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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
## ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):--Ladies and Gentlemen, the meeting is called to order. I would like to say a few words on the record of Mr. Ambrose CHOI Kwok-ching. Ambrose was a man of many parts and it is not easy to remember him in all of his various roles, be it as the President of the Chinese Football Association, or as a keen Member of the New Territories Schools Sports Association or for his work as a Rotarian, or for the Pok Oi Hospital, the Auxiliary Medical Service or the International Federation of Swimming Teachers' Associations. Notwithstanding all these facets of his life, we remember him best as an Urban Councillor who was always willing to give his time to any Committee, willing to turn up at any function or to officiate at any type of event which required Urban Councillor's presence. We will also remember him for his ward office duties where he unstintingly gave his time towards seeing that the members of the public who called on him received a fair hearing from the various Government agencies and indeed from this council.
I recall in September last year when a Council delegation went to London that one Member of Parliament travelled several hundred miles just to have lunch with us not for the sake of the Urban Council in particular but because of the high regard that he held for Ambrose. Despite his modest command of the English language, he had many friends, in Britain, the United States and Canada, apart from the Chinese-speaking communities there. In fact, his genial character and refreshing point of view made him acceptable everywhere.
He will long be remembered for his services to the people of Hong Kong and this Council in particular. His passing is a great loss to the Council and to Hong Kong, and we extend our condolences to his wife, Madam WONG Lai-fei, and to his eight children.
I will now request Members to please stand up in silence for one minute in remembrance of Mr. Ambrose CHOI.
I would like to congratulate Mrs. Grace Ho on being appointed an officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen.
## MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 8 June 1982 were confirmed.
## STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):—
### Urban Council's role in 'Promoting local art and artists in the performing arts field'
One of the statutory functions of the Urban Council under section 25 of the Urban Council Ordinance (Cap. 101) is to provide, promote, sponsor, assist or collaborate with any person or group of persons whether incorporated or not in the organizing or presenting of cultural programmes in the urban area.
In line with this function, the council has, for many years, assisted local artistic groups in their promotion of cultural activities. As many of these groups will be participating in the City Hall's 20th anniversary celebrations this year, it seems timely to give an outline of the Council's work in this respect.
The Council's assistance to local artistic groups is, generally speaking, either through the grant of a direct subsidy or an indirect subsidy by means of sole or joint Urban Council presentations.
In the case of the direct subsidy, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society and Hong Kong Arts Festival Society are the principal beneficiaries. Between 1978-79 and 1982-83, the Council's subsidy to the Philharmonic increased from $2.5 million to $4.4 million and this figure may well exceed $6 million in the current year; the subsidy to the Arts Festival Society rose from $0.5 million in 1978-79 to $1 million for 1982-83. These figures are tangible tokens of the Council's recognition of the very important role played by these two organizations in promoting the arts in Hong Kong.
The work of the Philharmonic and the Arts Festival Society is supplemented by a host of local amateur artistic groups, many of whose performances are of a high standard. These are assisted by the Council by means of either sole or joint Urban Council presentations.
In the case of sole presentations, the Council offers a venue free of charge and an artist's fee to the performing group whilst in the case of joint presentations, the Council offers a venue free of charge but no fee and the group takes all the proceeds from ticket sales. The choice of presentation depends to a large extent on the size of the group, the scale and nature of its proposed programme and last, but certainly by no means least, its financial resources. Experience has indicated that both types of presentation have worked well and ensured that local cultural groups with limited financial resources have been able to perform at the City Hall and other Council venues.
A few of the local groups that have benefited from such presentations over the last few years are the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (apart from the direct subsidy already mentioned), the Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra, the Lim Kek Han Concert Orchestra, the Hong Kong Oratorio Society, the Cecilian Singers, the Hong Kong Bach Choir, the Chung Ying Theatre Company, the Hong Kong Academy of Ballet, the Hong Kong Ballet Group, the City Contemporary Dance Company and the Schools Music, Dance and Speech Festivals. The list is extensive, but the groups just mentioned are indicative of the Council's wide ranging support for music, drama and dance.
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