RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS
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and the New Year's Eve Family Fun Carnival. About 279 000 people attended these festival events. The council also co-ordinated the annual Lunar New Year and National Day Fireworks Displays.
Provisional Regional Council Presentations
The Provisional Regional Council presented a rich variety of local and overseas cultural programmes in 1998. Visiting artists included the Vienna Strauss Festival Orchestra from Austria, the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra and Moscow City Ballet from Russia, the renowned pianists Barry Douglas from England and Cecile Ousset from France, the guitar virtuoso Eliot Fisk and the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of maestro Christoph von Dohnanyi, both from the United States, the remarkable Russian cello and piano duo Dmitry Yablonsky and Oxana Yablonskaya and the Ambassadors Opera and Concert Worldwide from the United States.
Chinese programmes occupy an important place in the overall cultural programme mix of the council. Those presented during the year included the Hang Zhou Song Dynasty Town Art Troupe, the Ladies' Ensemble of Chinese Music, the China Central Ensemble of National Music, the Zhuhai (Female Chinese Music) Chamber Orchestra, Beijing Dance Academy, Beijing Opera Academy of China, the Xinjiang Military Region Art Troupe and the Shaanxi Percussion Ensemble. The council also presented the Chinese Instrumentalists' Series and Tea House Series.
The council continued its collaboration with the Hong Kong Arts Festival in presenting major festival programmes at its venues in the year under review. Full support was also given to local professional companies including the Hong Kong Ballet and the Chung Ying Theatre Company in commissioning new productions. In 1998, the council presented 677 programmes, reaching a total audience of 280 407.
International Children's Arts Festival
The International Children's Arts Festival, which is an important summer event for the young and family audience, entered its ninth year in 1998. Visiting artists participating in the festival included Cirque Eloize from Canada, magician Bradley Fields and Avner the Eccentric from the United States, the Shanghai Puppet Theatre and the China Society of Children's Song and Dance.
Programmes by local artists included the newly commissioned double bill Still Life at the Penguin Cafe and Butterfly Lovers by the Hong Kong Ballet, performances by the Theatre Ensemble, Ming Ri Theatre Company and Hong Kong Juvenile and Youth Chinese Classical Orchestra. Workshops on dance, magic, story-telling and story-building, Chinese handicrafts, puppet, T-shirt painting and computer graphics were also held. The festival drew an audience of 20 944.
Audience Building Projects
Audience building efforts were enhanced in the year. Animateur schemes on modern dance and drama for students were jointly presented with the City Contemporary Dance Company and the Prospects Theatre Company. In addition, arts education programmes on multi-media art, Cantonese Opera and musical theatre were organised in collaboration with the Zuni Icosahedron, the Hong Kong Ballet, the