Recreation, Sport and the Arts | 375
As for the Hong Kong Art School (HKAS), the centre's educational arm, 2006 was a year of consolidation. HKAS offered a series of high-quality award-bearing programmes with a comprehensive academic progression pathway from foundation diploma to master degree levels. The number of applications for the 10 award- bearing programmes was approximately 1 000, and the enrolment rate was 43 per cent. The school also worked vigorously to launch other award-bearing programmes such as the Professional Certificate of Exhibition Studies and Art Curatorship programme in response to the community's aspiration to diversified arts education.
The Fringe Club
The Fringe Club is housed in a cold storage warehouse built in 1890, that is acknowledged as a historical building. The building underwent many major renovations to make it a vibrant place for contemporary arts after the Fringe Club moved into the warehouse in 1983. In 2001, the building won the Government's Heritage Award for its innovative adaptive use of the historical building.
The Fringe Club has two studio theatres, three exhibition areas (including a photography gallery), a pottery workshop and showroom, a rehearsal studio, a restaurant, two bars, a roof garden and offices. It runs a diverse programme of theatre, dance, music and exhibitions. It is committed to an open access policy and to the nurturing of budding artists by providing venue, publicity support, as well as opportunities to go on tours overseas. In 2006, the club was used as the base for six. art festivals. From time to time, the Fringe Club produces its own theatrical performances, art exhibitions and site-specific works with a Hong Kong heritage theme. During the past two decades, more than 500 arts groups from Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America have used the premises for cultural exchange activities.
In 2006, the club presented the City Festival putting the spotlight on Singapore. to promote cultural exchange advocated in the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the governments of Singapore and Hong Kong.
Performing Arts Groups
Chung Ying Theatre
Established in 1979, the Chung Ying Theatre Company is a non-profit-making leading professional theatre company in Hong Kong.
The company is committed to staging quality and lively shows to promote theatrical arts, explore cultural exchanges and to enrich cultural life. In 2006, Chung Ying introduced a number of works to the audience, including an adaptation from a famous Chinese novel, Modern Journey to the West, an original farce, The Last Bet of My Dead Aunt, a family show, Music Factory, a true story about a village school, The School & I, and Victor Hugo's masterpiece Les Misérables. During the year, the company organised an innovative language-enhancing programme, called Chung Ying Educational Theatre Cruise, which offered training in different languages on board a ferry. The company also organised two school touring projects which carried the Centennial Celebration of Chinese Drama and environmental protection theme.