RECREATION, SPORT AND THE ARTS
In 2001, major Chinese Opera programmes included the Shanghai Shaoxing Opera Group, the Zhejiang Peking and Kunqu Opera Arts Theatre, the Huangmei Opera Theatre of Anhui Province and a Peking - Cantonese Opera project featuring a number of outstanding artists in masterpieces of Peking and Cantonese Operas. Other operatic programmes included the Chinese Operatic Arts Series which presented A Showcase of Masterly Skills in Chinese Opera as well as many other operatic programmes. Newly commissioned Cantonese Operas or revivals of traditional works included The Battle of Feishui, The Peach Blossom Fan and Reunion at the Lotus Pond.
Entertainment Programmes
During the year, a total of 682 carnivals and entertainment programmes were organised in parks, playgrounds, community halls as well as in the Leisure and Cultural Services Department's venues. These covered a variety of performing art forms
and attracted more than traditional, cultural, modern and popular
―
702 680 people.
Outdoor entertainment extravaganzas organised by the department included the Spring Lantern Festival, the Easter Family Fun Day, the Summer Fun Gala, the Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnivals, the Christmas Fun Gala and the New Year's Eve Countdown Carnival. The live broadcast relay of Pavarotti in Hong Kong on June 27 at the Piazza of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and on the jumbotron television of both Times Square (Causeway Bay) and Harbour City (Tsim Sha Tsui) attracted about 6 300 outdoor spectators, despite heavy rain that evening. The department also co-ordinated the annual Lunar New Year and National Day fireworks displays over Victoria Harbour.
Celebrating the Spring Lantern and Mid-Autumn Festivals, the department staged lantern exhibitions and cultural performances at the Passenger Terminal of the Hong Kong International Airport in January and from August to September, respectively, to promote traditional Chinese culture among tourists and residents. New projects such as the Evening Melodies Concert Series, designed to appeal to office workers, and the Asia Ethnic Concert Series, which enhanced cultural exchange, were introduced during the year.
Audience Building Projects
In 2001, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department launched a series of audience- building projects. These included the Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme, which was aimed at making the arts even more accessible to the community. Ten art groups were invited to serve as Community Cultural Ambassadors in conducting outreach activities in the performing arts.
Another audience-building project was the 'Artist-in-residence' Scheme at the department's 11 civic centres. These residencies were geared to nurture community interest in the performing arts and help local performing artists to communicate with their audiences.
Under the 'Animateur' schemes in schools, two projects on modern dance and drama for students were organised with the City Contemporary Dance Company and the Prospects Theatre Company. Arts education projects on multimedia art and musical theatre were organised with the Hong Kong Ballet, Zuni Icosahedron and the International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong). Another scheme, on
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