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RECREATION AND THE ARTS
in 1980, the theatre company staged 79 performances in Cantonese, one of which was a Cantonese adaptation of the musical West Side Story. The company employs 15 full-time actors and a number of freelance artistes and production staff.
Film Festival
The Fourth Hong Kong International Film Festival was held in the City Hall and the King's Theatre during April. A non-competitive event presented by the Urban Council, the festival has been accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers' Associa- tions in Paris, and has already become established as a major cultural highlight in Hong Kong. In all, 114 films from 30 countries were seen by more than 50,000 people. A further 30,000 people visited a festival exhibition of posters and photographs.
The Urban Council and local and international cultural organisations jointly presented many additional films during the year. These included a regular series of French and German films, a Japanese film exhibition, a French film festival, and an independent short films festival.
Hong Kong Arts Centre
Activities in the Hong Kong Arts Centre's auditoria, exhibition galleries, rehearsal areas, studios and libraries increased in number and diversity during the year. So great was the demand for extra rehearsal, practice and studio space that three new facilities were opened at the centre's 19-storey building on the Wan Chai waterfront. These were the Redgrave Room, intended mainly for drama and dance rehearsals and courses, and two additional well-equipped studios for art and crafts.
The main event of the year was the Festival of Youth and the Arts, which took place during eight weeks from July to September. The festival comprised some 300 events and focused attention on the inter-relation of young people and the arts. It comprised a balanced mixture of amateur and professional events with local and overseas artists, and included a wide range of workshops and courses. A highlight of the festival was an exhibition entitled Young Art In Asia Now, which attracted a very high quality of entries from nine countries.
From time to time the Arts Centre presents major events in other venues. One such event, and a highlight on Hong Kong's cultural calendar for the year, was the successful visit of the Boston Ballet. Presented by the Arts Centre at the Sunbeam Theatre, the company had just completed a visit to China and played to full houses in Hong Kong.
Much of the Arts Centre's work, however, is on a considerably less glamorous plane. For example, the centre's educational work has developed rapidly, and it now houses and provides a wider range of arts courses and classes than any other organisation in Hong Kong. In an average month, over 100 separate educational courses supplement the daily exhibitions and performances available throughout the year. An unsubsidised educational charity, the Hong Kong Arts Centre was opened in October, 1977.
Tsuen Wan Town Hall
The Tsuen Wan Town Hall opened on February 7, by Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra - is the first multi-purpose cultural complex to be built in the New Territories. Centrally located on a 5,900-square-metre site next to the Tsuen Wan Magistracy, the capital cost of the three-storey building was $25 million - of which $10 million was donated by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club and the rest by the government.