November, accompanied by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. During the year the Urban Council presented 42 vocal and instrumental recitals, and 11 Chinese and Western dance performances.
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